Special Training & Equipment

The First Special Service Force (SSF) was initially designed, outfitted and trained as an elite mountain commando force with the mission to invade Norway. Though that mission never materialized, their unique training in mountain warfare, skiing, demolitions, and hand to hand combat gave them the required skills to excel on the battlefields of Italy. The SSF lacked heavy machine-guns and mortars, but they were armed with the Johnson M1941 and M1919A4 light machine-guns. So, in terms of small arms and light crewserved weapons the 108 combat sections of the six SSF battalions had a collective firepower equal to a conventional infantry division. The platoons of the SSF were well known for acquiring' additional Thompson sub-machine guns and Browning automatic rifles to supplement their firepower. Every man in each section was also armed with a V-42 fighting knife and an M1911A1 pistol. The knife was specifically designed by Colonel Frederick, the SSF Commander, based on the British Commando Fairbairn-Sykes knife.

Arrival in Italy

When the SSF first landed in Italy they made their new home in an Italian barracks at Santa Maria di Capua Vetere which had been the previous garrison of the Herman G ring Fallschirmpanzerdivision. The SSF was a multi-national (US and Canadian) force made up of the best American volunteers from selected divisions and Canadian paratroopers. They cut their teeth on the Allied drive to the Volturno line. At Monte la Difensa, about 10 miles/16 km south east of Cassino, they earned a reputation for being able to take impenetrable objectives when no one else could. Here they eliminated a German defensive position high atop a mountain surrounded by steep cliffs.

Using climbing ropes under cover of darkness, one battalion climbed the mountain with only light weapons, followed by a second battalion with full 90 pound loads of the heavier weapons and equipment. They reached the top without being spotted and began to spread out before the quiet of the night erupted into a firefight. The summit of Monte La Difensa was taken in two hours when the US II Corps had expected it to take three days. After six days of continuous action, the SSF was finally relieved.

Their next combat assaults captured Radicosa, Monte Majo and Monte Vischiataro. During this mountain campaign the SSF suffered 77% casualties. By January 17, when the heights had all been secured, the SSF was withdrawn from the mountains into reserve.

Anzio

On 2 February 1944, with only two weeks out of the line, the SSF landed at Anzio and replaced the 1st and 3rd US Ranger Battalions holding the right flank adjacent the US 3rd Infantry Division. Here, they received replacements, mostly from the 4th Ranger Battalion, which included a one-of-a-kind armored cannon platoon of four specially equipped M3 75mm GMC half-tracks.

Their task here was to hold and raid the Mussolini Canal and Pontine Marshes. This they did with daring and flamboyant reconnaissance patrols, harassment raids by day and night, and other offensive-type tactics designed to demoralize the enemy and energize themselves. Their tactics worked extremely well, for shortly after arriving, the German engineer units they faced pulled their lines back a half-mile to avoid the aggressive patrols of the SSF.

The Devil's Brigade

The Germans dubbed them the Devil's Brigade, because they used a trademark sticker depicting the SSF unit patch together with a slogan written in German: Das dicke Ende kommt noch, (The worst is yet to come), and left them on German corpses and fortifications as they raided.

On 23 May 1944, the SSF took part in Operation Buffalo. Their mission, again on the right flank of the US 3rd Infantry Division, was to attack along the Mussolini Canal and take the railroad line and Highway 7, just south of the town of Cisterna. Taking their first objectives by 1000 hours on the first day, they dug in and waited for the 3rd Infantry to catch up. German artillery and armoured counterattacks inflicted heavy casualties, but when the 1st Armored Division and 3rd Infantry Division broke through Cisterna on 25 May, the SSF were off and running once more.

The force took Artena and headed across the Lepini Mountains towards Highway 6. Casualties were high but their ferocity and bravado were now legendary. When the road to Rome was finally opened, the Devil's Brigade were sent in to take all eight bridges leading into the city. Supported by US Task Force Howze, they secured the bridges and entered Rome on 4 June 1944.

France

After a much needed rest the Devil's Brigade was earmarked for operations in France. Assaulting in rubber boats, the SSF took two key islands protecting the port of Toulon while spearheading Operation Dragoon, the Allied landings in southern France.

The SSF was now attached to the 1st Airborne Task Force liberating towns across the south coast of France until they reached the mountains on the French-Italian border. Here they spent three months holding the line against the old Maginot Line now held by the Germans.

The First Special Service Force were dissolved in November 1944. The now veteran members of the Devil's Brigade were sent to the frontline First Canadian Army and the US 82nd and 101st Divisions preparing to enter into Germany.