If you've never heard of these folks read this! These were some bad dudes! I first read about them in the January 2000 WWII magazine and stumbled across the article again on-line yesterday. It mentions that their combat debut was with the 36th ID so I immediately thought of you, Rocky. Do you or anyone else remember what you thought of them at the time? I'd be interested to hear what you thought.
I have been wondering for awhile whether my wifes Uncle transferred to FSSF after hisRanger Batallion was wiped out. He mentioned to my wife that he had fought with Canadians. Maybe I should look up FSSF rosters.
The 36th Combat Eng. Regt Relieved the FSSF after the Anzio breakout. This was one of their times that they weren't doing much "Engineering" and was at Mt. Arrestimo.
I think there was a movie made about the FSSF
Chris
Chris, the movie about the FSSF was "The Devil`s Brigade" , i think it starred William Holden & Claude Atkins.
'POPSKIS PRIVATE ARMY' was sort of a commanndo unit of the British army, formed in North Africa & did long range patrols, demolition, & ambushes behind enemy lines.
Danged, I am trying to locate the info in my documents regarding them. I saw it the other day...Should have stopped and copied it here then. That's what I get!
I think I picked up a copy of "Devil's Brigade" in one of those bins of DVD's at $5.
I used to have a book about them called: "The Devils' Brigade" - by Robert Adleman and Colonel George Walton. It was more of an oral history than a real history. So, I gave it to someone who wanted some books to read.
This unit was founded by Colonel Frederick and the trained in Helena, Montanna. Their first assault was the scaling of the 200-foot cliff of the Monte la Difensa in Italy, as depicted in the movie. Later they commanded a 10-mile portion of the Anzio front where their nightly patrols earned them the name Schwartzteufeln, or "Black Devils." The book seemed to tell more about their underground club they built at Anzio then the fighting they did.
Their patch is a red Arrowhead with point down and word CANADA and USA. A very desirable patch for collectors. They had a unique branch collar insignia of 2 crossed arrows forming an X.
Steve
