I have developed a interest in these guys lately. They may have been the best soldiers of the entire war. It appears despite their numerous skills that they were mostly deployed as infantry. It appears their mission success rate was as close to perfect as you can get. Typical of us Americans to create a elite and use it mostly as infantry. That's just how we roll. Seems the Germans developed a healthy fear for the "black devils". Looks like some on the American side went on to become some of our first Green Berets. Any other thoughts on this fine unit?
Going back to the Revolution the US has had a knack for creating 'elite formations and then mis-using them by more conventionaly trained commanders. With the Rangers I do have to question the overall wisdom of their creation, but cannot critize their efforts.
Good unit! But the US Army wasn´t the only Army that created a Special Unit and misused them. Take a look at the German Para´s that was the same they were downgraded to FJ´s by feet. But non the less, the SF´s were great and i had a chance to get together with some of them in the 90´s. Impressive soldiers, i have to admit!
You had a chance to meet some of them? That would have been a honor. Yeah, you Germans are not much different than us.
There was only one Vet, but i had a short time of practice mountain warfare with the guys from 1st Batallion. Interesting was that the Vet knew how to get our MG3, which is very similar to the MG42, to work. Sad thing is that i lost his name.
If any of you missed this video on the unit, filmed in 1995 but not released until 2008 on Montana's PBS collection I'll post the link again. Well worth the watching. Goto: Video: The Devil's Brigade: To Helena and Back | Watch MontanaPBS Presents Online | MontanaPBS Video
This was in my local Billings paper this morning, thought I would share. HELENA — The military’s First Special Service Force, formed at Fort Harrison in 1942, may finally receive the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal. The unit, which in its original form traveled to Alaska and Africa before fighting Nazis in the mountains of Italy and along the French Riviera in World War II, became the model for similar special forces, including the Green Berets and Navy SEALs, trained to endure extreme conditions and fight what was considered, at the time, using unconventional methods. Goto: Devil's Brigade may receive Congressional Gold Medal
The US Army SFG Abn. carry on the 1st SSF lineage and their arrowhead patch is a variant of the 1 SSF patch, but they were started by former OSS officers based on OSS experiences.
It appears despite their numerous skills that they were mostly deployed as infantry..............Typical of us Americans to create a elite and use it mostly as infantry. This illustrates a perpetual quandary - is it really worth taking a proportion of the best, most motivated soldiers out of their regular units to create a few elite ones? These are the same men who would be the natural leaders, whether by rising in rank or just setting the example for their comrades. The special units often do end up being put in the line, which leads to complaints that they are being abused; but if there are not distinct "elite" missions which need to be performed, we can hardly expect commanders to leave some of their best troops idle. If there are not sufficient "elite" missions, perhaps there should not be so many elite units. The US Marines early in the war organized elite paratroop and raider battalions, only to find that they were employed interchangeably with line units, or each other. The raiders fought there most famous action - Edson's Ridge - as infantry on the defensive; raiding was just as likely to be done by regular Marines or the paratroopers, who as far as I know never conducted a combat jump. Eventually the paras and raiders were disestablished or converted to standard units.
It certainly appears you are correct here, since the last paragraph of this site reads; While participating in several bloody actions during the course of the war, they were utilized as infantry and there were no Marine parachute combat jumps during W.W.II. Eventually, the need for a parachute corps in the Marines was questioned. The fact that Marines were generally assigned to attack small heavily defended islands which were not suitable for para type operation, the lack of transport aircraft required for a massed parachute drop and the cost led the Commandant to order the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment to be disbanded on December 30, 1943. It officially ceased to exist on February 29, 1944. Goto: The U.S. Airborne during WW II - Attached Units - 1st Marine Parachute Regiment(Paramarines)
The Marine Parachute Bn's never made a Combat Jump mainly due to lack of suitable DZ's in the Pacific and lack of heavy lift assets that are required for that type of operation. The Raider Bn's conducted two notable Raider Actions. Mankin Island and The Long Patrol on Guadalcanal, both conducted by the 2nd Raider Bn, Carlson's Raiders. Both the Raiders and the Chutes were later consolidated into Raider and Parachute Regt's respectively before being stood down, the Raiders formed the core of the reformed 4th Marine Regt which for a short period bore the name 4th Marine Regt (Raider) while the Chutes became a core cadre in the 5th and 6th Marine Divisions. Both formations were heavily lobbied against from inception by people like Holland Smith and Lewis Puller who disagreed with the elite within an elite concept.
It should be pointed out that the First Special Service Force was from what I remember not an "American" force but a mixed US Canadian one. Or am I thinking of another unit?
You are correct, look at the 'arrowhead" insignia posted by the original poster. It was about a 60-40 split, 60% American, 40% Canadian.
The main problem with creating a new special elite force is that the area commanders they're assigned to work with will have no prior experience in how to utilize them. It would take an exceptionally brilliant commander with the tactical flexibility to see alternative solutions to a problem as opposed to Book solutions to fully grasp the potential of a new unit like this. They were used successfully in several cases in Italy, taking mountains that conventional head-on attacks had failed (miserably) to take, being repulsed with massive casualties. The FSSF climbed several vertical cliffs to do this, coming at the defending German forces from an "impossible" direction. IIRC, in the first case, there were only like one or two sentries on this particular section of the ridge, and they were looking in the wrong direction, so the FSSF was able to get rather close before opening up. They ran into difficulties when it turned out that Allied maps were a bit off, and one ridge was connected to the next by a small saddle....trying to cross this while the Germans still occupied the high ground caused quite a few casualties, but they were still able to take the ridges and open up the German lines in something like a day, where the conventional Army forces had been stalled for weeks/months. At Anzio, the Americans really had no choice but to throw them into the lines as regular infantry due to the situation as a whole. The FSSF was given such a broad stretch of front to cover that there was something like 100 yards between foxholes. And still, they decided that sitting around waiting for German patrols to come up to them was too boring, so they organized patrols of their own, and took the fight to the Germans. They'd sneak over and kill the enemy, leaving trademark playing cards to let the Germans know who was effing with them. They'd come up to a foxhole or bunker, quietly kill the sentry, and then slit the throats of all but one of the others. Needless to say, it was a tad bit demoralizing to wake up in the morning and find all of your buddies dead, with "Having A Great Time Wish You Were Here" cards stuck to them (I imagine there were probably a few photographs left laying around, with some FSSF guy teabagging the sleeping German, but that may just be my overactive imagination playing up again). The Germans were terrified of the FSSF guys. ETA: The guys who went around recruiting for the FSSF got some volunteers from various Army units, but the bulk of their forces came from "volunteers", either CO's cleaning out their brigs, or cleaning out their troublemakers. The Canadians sent down their crack troops. Heh. At least the movie got that much right! Made for some interesting times trying to integrate the two, but once they did, it was the "screw y'all" attitude that, IMO, made the FSSF what it was. "Oh, so the Army couldn't take that ridge? Hmm...they haven't gone this direction cuz its impossible? Step aside, and kiss my impossible arse." They were the perfect men for the most insane jobs available. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the Marine paratroops who jumped onto Corregidor? They landed in an insanely small drop zone (the barracks at the top of the island), several were blown out to sea by the wind and picked up by subs stationed there because everybody assumed that it wouldn't work anyway, but the majority actually made it onto the island and captured it. McArthur was afraid of the island holding out (again) and the artillery there being used to block the harbor, so he sent in the paratroops to try to take it before he committed to another amphib landing that he wasn't sure would work well due to the lack of suitable landing sites and the ease of defending the one or two tiny beaches available (the same reason the Japanese never invaded the island themselves). I don't think it was Army paratroops who jumped, I'm wanting to say it was the Marines. (spotty memory is coming from "Corregidor: The Rock Force Assault" by General EM Flanagan Jr....but the wife is calling for dinner, so I don't have time to flip through the book to find out which branch did the jumping).
The jump on Corregidor was the Army 503rd Parachute Infantry. This was one of the first parachute units and operated as an independent Regimental Combat Team, not part of the 11th Airborne Division which served in the Pacific. The 503rd made several parachute drops and also several amphibious landings. The Philippines was all-Army operation, or at least there were no major Marine units involved. There were few Marines in MacArthur's SOWESPAC at all; they were mainly under the South and Central Pacific commands.
One of my favorite Ww 2 units of all time !! The 1stSSF was an amazing group of soldiers led by one of the best Generals of WW 2, General Robert Frederick. This unit was one of the most daring, fearless, and colorful bunch of men ever put together !! The capture of Monte La Difensa and La Remetanea in Italy during the battle for Cassino was amazing. Their actions at Anzio are too. There is one terrible Hollywood movie about them, but many excellent books about them. General Fredricks book was one of the best I ever. IMO
Years ago I read a paper while stationed at Ft. Bragg. The author pointed out a lot of what you say: the qualifications for US WWII Airborne Training were higher (according to the author) than those for Officers Candidate School and (with the possible exception of the jumps supporting the Rhine River crossing) none of the large Airborne Operations (in the ETO) were “cost effective” in terms of objectives gained and casualties incurred. In other words the cost didn’t justify the expense; especially of intelligent, highly motivated men. This paper did not go over well at the “Home of the Airborne”.
Thanks for the update! I completely forgot to go back and thumb through that book of mine the other night. I appreciate the correction, and have rep'd accordingly!
Quick answer: Yes. The "special operations" will always exist...as will "important" missions that cannot fail. (a modern example we would know about would be the deployment of stealth aircraft (large and small bombers), used in missions that cannot fail, that are key to the plan/mission. These men are not necessarily natural leaders...many of them are loners. These are men who would be frustrated by their comrades, and "process". And again there are ALWAYS "distinct elite missions"...if their arent any the commanders could quickly find some. (All military should be elite forces in theory). I think the Rangers should really be all US military but arent for many reasons...They were a great idea that proved its worth over and over again in Vietnam. My memory says that the ENGLISH were the first to institute a "special force"...that became know as commandos. Rabid - The commanders are made up of the elite force themselves...they already have combat experience and the best "combat brain"... So much more to say!! : )
Actually, the Japanese DID invade the island. The US surrendered when the Japanese had a foothold because they knew they were in an impossible position. When I was a kid, I got a copy of The Devils Brigade for xmas one year. One of the best reads I had that year.
