George H. Walton

While just getting into this book, I set is aside to take in the Hollywood portrayal of the legendary 1st Special Service Force, an elite American-Canadian commando unit in World War II. This North American unit sprung from the mind of madcap genius Geoffrey Pyke for snow battles in a specialied vehicle, The Weasel. What actually happened was stockades were emptied to form a ruthless, highly trained, very kinetic force that went from a dry run in the Aleutians to playing a pivotal role in show more chasing Kesselring and his German soldiers out of Northern Italy and through Southern France. They also partied and pranked as hard as they fought. This is a fascinating look at the brief, bloody career of a unit, that like many other historical units, is claimed as a direct ancestor by two modern special operations units; the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command and the 1st Special Forces Group (1st SFG) of the United States Army Special Forces.

There's also an appearance in the final act of Major General Edwin A. Walker, bringing the brigade's story into connection with the more devisive politics of the 60s. show less

The 'Devil's Brigade' was the name given to US/Canadian special forces in World War II, who saw action in the Aleutian Islands, Italy and the south of France. This account was co-written by a brigade veteran and includes profiles of many of his comrades in this famously rugged unit.

From flap: "On August 15, 1944, the ten thousand men of the First
Airborne Task Force parachuted into the French Riviera. Their mission
was to draw the Germans back from their defensive positions on the
Mediterranean, to disrupt their communications, to rally any available
partisan elements, and ultimately to guard the right flank of the
northward advancing American Seventh Army.

Known as the "champagne campaign" because the troops commuted between deadly patrols in the field and champagne show more parties in Nice,"this operation developed into the most successful major airdrop of the war -- suffering fewer casualties, capturing more prisoners and materiel and accomplishing its objectives more completely than any other airborne unit on either side. The FABTF also forged some of the most durable wartime relationships between soldiers and civilians that was created anywhere. [ Furthermore], from the ranks of this unique task force there came after the war an amazing number of generals, successful businessmen, and influential politicians." show less