Though originally trained for a mission in Norway, the Brigade was diverted to Italy to break the "Winter Line," a series of German fortifications high in the Apennine Mountains. Their most legendary feat was the capture of , a strategic peak that had repelled Allied forces for months.
Their story was famously brought to the screen in the 1968 film La brigata del diavolo starring William Holden. La brigata del diavolo (1968) La brigata del diavolo
The Brigade never failed a mission. Despite suffering massive casualties, they were the first Allied unit to enter Rome. Today, they are remembered as the spiritual ancestors of modern elite units like the U.S. Army Special Forces and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. Though originally trained for a mission in Norway,
In the winter of 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick was handed a near-impossible task: take a band of unruly American misfits—many of them former convicts—and mold them alongside a unit of hyper-disciplined Canadian specialists. This unlikely group, known officially as the 1st Special Service Force, would soon earn a far more terrifying nickname: . The Birth of the Brigade La brigata del diavolo (1968) The Brigade never
: The men were known for sneaking into German bunkers at night, slitting throats, and leaving behind calling cards that read "The worst is yet to come" in German.