The FSSF or Devils Brigade is the grandpop of American and Canadian special forces and still celebrated in group training missions from both nations with special uniform bling being a prize beside the comradery of soldiers. They were formed from highly motivated Canadian troops with parachute, sapper, and recon skills and training combined with American forces from parachute, sapper, and recon training( definitely a theme). Additional American troops with forestry, ranger, and other hardy skills were sought including quite a few already in stockades. During training the uniforms were mostly standardized with American supplies, but headgear and uniform bits and webbing were non-uniform in the unit according to individual comfort and this attitude still pervades North American special forces to this day...we will wear what we want when on mission. Tommy Prince is one of the more famous troops from the FSSF and is one of the few who won Canadian and American honours and medals. I like to think he had input in the arrow head insignia, but Tommy was joined by Annishabe, Ojibwa, Sioux, and Apache in the unit. Just by Nature of skill sets required, quite a few Indigenous tribes had the skills perfect for these commandos.
There is actually a decent movie on the First Special Service Force, but it adds to the mystique of the brigade and there is much lore, fact, and loads of rumor and legend about them. Because of how much I admire the Devil's Brigade, they are one of the many reasons I selected The Italian Campaign for my bolt action force builds. Another reason is the campaign was a true mixed force of allies which brought all the warts and boils of politics into missions and how the campaign played out. In hindsight if mission planners were focused on mission more than political maneuvers, the Italian campaign could have been shorter. I like to think that the lessons learned in Italy did actually help in the mission planning from D'Day to Berlin. It was more meritocracy with some bumps along the way. Note too that Italy was contested by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring who I feel is more of an outstanding commander than Rommel. He navigated the campaign with an acute eye toward terrain and made Allied advances very difficult. Italy was already embroiled in a mostly unofficial civil war. FM Kesselring made terrain and weather an ally.
It was units like the Devil's Brigade and other highly trained allied forces that really shown how training and hard work pays dividends on the battlefield. Monte la Difensa is a rather spectacular victory for the unit. The Devil's Brigade did numerous reconnaissance missions and found the best way to take the German artillery was to assault up a sheer cliff face. Only a few Allied units trained for night assaults and fewer still could be capable as the FSSF by climbing a sheer cliff in darkness.
Warlord Games sent me a sprue of British Commandos, so I built them using bits from American kits to make them standout. They are lead by an NCO in beret which is my tiny homage to Tommy Prince. he sports the unofficial black beret of the unit and has a sizable knife with a garand fitted with a bayonet. All of the Devils Brigade were very proficient with Allied and Axis weaponry.
two scouts with helmet liner and knit watchcaps
I know well how those packs feel, but they certainly help set them apart!
Two American tin pots and a squad support weapon.
The FSSF used olive drab uniforms and when on recon or night missions also blackened their faces which is the real reason the germans referred to them as the black devils. Although Sgt Prince and his antics as well as stickers of devils left behind in their wake on objectives and bodies certainly helped.
The rucks would have been stashed for later recovery after action on objectives.
Tommy looking for Germans to terrorize!
I also painted up a fire team of paratroops given to me by my friends at the warlord booth...They were rather giddy when I was purchasing all sorts of infantry and not stopping by to just say hi :)
I am going to mark them as the 82nd All Americans also known as the Athletic Alcoholics. They are known as All American because up to this point most American regiments were regional and not national. The 82nd were formed from American troops from all states and territories.
I am not counting the 30 cal gunner as he has no base...yet
The 82nd fought mostly in Italy, but they were brought over to participate in Dday and Market Garden and other missions and battles. After WW2 and currently they do have a presence in Italy and all are still parachute qualified and form a rapid response force ready to go anyplace, anywhere within 48 hours. The 101 screaming eagles do have paratroops, but most are helicopter assault and not parachute qualified anymore.
All my paratroops will be 82nd, even though I have two uncles that were 101st Rakkasans.
I used some older first gen plastics and starter set Rangers to make up this small platoon of Rangers.
A sniper team is up first...the spotter is the senior sniper the sniper is the trainee.
I also gave them a bazooka team for the big problems.
A demo charge and couple rangers with bangalore torpedoes
a couple of BARs for squad support.
7 riflemen to provide the base for the squad
The riflemen are a mix of garands and carbines
Two ranger battalions provided support for the allies in Italy, but they were relieved by the FSSF. A lot of the rangers were absorbed into the ranks of the FSSF. They were also sent to the parachute regiments as replacements to cover losses there.
Three tommy gunners to form Ranger leadership.
the point man in the helmet liner will serve as the Platoon Lt.
I have misplaced my decal tank and the ranger decal sheet, so they will have their insignia later with ranks applied.
So 30 troops for Italian Operations representing the bulk of the elite veteran units of my force build.
I still have the German and Italian forces to paint up, but of this lot I do see a time I will expand the paras into a full 82nd air drop force.I want first a British 8th army force using the Commonwealth and 8th army minis to make an early 8th army in Italy when they did not have the uniforms for Italian fall and winter yet.
29 troops for 145 points....not counting the prone unbased gunner. I had to include him as I painted him with the orcs in testing out colors for these troops and he did come out very well!
squirrel--40k scars, fantasy orcs, WW2 Americans
skulls- 11
stompy robots of death- 0
David - these guys look great! Painting all that khaki can be a drag but you've added a bunch of visual punch with the different tones used on the webbing, I like that. Your tribute to Sgt. Prince is special and I really love it - he was born here in Manitoba and is a celebrated hero here. You've done a great job on these models - 145 points added to your tally!
Dallas