World Famous Comics: First Special Service Force 1942 - 44 (Elite)
First Special Service Force 1942 - 44 (Elite)
By: Bret Werner Publisher: Osprey Publishing Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Osprey Publishing Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 64 Publication Date: November 28, 2006 Release Date: November 28, 2006
This famous unit was formed with three battalions in July 1942, for special operations in occupied Norway, from handpicked US and Canadian volunteers who were trained in parachute, amphibious, ski, mountain and demolition operations and other 'Special Forces' skills. Their training base was Fort Harrison, Montana. In the event the Force first saw combat in Italy. There they distinguished themselves, at heavy cost, in the battles of La Difensa (Dec 1943), Mte Majo (Jan 1944), on the Anzio beachhead (Feb¿May 1944) and in the race to Rome, which they actually liberated. Their uniforms, clothing and weaponry had many unique features reflecting their bi-national composition and specialist skills.
The FSSF fought with a ferocious skill which earned them a fearsome reputation. At Anzio, although at only half strength, they successfully held at least a quarter of the entire beachhead and were the spearhead of the final breakout towards Rome. Famed for their night-time fighting ability, the Germans named them "Die Schwartze Teuflen" ¿ the Black Devils (they blacked their faces with boot polish). However, after taking part in the South of France campaign in Aug¿Nov 1944 the Force was disbanded, survivors passing to other units. 1,800 men at full strength, they had accounted for 12,000 enemy casualties, taken 7,000 prisoners and experienced a 600% attrition rate.
Decent, but lacks objectivity The US-Canadian First Special Service Force (FSSF) formed in 1942 is certainly one of the most unique special operations units of the Second World War. In Osprey's Elite #145, author Bret Werner attempts to describe the organization, equipment, training and activities of the FSSF. Although this volume is interesting, it does not seem to fully accomplish its objectives even within the constraints of this brief format. The author, who has participated in veterans reunions from the FSSF, seems a bit inclined toward hero-worship rather than sober analysis in describing the actual organization, structure and operations of the unit. While the author does succeed in outlining all of the FSSF's key actions, he does not seem to realize that except for its initial combat missions, it was misused as a conventional infantry unit rather than for its intended purposes. Like the Rangers and even the airborne to some extent, the FSSF was just one more example of the U.S. Army pouring major resources into creating an elite unit with unique capabilities, then throwing it into an attrition meat grinder like Anzio.
The opening section discusses the origin of the FSSF in the hare-brained Project "Plough" scheme developed by the British Combined Operations command. The idea was to develop a force of airborne, motorized mountain infantry who could be inserted behind enemy lines in places like Norway or northern Italy and take out power plants and such. Since the Brits lacked the resources - or perhaps they realized the silliness of this concept - they passed the idea along to the Americans for implementation. The author then briefly describes how the decision was made to form a joint US-Canadian special operations unit that could accomplish the type of missions outlined in Project "Plough." Unfortunately, the author glosses over the selection of personnel for the FSSF - it would have been nice to know where most of these troops came from or how they were selected. A few pages are then spent discussing the initial formation of the FSSF and early airborne and mountaineering training in Montana.
Actual combat operations are covered in about 14 pages, beginning with the uneventful Kiska operation in the Aleutians, then the operations in Italy and France. The key operation at Mount La Defensa - the one that really defined the FSSF - is covered in surprisingly sparse detail. Much of this section covers actions in the Anzio area. The author does manage to include a few insightful observations from FSSF veterans, such as about the tactical use of the unique Johnson LMG. However, the key point that the author seems to miss in this section is that the FSSF never made a major airborne drop, and that it spent most of its combat-time fighting as a `leg' infantry unit. Reading about the FSSF's assignment of protracted defensive missions in Anzio is another example of how the force was mis-used, since it lacked the organic armor, artillery, engineers to stand up to heavy units such as the German Hermann Goering Division. True, the author notes that some armor was assigned it the FSSF to bolster its defense, but the fact that the unit suffered over 40 percent losses indicates that highly trained personnel were being sacrificed on a secondary front. One wonders what the FSSF might have accomplished on D-Day if they hadn't been wasted in Italy.
The final sections of the volume cover uniforms and equipment, along with the usual color plates. Although these sections are well put together, they offer little that has not already been presented in other Osprey volumes on the U.S. Army in the Second World War. There is not a particularly great amount of information on the Canadians in the FSSF - I don't think that a single Canadian officer was mentioned by name - and this is the Stephen Ambrose type of history where the author has allowed veterans to define who and what mattered. Typically, this historical approach lacks objectivity and results in a "we were the best darn light infantry unit in the ETO" outcome. That outcome is what readers will find in this volume.
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