La Brigata Del Diavolo -

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

: To aid their stealth, they often blackened their faces with boot polish. When German survivors spoke of the terrifying "Black Devils" (Die schwarzen Teufel), the nickname stuck. Legacy of Valor La brigata del diavolo

Their story was famously brought to the screen in the 1968 film La brigata del diavolo starring William Holden. La brigata del diavolo (1968) In the winter of 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Robert T