7 Things German Soldiers Found Strange About the Devil's Brigade

February 1944: German soldiers of the elite Hermann Göring Division are stationed along a drainage canal at the Anzio beachhead in Italy. But every night, their sentries disappear. Outposts go completely silent. Farmhouses that held machine-gun crews in the evening are found filled with dead men by dawn. And stuck to the walls—and sometimes the foreheads of the dead—are small paper stickers with a red arrowhead and a terrifying warning: Das dicke Ende kommt noch ("The worst is yet to come"). The First Special Service Force was a joint Canadian-American commando unit made up of former lumberjacks, hunters, and miners. Trained to fight in the snow, kill with their hands, and operate in total darkness, they became one of the most feared units in the entire European Theater. In this video, we break down seven astonishing things the German army discovered about the "Devil's Brigade." Discover the impossible night-time cliff assault on Monte la Difensa that broke a 10-day German siege in a matter of hours, the psychological warfare of the calling-card stickers, and how just 1,200 men managed to trick German intelligence into believing they were an entire division by controlling the "no man's land" between the lines. We also explore the incredible frontline leadership of General Robert Frederick, who was wounded eight times fighting directly alongside his men, and the bittersweet disbandment of the unit in 1944. If your father or grandfather served in the First Special Service Force, American or Canadian, put his name and his regiment in the comments below. Those names belong in the record. Chapters 0:00 - The Nights at the Anzio Canal (February 1944) - Thing 1: Two Armies in One Uniform (The Canadian-American Force) - Thing 2: Lumberjacks for a Canceled Raid - Thing 3: The Impossible Side (Monte la Difensa) - Thing 4: They Owned the Night (The Blackened Faces) - Thing 5: The Calling Cards ("The Worst is Yet to Come") - Thing 6: There Were So Few of Them (Gusville) - Thing 7: Their General Was in Front of Them (Robert Frederick) - The Verdict: The Cost of the Devil's Brigade #WWIIHistory #DevilsBrigade #FirstSpecialServiceForce #MilitaryHistory #BattleOfAnzio