The Devil’s Brigade (1968) is the story of the military unit known as the 1st Special Service Force, a unit comprised of American and Canadian commandos which fought throughout Europe and the Aleutian islands during World War II. Director Andrew V. McLaglen brings this story to the big screen about the men known to their enemies as “The Black Devils”, a unit which suffered tremendous casualties in just only two short years of bloody combat (1942-44).

William Holden (Col. Robert Frederick), Cliff Robertson (Maj. Alan Crown), Vince Edwards (Maj. Cliff Bricker), Andrew Prine (Pvt. Theodore Ransom), Claude Atkins (Pvt. Rockwell “Rocky” Rockman), Jack Watson (Cpl. Wilfred Peacock), Richard Jaeckel (Pvt. Omar Greco), Richard Dawson (Pvt. Hugh MacDonald), Carroll O’ Connor (Maj. Gen. Maxwell Hunter), Michael Rennie (Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark), and Dana Andrews (Brig. Gen. Walter Naylor) make up the cast of American misfits and their clean-cut Canadian counterparts.

Col. Frederick (Holden) is chosen as the commanding officer of this unit which was created by Lord Louis Mountbatten as an American/Canadian unit which was to conduct secret commando operations against the Germans in occupied Norway. Having little combat experience and this being his first command, Frederick is concerned with such a bold plan which fails to mention how such a force can be extracted from occupied Norway once the mission is completed.

Continue Reading →

This week’s pick is another cinematic masterpiece from acclaimed director and combat veteran Samuel Fuller (Fixed Bayonets, The Steel Helmet). Merrill’s Marauders (1962) tells the story of Brig. General Frank Merrill and his American jungle fighters in Burma during World War II.  What makes this film so unique from the bravado of similar war pictures that came out of Hollywood in the pre Vietnam early nineteen sixties was that it was based on actual events. The film stars Jeff Chandler (Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill), Ty Hardin (Lt. “Stock” Stockton), Claude Atkins (Sgt. Kolowicz), John Hoyt (General Joseph Stillwell), and Peter Brown (“Bullseye” a platoon sniper).

As World War II spread throughout the Pacific theater, there were intense campaigns in Asia from northern China, to the borders of British held India which the Japanese coveted for its natural resources, as well as adding it into their vastly expanding Asian empire. British Viceroy to India Lord Louis Mountbatten (uncle to Prince Charles), had devised many covert Anglo-American military units to harass and to thwart any attempt for an invasion of India by Japanese forces.

Continue Reading →