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.
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