The Devil’s Brigade 1968

American Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick, a War Department staff officer with no prior combat or command experience, is summoned to Britain where he is chosen by Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten to assemble a unique commando force drawn from American and Canadian personnel for operations in German-occupied Norway.

Back in the United States, Frederick arrives at the derelict Fort William Henry Harrison in Montana, where he must mold a ragtag group of troops who are jailbirds, ne’er-do-wells, and misfits. When a hand-picked elite Canadian contingent arrives, friction flares—American and Canadian personalities clash, and chaos erupts. Through grueling training, stubborn leadership, and hard-won camaraderie, Frederick’s unit gradually coalesces into a highly capable fighting force known as the First Special Service Force.

Yet the Allied High Command shifts strategy and offers the Norwegian missions to British troops. The brigade is ordered disbanded and its soldiers reassigned. Frederick remains undeterred, and after a determined push, persuades Lieutenant General Mark Clark to give his men a second chance with a new assignment in Italy.

Clark’s skeptical deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Maxwell Hunter, initially tasks the 1st Special Service Force with reconnoitering a Wehrmacht garrison in a small Italian town. Frederick, however, has bigger plans and leads a bold operation that captures the town itself. The daring success earns them the nickname Die Teufelsbrigade — The Devil’s Brigade.

Buoyed by this triumph, Frederick is promoted to full Colonel and handed a mission that no other Allied unit has attempted: to take Monte la Difensa. Facing steep cliffs and stubborn German defenses, the Devils attack the eastern face of the mountain and, as a united unit, manage to reach the summit and seize the stronghold. The victory accelerates the Allied advance north through Italy and demonstrates the unit’s tactical ingenuity and stubborn resolve under fire.

Beyond the battles, the film foregrounds the initial rivalry and stereotype clashes between Canadian and American soldiers. It tracks how those tensions gradually give way to genuine teamwork, shared risk, and mutual respect as the soldiers press forward against a determined German foe. The story culminates in a testament to grit, leadership, and tenacious combat spirit that transformed a disparate group of misfits into a highly effective fighting force on the Italian front.