Living in Colorado as I do， EVERYONE knows about the 10th Mountain Division， and their role in WWII， mastering the elements and the enemy。 But not a lot of Americans remember that there was another force of American outdoorsmen and winter specialists that carried out amazing feats of arms in WWII- and these guys were half Canadian， so they tapped another great outdoor tradition。 The First Special Service Force were created for a Norwegian Mission that never happened， but then appeared in both th Living in Colorado as I do， EVERYONE knows about the 10th Mountain Division， and their role in WWII， mastering the elements and the enemy。 But not a lot of Americans remember that there was another force of American outdoorsmen and winter specialists that carried out amazing feats of arms in WWII- and these guys were half Canadian， so they tapped another great outdoor tradition。 The First Special Service Force were created for a Norwegian Mission that never happened， but then appeared in both the Pacific Theatre and for a key part of the Italian campaign in the ETO。 This telling of their story is a near perfect use of the classic Osprey Publishing 64 page format。This was the first gathering of the continent's outdoorsmen， preceding the founding of the Tenth Mountain， but this was only to create a single three battalion regiment， but one with a lot of its own supporting units。 The original mission was to have been Norwegian raiding， but that was abandoned- after a truly crack force had been trained to a high pitch。 Almost every single "forceman' was a specialist in something， if not several skills。 It was decided to use them as bad weather commandos， so they spearheaded the retaking of the Aleutians - although the Japanese withdrawal meant no fighting。 Then it was realised that the assault through Italian mountains needed their touch。 They fought at Anzio and on up the boot of Italy， eventually to participate in the "Dragoon" landings in Southern France。 In all engagements the Force proved itself a superior combat unit， much respected by friend and foe alike。 The film the "Devil's Brigade" was made in the 60s to celebrate their creation and battle record， although it was highly stylised。This is a fine book for the younger reader as its clipped but informative style is nicely presented and straightforward to read。 For the Gamer/Modeller/Military Enthusiast， purest gold。 There is not a lot of other information on this elite unit， so the books history， Organisation Charts， picture and Colour plates are one of the few games in town。 Scenarios and Dioramas are sure to be improved or just existential because of this book。 The unit had a lot of special equipment （The Johnson LMG！） and some unique uniform elements （Alpine pants！）， so the colour plates and the B/W pics are really great to see。 I can see every FOW/BA/Battlegroup/Angriff player making up a platoon or squad of these guys after reading this and getting fired up。 It's a great little read- and a straight rec。 。。。more