'We Never Lost a Battle': Devil's Brigade honoured

Their story isn't well known, but Canada's Special Forces JTF 2, the Green Berets and U.S. Navy SEALs can trace their heritage back to the first top secret commando unit called the "Devils Brigade."

During the Second World War, the idea was pitched to Lord Mountbatten and with Winston Churchill and FDR's blessing they agreed to train an elite force to fight the Nazis. It would be The Allies' "secret weapon."

Based in Helena, Montana the call went out for miners, lumberjacks, tough guys with survival skills.

All volunteers. A small unit of 1,800 men, Canadians and Americans, trained side by side in what was then considered unconventional warfare.

They learned hand to hand combat, cold weather survival skills, mountain climbing and parachuting so they could sneak in behind enemy lines.

Anyone who failed, and there were many, were sent back.

Only the best of the best were chosen.

Theirs was described as a suicide mission -- to take on tasks considered missions impossible. Like blowing up nuclear power plants in Norway.

That didn't come to pass, their first battle was to take on the Germans, who had entrenched themselves on the mountain tops of Italy. Monte La Difensa … the Nazis had the high ground, could see the enemy coming. So the Devils marched enough men and supplies up the back of the mountain attacking in the dark, taking the Germans by surprise.

The Devil's Brigade would go on to liberate towns in Italy and France.

Though they lost many many men, they never lost a battle.

But it's how they got their name that is the stuff of legend. The brigade would go on nighttime raids. They would blacken their faces using burnt cork from wine bottles.

Bill Storey of Winnipeg, one of the first to join this special unit, says they captured a diary from a German captain who wrote "the Black Devils are all around us, we never know where they're going to hit or strike next."

"We were pretty damn deadly to be quite frank," says Storey.

The name, the Black Devils, stuck. Their commander, a well respected man called Col. Frederick, came up with the idea of leaving calling cards with the unit's logo -- a red spearhead with the name USA CANADA and in German beside it, the words "the worst is yet to come." It was a form of psychological warfare and it worked. The "Devils" became a feared fighting force and in just two years captured 30,000 prisoners of war.

The force was the inspiration for Hollywood movies. In 1968 William Holden and Cliff Robertson starred in "The Devil's Brigade." An amusing take where Americans and Canadians brawl, then bond as a fighting unit and the Canadians all have fake sounding Scottish accents.

And in 2009 Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" features an elite fighting unit commanded by actor Brad Pitt who wears the uniform and insignia of the Devil's Brigade.

At the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC there was a ceremony to honour the Devils and raise awareness about legislation before the U.S. Congress to honour the 230 survivors with one of America's highest awards, the Congressional Gold Medal. Only 144 have been given out, the first to George Washington.

The soldiers we talked to were pretty excited.

After all, their story isn't that well known and there won't be many more reunions. The men are in the 80s and 90s but sharp as tacks.

Jack Callowhill of Stoney Creek looked to his buddy Charlie Mann and said if they get the medal: "that will be our swan song, yup that will be it for us."

@JoyCTV

Members of the First Special Service Force in the Anzio beachhead on April 20, 1944.