Editing First Special Service Force (section)

===Anzio, 1944===
[[File:1st Special Service Force members being briefed at Anzio 3396066.jpg|thumb|Personnel being briefed before setting out on a patrol at the Anzio beachhead]]

Following the [[Quebec Conference, 1943|Québec Conference]] in August 1943, General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] was moved to London to plan for the [[Normandy landings]]. Command of the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II|Mediterranean Theater]] was given to British General [[Henry Maitland Wilson]]. General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Sir Harold Alexander]], commanding the [[Allied Armies in Italy]], had formulated the plan to land Allied troops at [[Anzio]] in order to outflank German positions in the area. German Field Marshal [[Albert Kesselring]] commanded the four German divisions at Anzio, which included the [[Hermann Goering Division]] and the 35th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the [[16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS]] Division. Combined German and Italian strength at Anzio was an estimated 70,000 men.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Ted|title=A Commemorative History: First Special Service Force|year=1995|publisher=Taylor Publishing|location=Dallas|page=27}}</ref>

The Special Force brigade was withdrawn from the mountains in January and, after bringing in new replacements for their previous losses, on 1 February was landed at the beachhead created by [[Operation Shingle]] at [[Anzio]], south of Rome. They replaced the [[1st Ranger Battalion (United States)|1st]] and [[3rd Ranger Battalion (United States)|3rd Ranger Battalions]], which had suffered heavy losses in the disastrous defeat at the [[Battle of Cisterna]]. Together with the remnants of the Ranger battalions, who were seconded to the Force, the numbers of FSSF now were about 1,200 men.<ref>A Perfect Hell, John Nadler. ASIN: 0891418679 Presidio Press (March 28, 2006), P. 209.</ref> However, there was insufficient time to train the new additions to the same high level of skill as the first generation of FSSF soldiers, and Frederick reported that the capabilities of the Brigade were no longer as finely prepared for special assignments.<ref name="cmh"/>

Their task was to hold and raid from the right-hand flank of the beachhead marked by the Mussolini Canal/[[Pontine Marshes]]. This length of perimeter defense was about eight miles, twice the length of a front to defend as assigned to the entire U.S. Third Division at Anzio.<ref name="warfarehistorynetwork.com"/> 1st Regiment was positioned on the force's right front, which comprised one-third of the entire line, while the 3rd Regiment guarded the remaining two-thirds of the line. 2nd Regiment, which had been reduced to three companies following the attacks on La Difensa, Sammucio, and Majo, were tasked with running night patrols into Axis territory.<ref name="autogenerated29">{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Ted|title=A Commemorative History: First Special Service Force|year=1995|publisher=Taylor Publishing|location=Dallas|page=29}}</ref> Shortly after the SSF took over the Mussolini Canal sector, German units pulled back up to {{convert|0.5|mi}} to avoid their aggressive patrols. The force's constant night raids forced Kesselring to fortify the German positions in their area with more men than he had originally planned. Reconnaissance missions performed by the Devils often went as deep as {{convert|1500|ft}} behind enemy lines.<ref name="autogenerated29"/>

Frederick was greatly admired by the soldiers of the First Special Service Force for his willingness to fight alongside the men in battle. On the beachhead in Anzio, for example, a nighttime Force patrol walked into a German minefield and was pinned down by machine gun fire. Colonel Frederick ran into battle and assisted the litter bearers in clearing the wounded Force members.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Ted|title=A Commemorative History: First Special Service Force|year=1995|publisher=Taylor Publishing|location=Dallas|page=33}}</ref>

German prisoners were often surprised at how few men the force actually contained. A captured German lieutenant admitted to being under the assumption that the force was a division. Indeed, General Frederick ordered several trucks to move around the forces area in order to give the enemy the impression that the force comprised more men than it actually did. An order was found on another prisoner that stated that the Germans in Anzio would be "fighting an elite Canadian-American Force. They are treacherous, unmerciful and clever. You cannot afford to relax. The first soldier or group of soldiers capturing one of these men will be given a 10-day furlough."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Ted|title=A Commemorative History: First Special Service Force|year=1995|publisher=Taylor Publishing|location=Dallas|page=32}}</ref>

It was at Anzio that the 1st Special Service Force inspired the "Black Devils" nickname, which appears to have been an invention of the Force's intelligence officers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Joyce|first=Ken|title=Project Plough and the Jupiter Deception|year=2006|publisher=Vanwell|location=Ontario|page=201}}</ref> There is no record of any German ever referring to the Force as "The Devil's Brigade". They were referred to as "black" devils because the brigade's members smeared their faces with black boot polish for their covert operations in the dark of the night. During Anzio, the 1st SSF fought for 99 days without relief. It was also at Anzio that the 1st SSF used their trademark stickers; during night patrols soldiers would carry stickers depicting the unit patch and a slogan written in German: "Das dicke Ende kommt noch," said to translate colloquially to "The worst is yet to come". Its literal translation is actually "The thick end is coming soon", implying that a larger force was on its way imminently, placing these stickers on German corpses and fortifications. Canadian and American members of the Special Force who lost their lives are buried near the beach in the Commonwealth [[Anzio War Cemetery]] and the [[Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial|American Cemetery]] in [[Nettuno]], just east of Anzio.

When the [[United States Army North|U.S. Fifth Army]]'s [[Operation Diadem|breakout offensive]] began on 25 May 1944, the 1st SSF was sent against Monte Arrestino, and attacked [[Rocca Massima]] on 27 May. The 1st SSF was given the assignment of capturing seven bridges in the city to prevent their demolition by the withdrawing [[Wehrmacht]]. During the night of 4 June, members of the 1st SSF entered Rome, through Porta San Paolo,   one of the first Allied units to do so. After they secured the bridges, they quickly moved north in pursuit of the retreating Germans. Their command was placed in the American embassy in via Veneto.

In August 1944 1st SSF came under the command of Colonel [[Edwin Walker]]<ref>{{cite book| last=Fredricksen| first=John C.| year=2012| title=Fighting Elites: A History of U. S. Special Forces| location=Santa Barbara, Calif.| publisher=ABC-CLIO| isbn=978-1-59884-810-6 | page=70}}</ref> when Brigadier General Frederick, who had commanded the force since its earliest days, left on promotion to major general to command the [[1st Airborne Task Force (Allied)|1st Airborne Task Force]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Fredricksen| first=John C.| year=1999| title=American military leaders: from colonial times to the present, Volume 2.| location=Santa Barbara, Calif.| publisher=ABC-CLIO| isbn=978-1-57607-001-7| page=270}}</ref> Frederick became the youngest major general in the U.S. Army.