the first special service force was one of the greatest fighting units ever formed.there real nickname was the black dev
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mitchell-cam — 20 years ago(November 11, 2005 01:23 AM)
Being that my grandfather was an original member of the FSF who survived until the brigade was shut down, I'm obviously bias. Yet because I got the privilage to watch it with him, while (as a young boy) playing with my WWII toys; I know the inacuracies (such as the mission in the small town never happened; if anyone caught Mr Tom O'brian, my gradfather's best friend, on the history channel (possibly canadian only) he repeats this). Now I know this seems like a joke, i've been on this site a few weeks and seen some lies; but I have no reason to lie, and if someone truly has a problem with this I will find something to prove it :).
However, it is a tribute to a truly remarkable unit. I had to study this every time we were given a chance in hisory classes, simply fasinates me telling about the unit, as people rarly know of it, yet they did so much for the effort. The La Defensa Mission (which my own gradfather missed due to an injury shortly before it) was failed by 3 battalions of British forces before them, so they are all heros and remarkable. Other missions such as holding lines with a rediculously small force (this can all be found in books on the force for sale), and the terror they induced on the Germans
One thing I didn't like was the portrayal of the Americans as crap, and Canadians as hand-picked. The reality is, this was a volunteer unit, and only the best made it. My grandfather chose to try because he was sitting up north, doing next to nothing in Canada.
So, inaccuracies aside; this movie makes me very proud. Im sure all of us with gradfathers have equal stories; often untold, I'm glad this one was told for what it's worth. -
roscoe-11 — 20 years ago(January 06, 2006 11:47 AM)
oh brother, if those are the only innaccuracies you saw
theres also alot of technical innacuracies aside from that town assault that never happened,
theres the fact that the action on Monte La Difensa was during the winter (december I believe)
the fact that the dress uniforms they wore in the movie are not at all like the ones theyd actually wear, in the movie they wore red berets which makes NO sense, the actual forcemen for parade wore the wedge cap (also called the overseas cap and another name I'm not allowed to say on these boards) they would not have worn those crossed arrows on their cap as only officers had those arrows and they didnt wear them on their cap, they were worn on their lapels of their dress uniform instead.
they showed NO johnson light machine guns (aka "johnny gun") a weapon unique to only the first special service force and marine corps (the force traded with the marines, johnny guns for explosives) nor did they show any mountain parkas being worn at difensa, an article of clothing unique to the 10th mountain division and force as well. though their baptism to combat was actually the aleutian islands, the kiska campaign, though in truth by the time the force got their the japanese had long since left.
the force is indeed an outstanding outfit, their accomplishments are astounding, they entered Rome about the same time (give or take a few days) that d-day happened which is why it wasnt as interesting to the home-front
for more info on the force and if you're interested in ww2 re-enacting with this unit go to http://www.members.tripod.com/fssflhg/ we have re-enacting units in pennsylvania, new york (state), ontario in the greater toronto area ( I'm from windsor but I go with those guys), ottawa, and even france and england! -
roscoe-11 — 19 years ago(June 09, 2006 03:44 PM)
tommy prince is not mentioned in the movie even in a portrayal of him through another character. the US film industry at that point in time may not have been too big on portraying native people in movies in any other role than as a painted warriorsad but true
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new_hyena14 — 19 years ago(June 19, 2006 10:17 PM)
that sucks. He was cool, I heard this story once where he was behind enemy lines and he had to patch up a phone line, so he left his hidout dressed as a farmer, and casually raked his way over to the lines while, like, combat was going on near him.
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roscoe-11 — 19 years ago(June 25, 2006 07:41 PM)
the event involved Tommy Prince independently running an observation post (which wasnt very common however Prince was quoted as saying that white men made too much noise) when german artillery came in and severed the line of communication cutting off contact from his lines, so he donned a cap and jacket he found inside the post (it was either a farmhouse or a barn, I cant recall at the moment) and did indeed act as though he was working up the dirt around the nearby field in an attempt to find where the line was cut, he not only found it but repaired it (and after shaking a fist toward the german lines) went back into the observation post and called in artillery that sucessfully took out enemy forces
Prince also went on to serve in the Korean war as well, unfortunately from there his life took a turn for the worst and he died as a result of a lifestyle that included alcoholism (several of the forcemen turned to drink after the war as I'm sure many a veteran did as well) and rough living.
