THE FORCE

The story of an elite Canadian-American commando force and its assault on a critical German stronghold in World War II.

David (Military History/Univ. of Buckingham; Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History, 2015, etc.) brings together primary sources to create a vivid account of the First Special Service Force from its formation in July 1942. The author begins with a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt and his key advisers to Britain in 1942, where Gen. George Marshall heard a plan to invade Nazi-held Norway using armored snowmobiles. Because Britain lacked terrain and weather suitable to developing and testing the experimental vehicles, it would be necessary for the U.S. or Canada to adopt the program. Back in Washington, D.C., Marshall assigned the idea to 35-year-old Lt. Col. Robert Frederick, who was given carte blanche to create a force capable of putting the plan into action. Within a couple of months, American and Canadian soldiers began arriving at a camp near Helena, Montana. David follows a number of soldiers through the training regime, which dragged on past expectations as the idea for a Norway invasion took a back seat to more urgent operations—with a predictable effect on discipline. At last, the force was shipped to Italy, where the mountainous terrain seemed to fit its mission. Their first assignment was to secure a foothold on Monte la Difensa, a stronghold on the German Winter Line defending the approaches to Rome. The author follows the battle in close detail, with a focus on the memories of individual soldiers as well as the larger unit actions. David effectively captures the turmoil and chaos of the offensive as well as the incredible skill and determination of the force’s assault on a target many more-experienced units had attacked unsuccessfully. The pace of the story in the early chapters is sometimes slow and overly detailed, but the payoff is a real page-turner.

A solid account of a remarkable military unit whose story ought to be better known.