Red Devil stickers

[summerside sniper]

Ok, sorry if I have this in the wrong place, but I wasn't totally sure whether it belongs here or in OT. Please mods, move this if it is required to do so.


I was thinking the other day about the Red Devils/Devils Brigade and I couldn't remember what they put on the stickers they were placing on their victims during their patrols after the Normandy invasion. Can anybody remember what it was? This has been back burning and driving me nuts for the last couple of days.

 

[MarioP]

Here ya go!

 

[Ceska]

Thanks Mario, I searched for that graphic for quite a while and never found one.

I assume that is the original phrase in german?

 

[chopper 1]

By The Way

They dont like those names - red devils/devils brigade -

To honor them call them Fredrick's Freighters - thats what they and the surviving members called themselves -

 

[summerside sniper]

THanks a lot but....... in english please?????

 

[archerynut]

it reads "the worst is yet to come!" i wasn't aware that british commandos left these with their "handy work" but that unit patch is for the first special service force

 

[summerside sniper]

They dont like those names - red devils/devils brigade -

To honor them call them Fredrick's Freighters - thats what they and the surviving members called themselves -

Didn't know that...cool thanks....will do!!

 

[albertacowboy]

Red Devils/Devil's Brigade

Just thought I'd help with some corrections:

The "Red Devils" is the nickname for the battalions of the Parachute Regiment in the British Army. They have always worn the maroon beret, which is also worn by Commonwealth parachute units such as the airborne companies of present Canadian regiments.

The First Special Service Force's nickname of the "Devil's Brigade" came from the Wehrmacht referring to them as the "Black Devils" at Anzio. There the Forcemen (their preferred name) left calling cards, with the slogan referred to above, on the bodies of German soldiers they had killed during their very aggressive patrols. The cards showed their unit patch and the slogan, together with a horned black devil-like figure. The FSSF did not serve in Normandy.

HTH

 

[chopper 1]

Just thought I'd help with some corrections:

The "Red Devils" is the nickname for the battalions of the Parachute Regiment in the British Army. They have always worn the maroon beret, which is also worn by Commonwealth parachute units such as the airborne companies of present Canadian regiments.

The First Special Service Force's nickname of the "Devil's Brigade" came from the Wehrmacht referring to them as the "Black Devils" at Anzio. There the Forcemen (their preferred name) left calling cards, with the slogan referred to above, on the bodies of German soldiers they had killed during their very aggressive patrols. The cards showed their unit patch and the slogan, together with a horned black devil-like figure. The FSSF did not serve in Normandy.

HTH

The krauts did call them "tueffel brigaden" because of such exploits behind the lines at Anzio as sneaking into a group of sleeping soldiers and slitting one throat only so the rest would wake up and find there kamerad in a pool of blood.
The First Special Service Force got a kick out of their ''Special Service" designation because everyone not in the know thought that they were an entertainment unit a la U.S.O.
When in Helena the Canadians who were used to the BREN were given B.A.R.'s they called them Bloody Awful Rifle because the bullets didnt spray into a tight group like the BREN.They complained so bitterly that Col Fredricks issued the brigade with the Johnson - only in use by some U.S. Marines. They called it the Johnny Gun.
Less and less survivors show up at the reunions - not many left.
Their exploits are legendary. The worlds elite units still try the Mount climb but not in winter like the Brigade did.

 

[PrairieMedic]

I was just at the Airborne/Special Forces Museum near Ft.Bragg a few weeks ago, they have a small display on the unit.

From the memorial out front of the building:

One of the shirts used by the unit.

 

[sunray]

FSSF didn't land in Normandy. They were in Southern France after Italy until disbandment.

 

[chopper 1]

FSSF didn't land in Normandy. They were in Southern France after Italy until disbandment.

By the time they got to france they had turned into an ordinary army unit as all the original hands recruited for their special skills had become casualties. The replacement pool were just ordinary G.I. civilians.