In the darkest days of World War II, a top-secret experiment unites the toughest outdoorsmen: lumberjacks, cowboys, prospectors and hunters from across Canada and the United States.
Their goal: to forge the First Special Service Force – an elite airborne commando unit designed to strike deep behind enemy lines – taking them utterly by surprise.
Damien Mahoun, a Canadian Scottish woodsman joins the Force, looking for action, keen to be tested in combat.
First, he and his mismatched brotherhood of outsiders must make the grade, surviving the gruelling, unorthodox training regime in the harsh mountains of Montana.
Pushed to their physical and psychological limits the men learn devastating hand-to-hand killing techniques and endure terrifying live-fire battle conditioning – but what grows in these hard months of toil is an unwavering, deep-rooted bond between them.
A bond which will be tested to the limits as Mahoun’s squad of scouts is sent to spearhead the deadly assault on the frozen Aleutians, the only part of the United States invaded during World War II.
The Devil’s Brigade by Patrick Larsimont is published on 21 October, 2026.
For more of this year’s new historical fiction, have a look at Historia’s list of over 210 books coming out in 2026.
