Major General Robert T. Frederick

MG Robert T. Frederick

Commanding General, First Special Service Force
(1907-1970)

Bio

MG Robert T. Frederick organized, trained, and led the combined Canadian-American First Special Service Force (FSSF) in World War II. Originally conceived as a commando action force to counter the Nazi occupation of Norway, the concept was reoriented to an elite fighting element trained for cold weather, mountainous, and amphibious operations.

The FSSF assaulted the Japanese-held island of Kiska in the Aleutians, before being shifted to the Italian campaign. The Force breached the German Winter Line at Monte La Difensa, defended a major portion of the Anzio beachhead, and was the first Allied unit into Rome. Frederick later commanded the First Airborne Task Force during Operation DRAGOON, the invasion of Southern France. He was the commander of the 45th Infantry Division on its final drive into Germany.

Frederick, a true fighting general, was wounded eight times and awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses and one Silver Star. His legacy of leadership continues in the Special Forces Groups, which draw their Army lineage from the FSSF, with the Force arrowhead patch, and the Special Forces Branch insignia, the crossed arrows of the Force.

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