The Secret Soldiers the US Was Afraid to Send to War

It was the night before one of the most momentous military invasions in human history, and hundreds of C-47 Skytrains crossed the English Channel carrying thousands of brave paratroopers about to face the darkest chapter of their lives. The warplanes carried a group of paratroopers like no other, with mohawk haircuts and tribal face paint. The team led by the rebellious and indomitable Jake 'McNasty' McNiece laughed and joked even as his plane was engulfed by fierce German anti-aircraft fire. When the Skytrain lost altitude, McNiece ordered his men to prepare for the jump. The lights inside the cabin turned red and the men stood up amid the fire and thunder.

As McNiece and his comrade Willy reached the door, anti-aircraft fire tore through the belly of the warplane, hitting Willy's backpack and unraveling his parachute inside the plane. Now significantly damaged, the C-37 continued to lose altitude as Willy desperately tried to pick up his parachute and move away from the gate so other paratroopers could jump. McNiece then jumped into the anti-aircraft gunlit skies over France and the Skytrain exploded in mid-air just seconds later. There was no time to cry, as McNiece and the rest of the famous Filthy Thirteen group were now behind enemy lines in Normandy, and they had a crucial mission to finish...

Hell-Raiser Jake McNiece grew up during the depths of the Great Depression and He had to work to support his family from the age of ten. Hunting and fishing to feed his relatives gave the young man formidable physical condition that helped him excel when he finally returned to school. In high school, McNiece joined the football team and found work as a firefighter. He soon gained a reputation as a defiant teenager who would do anything to win. One of his teachers would remember: (QUOTE) "he wasn't

afraid

of the devil and always did unconventional things." Shortly after his graduation, the United States entered World War II.

Then, after a nasty fight in his Oklahoma hometown, where he beat a man to a pulp, he decided to enlist to get the police off his back. McNiece did not want to join the infantry and instead decided to join the emerging American paratrooper experiment; He thought he would be left deep inside enemy lines and obey no one as he engaged German

soldiers

in hand-to-hand combat. He would later say: (QUOTE) "If a man wanted to kill me, I wanted to look him in the eyes." And so, the mischievous Jake McNiece became the problem of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment...

A wild bunch Including parachute units in the US military was a risky and ambitious experiment, since US authorities knew that many

soldiers

They would not reach the ground alive. The recruiter told McNiece when he asked to join, going so far as to let him know that only 10 out of every thousand aspiring parachutists made it through the excruciating physical training. Still, McNiece excelled during training and quickly became the top recruit in his unit. But he was as reckless as he was capable and soon became known in the camp for his defiant antics. Fearful of influencing other recruits, McNiece was placed in a particular "troublemaker" unit, where five would-be paratroopers were assigned to a single tent.

The accommodations were abandoned and the tents had no flooring apart from the slushy mud of the Georgian countryside. But McNiece and his men didn't care about appearances and chose to save water for cooking rather than cleaning themselves, soon earning the nickname the Dirty Five. McNiece and the Dirty Five continued to earn a reputation as rebels: they didn't take roll call, they got drunk, and they regularly participated in bar fights. One night, after causing a major fight inside a bar, two military police intervened. When the officers began beating one of McNiece's friends into submission, he assaulted them, disarmed them, and fired in all directions to empty their weapons, leaving the officers injured and perplexed.

McNiece was severely punished and was the only recruit not to be promoted during his training. Still, the authorities knew he was the best and they needed him. When someone suggested to McNiece's commander that he should discharge him, he responded: (QUOTE) "McNiece isn't hurting anything, there will be a time when you will be very glad to have MacNiece around." Mohawks and Warpaint By the time they arrived in England, the Dirty Five had become the Filthy Thirteen. The group then continued rehearsing jumps in preparation for the Normandy landings. Even out of combat, McNiece had lost several friends due to parachute failures.

Still, the Filthy Thirteen enjoyed the danger and risk that came with the job, and when they weren't jumping out of planes, they caused chaos around the camp as a way to let off steam. During an advanced demolition training session a few days before D-Day, McNiece installed a charge on a nearby tree that was activated when a patrolling soldier passed by, causing the man to panic. The top brass arrested the entire group, but they were released to participate in the Normandy operations. The thirteen men had now formed a unique and feared unit. Before leaving for Normandy, the men saw McNiece with his face painted and a Mohawk haircut.

He told them that he was part Indian and that it was part of his cultural and spiritual heritage. The paint, he said, would make excellent camouflage once they were behind enemy lines. In truth, only part of the story was genuine; Jake's mother was half Choctaw, but everything else was made up. Encouraged by McNiece, the men cut their hair and painted their faces. They then boarded the fighter plane wearing a disheartening look that would spread around the world when the press published images of the peculiar warriors about to be dropped into Nazi-occupied France. Everyone wanted to know what the Filthy Thirteen were really capable of...

Normandy Jump Before deployment, McNiece's mission changed; The task he had been given transformed into a much more vital role: he and his men had to blow up the bridges under the Douve Canal and then capture and hold the main bridge. The crucial mission required additional support, and McNiece requested six more paratroopers knowing that he would lose at least half of his men during the jump. The unit took off from England at 11:00 p.m. on June 5, 1944, along with almost a thousand other C-47s loaded with thousands of paratroopers. They enjoyed a bright, clear night for about 20 minutes before seeing the first flak around them.

The next few minutes were frantic and wild for the young paratroopers; Their plane was heavily attacked and losing altitude, forcing them to jump prematurely. McNiece barely escaped the plane before it exploded and many of his friends lost their lives, including Willy, whose parachute had been deployed by enemy fire. The entire parachute operation was plagued by tragedy, and half of the soldiers who took off from Britain never returned. It was no different for the Filthy Thirteen, and McNiece lost more than half of his men during the jump and the minutes afterward. Still, three of the surviving men managed to reunite in the war-torn fields of Normandy, and were joined by twelve other American paratroopers who had been separated from their units.

From the moment they landed, they were attacked by German soldiers and had to react quickly and defend themselves. The Americans identified themselves by the sound of their rifles in contrast to the German fire; as such, they were able to regroup and repel the Germans. Holding the Bridge Once they were on their feet again, McNiece and his men managed to reach the main Douve Canal, blow up some smaller bridges, and advance towards the main bridge. The goal was to capture and preserve it so it could be used by American troops. If they could not hold the crossing, they had orders to blow it up so that the Germans could not use it to reinforce the beachheads.

Against all odds, the Filthy Thirteen dug in on one side of the bridge and maintained control, preventing the Germans from crossing. Then, after three days of holding the bridge under constant German fire from across the channel, American authorities decided that McNiece's unit had been wiped out and sent a squadron of P-51 Mustangs to blow up the bridge. The Mustangs entered and destroyed the bridge and at the same time attacked the German and American positions on either side of the canal. McNiece and his men were well entrenched and survived the attack, after which they continued to defend their positions.

Two days passed and the Germans were significantly driven back from the beachheads. Then, a large group of Germans became trapped in a flooded area near where McNiece and his men were positioned. There were over 700 enemy soldiers and McNiece had managed to assemble a team of 40. Fortunately, the German commander sent a messenger asking McNiece to surrender, thus avoiding total annihilation. However, McNiece responded by saying that they would never give in but were more than welcome to submit to them. The German officer was furious and felt insulted, so he decided to attack. McNiece then ordered his men to hold fire until most of the Germans abandoned their trenches.

Jake already had machine guns, mortars and all the equipment he needed for a formidable defense. Still, when the Germans were halfway to McNiece, he ordered his men to open fire. The attack was devastating for the Germans and McNiece claims to have claimed the lives of almost 700 enemy soldiers. Continuing Chaos The Filthy Thirteen consisted of over 30 different men throughout the war and continued to wreak havoc on the Germans while loving every minute of it. Despite severe injuries and incredibly long odds, McNiece survived and accomplished numerous missions. He attributes his rebellious attitude and reckless approach to his survival;

The paratroopers were already some of the best and most aggressive American soldiers of the war, and McNiece took that perception and expanded it into a genuinely fearsome threat to the Axis powers. McNiece's father would later comment on his son's achievements in the war: (QUOTE) "I think he was trying to build on the idea that 'if they're

afraid

of us like crazy paratroopers, well, it just makes us look crazier.' ". McNiece became one of the only paratroopers to make four wartime jumps and live to tell the tale. After Normandy, he jumped as part of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.

He was then sent to Germany before the Battle of the Bulge for reconnaissance duties. When the war waned, he volunteered for pioneer training, anticipating that he would remain out the rest of the war at a training camp in England. To his surprise, his unit was called in for a final jump to Bastogne to guide resupply drops. He was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor for his brave actions in France in 2012. At the end of the day, the officers who put up with McNiece's antics during training were proven right; The war needed men like him.

Iconic and legendary unit not only because of his exaggerated appearance but also because of his incredible combat feats. Jake McNiece, with the help of historian Kaleo Griffith, would end up documenting all of his wartime adventures in the book 'The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest', which only added more fuel to the legend. Thanks for watching our video! For more epic war stories from the World Wars, click on your screen and watch another of our Dark Documentary channels, where we delve into the actions of the bravest men and the most unique military technology that changed the destiny of the world.

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