Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: US Army Rangers  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Special Forces & Missions', 'Japanese Kamikazes', 'HitlerJugend', 'Medals: Heroes with Military Decorations', 'SAS'.

Monthly elite reunions bring together World War II Army Rangers
There's an elite meeting on the first Saturday of each month in Bloomington as a small group of WW II Army Rangers get together. Every year their number grows smaller. The Rangers weren't numerous back in 1942, for that matter, when they were organized to give the U.S. a urgently needed capability to do commando raids. Then at Cisterna, Italy, in 1944, they were nearly annihilated. The 1st Ranger Battalion was "the fighting-est unit in World War II," said Don Frederick. Training in Achnacarry, Scotland, included savage speed marches, cliff-scaling and the "death ride": a rope slide over a river while live ammo was fired and demolition charges exploded.     [ startribune :: 2008-01-10 :: US Army Rangers ]

Joseph Fineberg was with the legendary "Darby's Rangers"
When Army Capt. Joseph N. Fineberg returned to Philly on a 21-day leave in May 1944, the 2500 block of North Corlies Street went wild. American flags fluttered from the windows; a huge banner read "Welcome Home." Joe was embarrassed by the attention, and uniformed soldiers who had not yet tasted the sting of battle plied him for tips. Joe was a bona fide war hero, receiving 3 battlefield commissions as an Army Ranger and the Bronze Star for valor. He was with the "Darby's Rangers" in the Italian campaign. Life ran a story about him in July 1944, and his exploits were written in books and the 1958 film "Darby's Rangers" included a character based on him.     [ philly :: 2007-06-30 :: US Army Rangers ]

Army Ranger who helped plan 1944 D-Day invasion dies
Russell "Ranger Russ" Worman, an Army Ranger who helped plan the Normandy invasion of WWII, died at 82. In Dec 1943, he was sent to England, where he trained for 4 months with British commandos, studying intelligence, map-reading and booby-trap rigging. Then he spent two months poring over photos and models of the landing area. Working in General Dwight D. Eisenhower's office, he helped plan Operation Overlord. Eisenhower had a nickname for him: "the young Ranger with a big cigar." With the elite 2nd Ranger Battalion he landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, as part of the first wave of Allied soldiers invading Normandy on D-Day.     [ sptimes :: 2007-03-10 :: US Army Rangers ]

2nd Ranger Battalion - Cliffs west of Omaha Beach on D-Day
O'Keefe was with the Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion. He and 225 Rangers used grappling hooks to scale 100-foot cliffs west of Omaha Beach on 1944 D-Day. They climbed with strength through a storm of grenades and withering enemy fire to take the high ground at Pointe du Hoc and eliminate German artillery batteries. Only 90 of the Rangers survived the assault. He returned to Normandy 3 times and met with presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton during the 40th, 50th and 60th D-Day anniversary ceremonies. He never made a fuss about his military service, other than attending reunions and funerals of fellow Rangers.     [ timesunion :: 2006-07-15 :: D-Day, Normandy & Operation Overlord ]

Army Rangers: an elite fighting force - first invasion forces
Army Rangers were a small, elite fighting force referred to as "spearheaders" for being the first invasion forces on beaches. On D-Day the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions stormed ashore at Normandy. There were 16 million Americans in uniform during World War II, and 8.3 million of them were in the Army. The six Ranger Battalions totaled 3,000 men; replacements raised that figure to 7,000. The 5th Rangers were diverted to Omaha Beach on D-Day when Lt. Col. Max Schneider did not receive the code word to land at Pointe du Hoc. 2nd Rangers were to scale the cliffs and destroy the heavy German guns that could rake the Omaha Beach and annihilate the invasion force.     [ ljworld :: 2006-06-07 :: US Army Rangers ]

Rangers Battalion played heroic role in camp liberation
By the end of Jan 1945, as Allied forces advanced against Japanese positions, the writing was on the wall for any Japanese military leader who cared to read it. But as US forces neared PoW camps, it became more dangerous for the men. That fact was shown at Palawan when more than 150 Allied POWs were herded into air raid shelters, doused with gasoline and burned alive to prevent them from being liberated. Concerns grew about the 512 survivors of the Bataan Death March. A daring raid by an volunteer force consisting of 120 members of 6th Ranger Battalion, a dozen Alamo Scouts and more than 200 Filipino guerrillas was formed to rescue the POWs.     [ ljworld :: 2006-05-23 :: US Army Rangers ]

Reunion of World War II Rangers
Historians argue whether the demise of Darby's Rangers was the result of faulty intelligence and poor planning on their mission to capture Cisterna, or was due to the German General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's strategic deployment of forces. But the fight that ensued was the end of 3 battalions of untested replacements and battle-hardened veterans, most of whom had spearheaded invasions and fought their way through Africa, Sicily and Italy. Only a handful of men from the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions escaped after an overwhelming force of German soldiers - equipped with mortars and tanks - surrounded them.     [ ljworld :: 2006-03-03 :: US Army Rangers ]

See also

'Special Forces & Missions'

'Japanese Kamikazes'

'HitlerJugend'

'Medals: Heroes with Military Decorations'

'SAS'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.