The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as the Rangers, is the United States Army Special Operations Command's premier light-infantry and special operations force. The regiment is headquartered at Fort Benning, Georgia, and comprises a regimental headquarters company, a military intelligence battalion, a special troops battalion, and three Ranger battalions.
The 75th Ranger Regiment primarily handles direct-action raids in hostile or sensitive environments, often killing or capturing high-value targets. Other missions include airfield seizure, special reconnaissance, personnel recovery, clandestine insertion, and site exploitation. The regiment can deploy one Ranger battalion within 18 hours of alert notification. The regiment's subunit the Regimental Reconnaissance Company is part of Joint Special Operations Command.
The 75th Ranger Regiment is one of the U.S. military's most extensively used units. On 17 December 2020, it marked 7,000 consecutive days of combat operations.
History Origin
American Ranger history predates the American Revolutionary War. Captain Benjamin Church formed Church's Rangers, which fought hostile Native American tribes during King Philip's War (1675–1678). In 1756, Robert Rogers recruited nine Ranger companies to fight in the French and Indian War. They were known as "Rogers' Rangers". The 75th Regiment's history dates back to these rifle companies organized by Rogers, which made long-range attacks against French forces and their native allies, and were instrumental in capturing Fort Detroit.
During the American Revolutionary War, Rogers served as a Loyalist officer on the side of the Crown and many of his former Rangers served on both sides. One, John Stark, commanded the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, which gained fame at the Battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington. Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys in Vermont were also designated as a ranger unit. In 1775, the Continental Congress later formed eight companies of expert riflemen to fight in the Revolutionary War. In 1777, this force commanded by Daniel Morgan, was known as The Corps of Rangers. Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox", organized another famous Revolutionary War Ranger element known as "Marion's Partisans". Perhaps the most famous Ranger unit in the Revolutionary War was Butler's Rangers, from upstate New York.
During the War of 1812, companies of United States Rangers were raised from among the frontier settlers as part of the regular army. Throughout the war, they patrolled the frontier from Ohio to Western Illinois on horseback and by boat. Rangers participated in many skirmishes and battles with the British and their American Indian allies. Various military Ranger units such as the United States Mounted Rangers, United States Rangers, Loudoun Rangers, 43rd Virginia Rangers, and Texas Military Rangers continued until the modern formation of the Army Ranger Battalions in World War II.
World War II battalions
1st Ranger Battalion Soon after the United States entered World War II in 1941, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, envisioned an elite unit of fifty men selected voluntarily from the 34th Infantry Division. To create and lead this new unit, Marshall picked Major William Orlando Darby, who was serving as General Russell P. Hartle's aide in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was frustrated with his lack of hands-on experience. On 8 June 1942, Darby—now known as the founder of the modern Rangers—was put in charge of the 1st Ranger Battalion under General Hartle.
On 19 August 1942, fifty Rangers fought alongside Canadian and British Commandos in the ill-fated Dieppe Raid on the coast of occupied France. Three Rangers were killed and several were captured. The first American soldier killed in Europe in World War II, Ranger Lieutenant E. V. Loustalot, was part of this raid. During the mission, Loustalot took command after the British captain leading the assault was killed. While attempting to reach a machine gun nest at the top of a cliff, he was wounded three times by enemy fire and killed.
In November 1942, the entire 1st Ranger Battalion entered combat for the first time when they landed at Arzew, French Algeria during Operation Torch. The 1st were split into two groups in hopes of assaulting Vichy-French batteries and fortifications before the 1st Infantry Division would land on the beach. The operation was successful, and the unit sustained minimal casualties.
On 11 February 1943, the Rangers moved to raid an Italian encampment at Sened Station. Moving at night, the Rangers slipped to within of the Italian outpost and began their attack. It took the battalion only 20 minutes to overtake the garrison and achieve their objective. Seventy-five Italians were killed and eleven were taken prisoner. Darby, along with four other officers and nine enlisted, was awarded the Silver Star Medal for this action. The battalion itself gained the nickname the "Black Death" by the Italians.
At the time, the Italians still held the pass at Djebel El Ank, located at the far east edge of El Guettar. The Rangers linked up with engineers elements of the 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, to attack the area in preparation for the Battle of El Guettar. The 1st Rangers orders were to move overland, on foot to outflank the enemy's position. In eight hours of fighting, the Americans captured the objective; the 1st Rangers took 200 prisoners.
Creation of 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions With the success of the 1st Ranger Battalion during the Tunisian campaign, Darby requested that the Rangers be expanded to a full Regiment. The request was granted. The 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions were authorized shortly after and were trained and led by veteran officers and NCOs from the 1st Battalion. After getting the "green light" to expand, Darby ran into a problem: the Rangers only took volunteers. Darby, knowing that the best man for the job was not always a volunteer, sought out men around Oran. Although he was still limited in that he could only accept volunteers, he began to find ways around this. For instance, he began to give speeches, put up posters, and encourage his officers to scout around for eligible candidates. By June 1943, the three Ranger battalions were fully operational. 1st Rangers were still under Colonel Darby; the 3rd Rangers under Major Herman Dammer, and the 4th Rangers commanded by Major Roy Murray.
1st and 4th Ranger Battalions were paired together and placed with General Terry Allen's 1st Division to spearhead the American landings of the Sicily campaign. Landing outside Gela, the Rangers took the town just after midnight, starting off the Battle of Gela. They held Gela, enduring 50 hours of constant attack by enemy artillery, tank, and air forces.
Following their success, the two Ranger battalions were then ordered to take the town of Butera, a fortress suspended on the high edge of the cliff at Butera beach. After almost withdrawing from the battle, and requesting artillery to level the city, a platoon of Rangers volunteered to breach its defenses. Two privates, John See and John Constantine, snuck in behind enemy lines and tricked the Italians and Germans into surrendering the city.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Ranger Battalion headed out into the area of Agrigento, where they marched through Campobello, Naro, and Favara, successfully occupying each town. The 3rd then took the town of Porto Empedocle.
Colonel Darby was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and was promoted by General George Patton; however, Darby, wanting to be closer to his men, turned down this promotion.
Fall of 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalions
After a break for Christmas 1943, the Rangers were put together for a joint effort to occupy the town of Cisterna before the main infantry division moved in. On the night of 30 January 1944, the 1st and 3rd battalions moved into the town, passing many German soldiers who did not appear to notice the Rangers slip by. The 4th Ranger Battalion, which approached the town from the opposite end, met opposition almost immediately on the road. During the night, the 1st and 3rd Ranger battalions separated by about , and when daylight caught the 1st Ranger Battalion out in an open field, the Germans began their ambush. Surrounded and unable to escape, the two Ranger battalions fought on until they exhausted their ammunition and resources. The 4th Ranger Battalion pushed to save their comrades but were forced to withdraw. After five hours of fighting, the Rangers surrendered to the German armor and mechanized infantry. The two battalions sustained 12 killed, 36 wounded, and 743 captured—only eight were able to escape. The 4th Battalion suffered 30 killed and 58 wounded.
This marked the end of the three Ranger battalions. The remaining 400 Rangers were scattered around the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the 137 original Rangers were sent home. 1st and 3rd Battalions were disbanded on 15 August 1944, while 4th Battalion was disbanded on 24 October 1944, at Camp Butner, North Carolina.
2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions
The 2nd Ranger Battalion and 5th Ranger Battalion were trained at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, on 1 April 1943. They first saw action 6 June 1944, during Operation Overlord. During D-day 2nd Rangers companies D, E, and F, were ordered to take a strategic German outpost at Pointe du Hoc. This coastal cliff was supposed to have several 155 mm artillery guns aimed down at the beach. Once they arrived at the bottom of the cliff, they had an enormous climb to make up rope ladders while receiving a barrage of machinegun fire from the Germans above. The 2nd Rangers took the area even with the intense German resistance but the guns were not in sight. A patrol scouting the area found the 155 mm coastal guns a mile away; the patrol party quickly disabled the guns and resistance in the area. In an interview, Leonard Lomell and Jack Kuhn explained the events that took place that day:
Meanwhile, the rest of the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions spearheaded the attack on the beach at Omaha. An apocryphal story tells of when General Norman Cota, leading the 29th Infantry Division, met with Major Max F. Schneider, commanding the 5th Ranger Battalion. When Schneider was asked his unit by Cota, someone yelled out "5th Rangers!", to which Cota replied, "Well then Goddammit, Rangers, lead the way!" This drive cut the German line allowing the conventional army to move in. The phrase "Rangers lead the way" later became the motto of the regiment. The 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions worked on special operation tasks in the Normandy Campaign. The two battalions fought in many battles such as Battle for Brest and the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. The 2nd Rangers were responsible for capturing Le Conquet Peninsula, where they disabled a 280 mm gun and took many German prisoners. The 2nd Ranger Battalion also went on to take several tactical German positions, cutting the German line in the Rhineland. In Saar west of Zerf, the 5th Battalion took an overlooking German position cutting of all supply routes to German forces.
6th Ranger Battalion The 6th Ranger Battalion was stationed in the Pacific, and served mostly in the Philippines and New Guinea. All operations completed by the 6th Battalion were done in company- or platoon-size behind enemy lines. They were the first soldiers to hit the Philippines, three days before the army would launch the first invasion. The 6th Ranger Battalion conducted long-range reconnaissance, operating miles past the front line.
At Cabanatuan, on the island of Luzon in January 1945, a company of the 6th Ranger Battalion executed the Raid at Cabanatuan. The Rangers penetrated behind enemy lines, including crawling a mile () across an open field on their stomachs. During their final assault the Rangers destroyed a garrison of Japanese soldiers twice their size and rescued 500 POWs.