U.S. Army Rangers: Leading the Way for 250 Years: An Illustrated History

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“What outfit is this?” General Norman Cota bellowed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. From the midst of the heavy machine-gun fire on Omaha Beach came the cry “Fifth Rangers!”

“Well, goddamn it then, Rangers,” Cota replied, “lead the way!” And “Rangers Lead the Way” has been the U.S. Army Ranger motto ever since.

A pictorial tribute to this formidable force on the 65th anniversary of the creation of the 1st Ranger Battalion, U.S. Army Rangers celebrates the past, history, and future of the Rangers. With spectacular illustrations, photographs, and text, the book begins with Rogers’ Rangers, a British Independent Company of Rangers formed in 1755 . The tactics Major Robert Rogers developed for use against the French, his “Rangers Standing Orders,” are still used by the U.S. Rangers to this day. The book continues through the Revoutionary and Civil Wars to the creation of the Ranger battalions in World War II to the exploits of today’s 75th Ranger Regiment . Along the way we witness the bravery of William O. Darby’s 1st, 3rd, and 4th Rangers in North Africa and Italy; the boldness of the 5th Rangers at Omaha Beach; the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Pointe du Hoc; and the 6th Ranger Battalion’s daring raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

From their heroic battles in World War II, their service in Korea, their reformation during Vietnam as the 75th Ranger Infantry Regiment , and finally to their powerful presence in today’s U.S. Army, this book shows the Rangers’ evolution into the world’s elite conventional operations force.