Army Rangers
Small groups of soldiers trained to make surprise raids behind enemy lines. Although units called “Rangers” were operating in the U.S. West as early as 1670, and the Rangers commanded by Cap. Benjamin Church played a significant role in ending King Philip's War (1675-76), it was Maj. Robert Rogers who organized nine companies of colonists to fight for the British in the French and Indian War (1754-63) in 1756 and codified and developed the concept of such a military group. He published a list of twenty-eight common sense combat rules as well as a set of standing orders that stressed operational preparedness, security, and tactics. Rogers set up a training program for his ranger units, and, in June 1758, was using live-fire exercises. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress established six companies of expert riflemen—two in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia—the organization George Washington called the “Corps of Rangers.” Francis Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox, ” had learned how to use swamps and forests for cover from the Cherokees, and he and his rangers terrorized the British in South Carolina using Native American techniques of surprise attack and sudden disappearance. The most famous rangers of the Civil War were those serving in the Confederate Army under Col. John S. Mosby, which began as a three-man scouting unit and grew to eight companies by 1865. There were rangers active in the Union Army as well, in particular Mean's Rangers, who captured Confederate Gen. James Longstreet's ammunition train and a portion of Mosby's Rangers.
In 1942, the War Department decided to organize a unit of soldiers similar to the British Commandos and authorized the activation of the First U. S. Army Ranger Battalion, activated on June 19, 1942. They served with distinction in the campaigns of Northern Africa and the invasion of Italy. There were six Ranger battalions active in World War II that carried out dangerous missions in the Omaha Beach landings of the Normandy Invasion in 1944, fought through the difficult Central Europe Campaign, and engaged the Japanese in the Pacific theater in battles in the Philippines, rescuing 500 survivors of the Bataan Death March. Perhaps the most well-known Ranger outfit is Merrill's Marauders, named after its commander Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill, the U.S. ground unit charged with spearheading the mission behind enemy lines in Burma and the destruction of Japanese communications and supply lines. In 1944, this unit was merged with the 475th Infantry, and, in 1974, the 475th became the modern 75th Infantry Regiment. In 1950, as a result of their successes, airborne Ranger infantry became an integral part of every U.S. infantry division.
Numerous units of the Army Rangers have fought in all the major wars and conflicts of the United States, including Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf War. Most notable, however, was the failed attempt to rescue the Iran hostages in 1980, a mission carried out by the 1st Battalion of the 75th Infantry. In 1984, the Department of the Army recognized the effectiveness of its Ranger Battalions by increasing the size of the active duty force and establishing a Ranger Regimental Headquarters.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
