history

2nd Ranger Battalion- a brief unit history

1 April 1943. 2nd Ranger Battalion is activated at Camp Forrest, Tennessee under Lt Col William C Saffarans, with approximately 500 volunteer culled primarily from the 29th, 76th, and 80th divisions. Other volunteers came over from various armor, artillery and air corps units. The battalion is formed along the structure of the 1st Ranger Battalion headed by Col William O Darby, and a small cardre is sent from North Africa to assist in the development of the unit. 6 Assault companies (A-F) and a headquarters detachment are organized. Intense physical training ensues. More than half of these initial volunteers would not complete the training.

19 April 1943 During the North African Campaign, authority to activate 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions is given to Col Darby in preparation for operation Husky (the Invasion of Sicily).

30 June 1943.. Major James E Rudder assumes command of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. Additional units to provide volunteers are the 100th, 79th and 106th divisions. Additional recruits are also selected to form the 5th Ranger Battalion. Rudder reorganizes the battalion NCO and Officer corps, and increases the level of physical training and discipline to weed out the malcontents.

4 September 1943. The Battalion is transferred to Camp Pierce, Florida to take part in a 2 week amphibious assault training course.

16 September 1943. The Battalion is shipped north to Fort Dix New Jersey where intense small arms training is conducted., The unit is given instruction in use of demolitions, anti tank weapons, machine guns and mortars. Gas mask training is also introduced.

29 September 1943. The battalion recieves their famed "Ranger Diamonds" insignia, a blue diamond patch with the word "RANGERS"rangers inscribed in yellow.

30 November 1943. The Men of the battalion are trucked to New York City to board the Queen Elizabeth The ship is bound for Scotland.

2 December 1943. 2nd Rangers are transferred to Bude, England, a southern coastal resort town whose most notable feature is a sheer cliff at the edge of a short beach. The Rangers begin practicing cliff climbing under the leadership of British Commandos.

15 March 1944 Col Rudder is given top secret "BIGOT" clearance and is told of the D-Day plans for his unit by General Omar Bradley. " I Thought he was kidding" Rudder was reported to have said to an interviewer years later.

Pointe Du Hoc is a triangle shaped promontory located at the western edge of the area designated as OMAHA beach by Allied planners. Atop this cliff were six 155mm long range guns which had a range of 12 miles. From this position fire could be brought to bear on any point of OMAHA to the east, or UTAH to the northwest, or could endanger the fleet at sea . These guns needed to be removed in the opening round or the entire landing could be placed in jeopardy.
Companies D, E and F of the 2nd Ranger Battalion would land at the foot of these cliffs and, using climbing ropes attached to rocket fired grapnels, would scale the cliffs and assault the guns. Company C would land at the western edge of OMAHA and attempt to take the point from the landward side. A and B companies, along with the entire 5th Ranger Battalion would be the follow on force up the cliffs once the assault teams were atop the cliff .

For a complete summary of the Pointe Du Hoc Mission click here to read
written by the Historical Division of the War Department in 1946

3 June 1944 Rangers are trucked to Weymouth England to board LCAs to be taken to the awaiting ships at sea. Lt Bob Edlin of A Company was photographed and credited as the first man to board a craft headed for Normandy.

06 June 1944 D-DAY Ranger companies D,E.F reach the Pointe, a half hour late due to navigational errors, reaching the beach at 0700 hrs rather than 0630. The follow on force was to wait until 0700 hrs for the radio signal "Praise The Lord" meaning that the Rangers were atop the Pointe, or "Tilt" meaning do not send the follow on force up the cliff. If no word was recieved, they were to assume the mission had failed and land at OMAHA beach to try to take the point from landward. No word was recieved until 0725 by which time the reinforcements were already landing on the beaches. The 225 Rangers would be alone.
Once atop the Pointe the men found the casemates were empty, that no guns were present. Patrols moved inland to look for the guns, which were located in an orchard by Sgts Len Lomell and Jack Kuhn. Thermite grenades were used to melt the mechanisms and render the weapons useless.
The Rangers then prepared defensive positions and held off German counterattacks for 2 days until elements of the 5th Rangers and 29th Infantry Divisions linked up with them. Of the 225 Rangers who assaulted the cliffs, approximately 90 were left standing when they were reached on June 8th.