The Battalion: The Dramatic Story of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in World War II

With a centuries’ old warrior heritage, American Rangers endured the most difficult training that man could devise to overcome the most difficult challenges of the enemy and nature. For more than fourteen months, the volunteers that made up the 2nd Ranger Battalion had been finely honed for combat. Now, on June 6, 1944--D-Day--their battle would begin. The payoff was at hand. As the ramps of the landing craft went down, rockets on the sides of the ship fired ropes and grapnels skyward toward the cliff top. Some ropes fell short, men stepped into water that was over their heads and, loaded with equipment weighing over a hundred pounds, sank like stones. Sound and fury combined with fear and determination. Some men thought of the words they had heard each time they were tempted to complain: "You volunteered." Goes into exceptional detail on the D-Day assault of the gun positions at Pointe du Hoc, including how it almost ended in total failure. Unlike most books on the U.S. Army Rangers, this one also covers the many battles fought by the Rangers after D-Day and also lists the names of the Rangers who fought in the 2nd Battalion, including those who were casualties and those who were decorated for valor. Based on original documents and interviews with the surviving veterans by the author.

Robert W. Black, a highly decorated U.S. Army colonel who served as a Ranger in Korea and Vietnam, is author of several books, including Rangers in World War II (0804105650), and Cavalry Raids of the Civil War (081173157X).