The White Home and Congress lately acknowledged the few remaining World Struggle II veterans of a legendary special-operations unit.
In June, President Joe Biden signed laws awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to US Army Rangers who battle in a few of its the battle’s most vital battles.
The medals, one of many US’s highest civilian awards, “goes to go to US Army Ranger veterans of World Struggle II — Rangers who performed a vital position within the D-Day invasion in Normandy,” Biden mentioned in a ceremony on June 7.
“This elite group as soon as numbered 7,000, however now it is all the way down to 12. A dozen left. On behalf of our nation, we need to thank them for his or her heroism and their service,” Biden advertded.
The Rangers cast their legacy on the plains of Europe and within the jungles of Asia throughout World Struggle II, and two operations finest mirror their contribution to the Allied victory.
Pointe du Hoc
US Navy
Some of the daring operations in Ranger historical past occurred in the course of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.
Allied forces landed on 5 seashores — Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Utah. US troops have been accountable for Omaha and Utah seashores, that are separated by Pointe du Hoc, a strategically situated cliff overlooking each seashores.
The Germans had fortified Pointe du Hoc with heavy artillery that may very well be lethal to US troops on the seashores and to Allied warships supporting the invasion.
To neutralize the German menace, Allied commanders assigned Lt. Col. James Rudder’s 2nd Ranger Battalion and its 200 Rangers to take down the German place earlier than the landings started.
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On D-Day, Allied plane and ships launched greater than 630 tons of munitions in opposition to Pointe du Hoc in an try and suppress the German defenders forward of the primary landings. The bombardment didn’t destroy the German weapons and fortifications and tore up the bottom and cliffs across the German positions, complicating the Rangers’ assault plans.
To get to the German positions, the Rangers needed to climb sheer 100-foot cliffs whereas beneath German hearth. The US commandos used ropes and ladders to get to the highest, the place they stormed and destroyed the artillery emplacements. Nevertheless, the Germans counterattacked in pressure, pinning down the Rangers.
By the second day of the invasion, the Rangers had suffered greater than 50% casualties and had solely about 90 males nonetheless in a position to battle. The Germans tried to dislodge the Rangers and throw them again into the water with repeated counterattacks, however the American commandos held quick, and on the third day of the invasion, reinforcements lastly arrived to alleviate them.
Cabanatuan
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Army Rangers distinguished themselves once more a number of months later and hundreds of miles away.
On the finish of 1944, the tide of the battle within the Pacific was altering in favor of the Allies. Japan’s military and navy have been on the defensive, and Allied forces have been recapturing island after island. Amid their retreat, Japanese troops continued and, in some circumstances, elevated their battle crimes.
In December 1944, as US troops have been advancing within the Philippines, Japanese troops shot or burned alive 139 Allied prisoners of battle, lots of whom had survived the notorious Bataan Dying March.
A couple of Individuals escaped the killing and reported the atrocities to approaching Allied forces. US commanders realized that different Allied prisoners of battle confronted imminent execution. The Cabanatuan jail camp within the Philippines was the most important within the area, holding greater than 500 Allied POWs.
On January 30, 1945, some 120 Alamo Scouts and Rangers from the sixth Ranger Battalion, supported by 200 Filipino guerrillas, launched a rescue operation. To get to Cabanatuan, the commandos needed to march 30 miles behind enemy strains.
CORBIS/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs
As soon as in place, they attacked the camp from the entrance and flank, catching the Japanese guards unawares. The shock was full, and shortly Rangers had rescued all of the Allied POWs there.
The Cabanatuan raid is the most important prisoner-of-war rescue in US special-operations historical past.
One of many Rangers current, Maj. Arthur “Bull” Simons, grow to be a legend within the special-operations neighborhood and took in Operation Ivory Coast, the special-operations prisoner-rescue try at Son Tay jail camp in North Vietnam. US Particular Operations Command acknowledges its high member yearly with the Bull Simons Award.
At the moment, the legacy of these commandos lives on within the seventy fifth Ranger Regiment, the world’s premier gentle infantry special-operations unit and an integral a part of the US special-operations arsenal. Rangers are the go-to special-operations unit for many contingencies and are one of many few US navy models that has been constantly deployed for the reason that September 11 assaults.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a protection journalist specializing in particular operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (nationwide service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins College graduate.
