1st Ranger Battalion

Each year on June 19, we pause to recognize the birthday of one of the most respected and storied forces in the United States Army: the U.S. Army Rangers.

There’s a comforting lie that clings to elite units: that skill, courage, and reputation bend reality. Cisterna shattered that lie. Not gently, catastrophically. On 30 January 1944, two U.S. Army’s Ranger Battalions walked into an ambush so complete it erased the unit as a combat formation. This wasn’t a tragedy …