--- title: "More than half of the World War II 1st Ranger Battalion came from one National Guard division" date: "2026-10-18" modified: "2026-10-18" authors: - name: "Dave Grove" job_title: "Marine Corps and Army National Guard Veteran, Contributor" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/dave-grove.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/1st-ranger-battalion-national-guard-world-war-ii/" categories: - "Army" - "History" - "War History" - "World War II" tags: - "Army" - "Military History" - "National Guard" - "Rangers" - "World War II" --- # More than half of the World War II 1st Ranger Battalion came from one National Guard division ![1st ranger battalion british commandos army]() *United States soldiers of the 1st Ranger Battalion training with British Commandos, somewhere in the United Kingdom. (National Archives)* The term "Ranger" was once used for sworn officers protecting forests has evolved over the centuries to describe some of the most elite soldiers in the U.S. military. The United States Army Rangers trace their heritage back to the 17th century, when independent, light infantry units in New England were recruited to fight in King Philip's War. Since then, the Rangers built a long-standing reputation of combat excellence and an earned ego that rivals the Marine Corps. For much of their history, they looked quite different from the Rangers we know today. **Also Read: [A National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II]()** In 1942, the 1st Ranger Battalion was formed to fight the Axis during World War II. The first of these Rangers joined British Commandos for the Dieppe Raid, becoming the [first Americans to see ground combat]() in the European theater. While most of that history is relatively well-known, what's not really known is where the soldiers of this first Ranger battalion originated. The single largest source was the 34th Infantry Division, a four-state National Guard outfit drawn from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. ![34th Infantry Division Louisiana maneuvers]() *Wearing World War I-vintage helmets, soldiers of the 34th Infantry Division parade during Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941.* For decades, unit histories put the National Guard's share of the 1st Ranger Battalion at 80%, and this is the number that still shows up on official division and state Guard pages. The actual accession records are less generous and more interesting: Of the 520 men who filled the battalion's first roster, [281 came from the 34th Infantry Division](), 104 from the 1st Armored Division, 48 from V Corps Special Troops, 43 from antiaircraft artillery units and 44 from Northern Ireland base troops. That's over half—not four out of five. a National Guard division, the 34th Infantry, supplied more Rangers than every other unit in the theater combined and the Rangers were only the beginning of what the 34th gave the war. ### First American Division in Europe As World War II began to escalate and it became apparent that the United States would be pulled into the conflict, the U.S. military began to prepare for it. The 34th Infantry Division was federalized in February 1941. They were sent to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and took part in what would be known as [the Louisiana Maneuvers](), a massive exercise that got hundreds of thousands of new American soldiers combat ready. The following January, the division shipped out for Northern Ireland. The first contingent of 4,508 men came ashore at Dufferin Quay in Belfast on Jan. 26, 1942, where the Army selected Pfc. Milburn Henke of Hutchinson, Minnesota, to be the "first" American soldier to set foot in the United Kingdom during the war. While Henke was not literally first down the gangway—that moment was arranged for the cameras—he was a Minnesotan serving in Company B of the 133rd Infantry, an Iowa regiment, which says something about how the Red Bulls were put together. The rest of the division followed in March and May. ![soldiers-of-the-american-expeditionary-force-march-through-v0-3jjnb3i4oud71]() *Soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force march through Northern Ireland carrying .30 caliber Browning machine guns in January 1942.* It was while training in Northern Ireland that V Corps commander Maj. Gen. Russell Hartle was tasked with assembling an American version of the British Commandos. The push came from above. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall was convinced by Brig. Gen. Lucian Truscott, who had spent time with British Combined Operations and wanted American troops getting real battle experience alongside them. Hartle handed the job to his own aide-de-camp, Capt. William Darby, and promoted him to major to lead the new formation. Recruiting notices went up on bulletin boards across the American camps in Ulster, and Darby spent nearly two weeks interviewing volunteers before activating the 1st Ranger Battalion at Carrickfergus on June 19, 1942. By the time they were activated, Maj. Gen. Charles Ryder had the 34th. About 50 Rangers were parceled out among the British Commandos for the Dieppe Raid that August. Only a fraction of them got ashore. Lieutenant Edward Loustalot was killed leading a push inland, making him the first American soldier [killed in ground combat in Europe]() in World War II. ### North Africa In November 1942, the U.S. launched Operation Torch, and the 34th ID cut its teeth in combat as elements of the division landed at Algiers on Nov. 8 as part of the Eastern Task Force. As they seized the port and its outlying airfields, a few hundred miles west, Darby's Rangers led the landing at Arzew and took the coastal batteries covering the harbor. ![Rangers-at-Arzew]() *Rangers set up a Browning M1919 .30-caliber light machine gun to secure one of the French gun positions they captured at Arzew. (U.S. Army)* Despite their initial successes, the Tunisia Campaign went badly at first. Roughly half of the 168th Infantry was killed or captured fighting at Sidi Bou Zid and Faid Pass in February 1943, leading up to the stunning American defeat at Kasserine Pass. In April 1943, during Operation Vulcan, the 34th assaulted Hill 609, an Axis-held position that dominated the high ground blocking an Allied advance on Bizerte. The 34th took it on April 30 and held it against counterattacks on May 1, then drove on through Chouigui Pass to Tebourba and Ferryville. General Omar Bradley used Hill 609 as proof that II Corps and the Guard division everyone had written off after Kasserine could fight. In the wake of Hill 609, the division sat out the invasion of Sicily, setting up staging camps for the assault troops, and trained for the invasion of mainland Italy instead. ### Becoming the "Red Bulls" in Italy The 34th Infantry Division's unit patch was originally designed in 1917 by American artist and soldier Marvin Cone while the unit was dubbed the "Sandstorm Division" and was training in New Mexico. Its emblem featured a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jar (called an "olla"), which represented the local desert environment. They became the Red Bulls after inflicting so many casualties on the Germans and Italians in North Africa and mainland Italy. They became the Red Bulls in Italy. It was the Germans who gave them the nickname, and it stuck When the 34th landed at Salerno on Sept. 22, 1943, they were fighting alongside the 100th Infantry Battalion, a segregated Japanese-American unit (and today the only infantry battalion in the Army Reserve). The 100th would fight alongside the 34th ID through the summer of 1944, suffering such a high casualty rate it earned the nickname "Purple Heart Battalion," going from roughly 1,300 men on arrival to 521 fit for duty between Salerno and Monte Cassino—five months of combat. General Charles Ryder, still in command of the 34th, authorized the 100th to wear the Red Bull patch. ![thomas wigle red bull winter line]() *The U.S. Army's 34th Infantry in Donna Neary's "The Red Bull in the Winter Line."* Monte Cassino was devastating for the Red Bulls, too. In late January 1944, the 34th pushed across the Rapido River, reaching farther up Monastery Hill than any Allied unit would manage for months. By Feb. 7, one rifle company in the 133rd Infantry was down to 30 men, and the 100th Battalion had just seven officers and 78 men left in its rifle companies. Historian Fred Majdalany called the 34th's fight in those mountains one of the finest feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war. It took three more Allied offensives and five divisions to take what the 34th had almost carried alone. The Rangers the Red Bulls helped build were gone by then, too. On Jan. 30, 1944, the same week the 34th was climbing toward the monastery, the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions were caught in the open and surrounded at Cisterna, near Anzio. Of 767 men, only six made it back to Allied lines. The 34th Infantry Division would continue fighting through Anzio, Rome, the Gothic Line, and Bologna until the German surrender in Italy on May 2, 1945. In the end, they logged 517 days of frontline combat across six campaigns, with 2,866 killed, 11,545 wounded, 622 missing, and 1,368 taken prisoner—a total of 16,401 battle casualties. Nine Medals of Honor went to soldiers in the division’s organic units, not counting the 100th. French President Charles De Gaulle awarded the division the Croix de Guerre with Palm in June 1945, citing it as a "[division d'elite]()." **Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty** **• [How the Vermont National Guard scored the first major victory against the British]()** **•** [**Daniel Morgan’s Revolutionary War riflemen were America’s original scout snipers**]() **• [The original Green Berets: tracing the roots of US Special Forces]()** ## Author Dave has been writing for We Are the Mighty since 2018, returning from a near seven-year hiatus in 2026. He's served a combined total of nine years between the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard. Despite his love for eating crayons, he sometimes uses them to write stuff instead.