The US Army Rangers (full name: United States Army Rangers), or Rangers for short, is a light infantry unit of the US Army whose roots date back to the 17th century! It was then that units of irregular troops (actually militia) with this name were formed, intended to fight the Indians. The unit with that name also took part in the US War of Independence (1775-1783). However, the genesis of the modern US Rangers troops dates back to World War II, and more precisely to June 1942, when on the initiative of Col. Lucian Truscotta was formed the 1st Ranger Battalion. The soldiers of this unit took part in the course of Operation Torch (1942) and later in North Africa, until the summer of 1943. Then the unit was expanded by the 3rd and 4th battalions. These units took part in the battles on the Apennine (1943-1944), but suffered such great losses during their course that they were disbanded. Simultaneously and temporarily, the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions, which took part in the fighting in Normandy, were formed almost simultaneously in the USA. However, after 1945, all battalions of this formation were disbanded. They were reformed for the purposes of the Korean War (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1964 / 1965-1975) as independent companies, theoretically forming the 75th Infantry Regiment. In 1974, the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions were created, and in 1984 the 3rd Battalion joined them. All these battalions remain in active service to the present day. The soldiers of these battalions fought, inter alia, in the Second Gulf War (2003) and during operations in Afghanistan (after 2001).
Already after the first experiences of fighting in North Africa at the turn of 1942-1943, the US Army changed the position of the American infantry division. From 1943 onwards, each infantry division had three full-time infantry regiments, in turn composed of three infantry battalions. In addition, the infantry regiment also included other units, for example: an anti-tank company, an artillery company or a staff company. In total, the US Army's infantry regiment numbered approximately 3,100 soldiers. It should also be remembered that the division also included a strong artillery component consisting of four artillery battalions - 3 light and 1 medium, most often armed with 105 and 155 mm howitzers. There was also, among others, an engineering battalion, a repair company, a reconnaissance unit and a Military Police platoon. In total, the US Infantry Division numbered approximately 14,200 people from 1943. It quite clearly dominated the artillery over the German division and had much better and - above all - fully motorized means of transport, which made it a highly mobile tactical formation. It also had much richer "individual" anti-tank weapons in the form of a large number of bazooka launchers, of which there were over 500 in the entire division.
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