WWII TRIBUTE
By Dale Tracy
A review of the county obituaries for the past year draws to mind the fact that the WWII veterans of this county [as are those of the whole nation] are passing on at an increasing rate. Each of these vets had a story to tell of their time in the military during WWII. Probably few of them were recorded. The families and friends of our remaining former servicemen should make a point of getting the memories of these veterans written for future generations. To me, WWII was one of the defining moments of American history, and to participate would have been something to record for future generations.
Even though this article tells the story of only two of these veterans, it is a tribute to all U. S. military servicemen in all wars up to the present.
This story is one of two Roger Mills County boys, A. D. “Blackie” Daniels and Lyle Cunningham, who entered the Army about the same time and found themselves together by the time they reached the shores of North Africa where they made an invasion landing. The son of one of them, Ardith Daniels, says that when these two made the landing, their unit went ashore armed only with pistols while under fire from much heavier arms. Needless to say, this did not set too well with the troops. After the landing, the two boys met up with members of the 1st Battalion of the recently formed Army Rangers commanded by William Darby. The Rangers were trying to recruit volunteers for two other newly formed Ranger Battalions. Daniels and Cunningham asked if the Rangers were issued rifles. When the pair were assured that they would be furnished rifles with which to fight they quickly decided to join the Rangers. One story is told of a recruiter going into the bars and bistros of Algeria looking for able-bodied men to join the Rangers. He would swagger in, size up the crowd, then roar out a challenge to fight the whole bunch. The ones who accepted the challenge were the ones signed up.
The term “rangers” was not new to American fighting men. As early as the French and Indian War, rangers were used by the British. Later, during the American Revolution, several battalions of rangers were used to help throw off the British yoke. Years later, rangers were organized in Texas by Stephen F. Austin. By the time of the Mexican War the group had become well known as the Texas Rangers. During the Civil War the South utilized rangers under the leadership of John S. Mosby [Mosby’s Rangers]. It was not until 1942 that the army once again used Rangers. These were patterned after the British Commandos. In fact, during WWII, the first battalion of American Rangers were trained by British Commandos. The Rangers of WWII vintage were an all- volunteer group. These men, generally 18 to 26 years old, were highly conditioned and trained in a variety of skills. The Rangers idea was to hit the enemy where he least expected it, often choosing the most difficult route of approach. They were skilled in speedy night attacks, using surprise and shock to their advantage. One objective of Ranger operations was to capture the enemy’s defenses and make it possible for other troops to land and broaden the beachheads. Night infiltrations behind enemy lines, capturing enemy soldiers for interrogation and general disruption of camps were a specialty. However, more than a few times, to the Rangers consternation, upon achieving their objective, the Rangers were placed in the front lines with regular troops to slug it out with the enemy. The Rangers felt that was a disregard of the value of their specialized training. It was not that the Rangers did not make good front line soldiers, they did. It was that their training was used up on the front lines when it could have been used more advantageously elsewhere.
Cunningham and Daniels were assigned to the newly formed Third Ranger Battalion [approximately 700 men] and underwent extensive training in Algeria, North Africa. The Third Battalion was formed using A and B companies of the original First Battalion as a nucleus. Following a six weeks training period, the Third Battalion was attached to the Third Infantry Division which was preparing to make the invasion of Sicily. After a three-week rehearsal, the landing was made on July 10, 1943. The Third Battalion spearheaded the beach landing at Licata early on D-Day. After taking all objectives on schedule the town was in American hands by dawn.
The next action seen by the Third Battalion was a so-called “Reconnaissance In Force”, made famous by General Patton, who believed that armies should always be on the offensive. The Third Battalion acted as the forward finger of this reconnaissance to the west toward the vital and heavily fortified port of Empedocle. In taking this city the rangers only had one man killed to a loss to the enemy of over two hundred.
The Third Rangers, operating in advance of the other units, then marched over one hundred miles through the North Sicily Mountains, making several surprise night attacks from routes the enemy least expected. The Third Rangers were among the first troops to enter the city of Messina, which finalized the capture of Sicily by the Allies. [As I write this, I recall the seeing the movie “Patton” and the various scenes depicting the battle for Sicily. The two subjects of this article were involved in those actions.] The Third Battalion then underwent intensive training in preparation for the invasion of Italy west of Salerno.
The Rangers, following a silent landing at Maroi, marched inland into the mountains overlooking the plain of Naples where they repelled repeated German attacks over a period of 18 days. The Rangers then led the way in the big push into Naples. After another short rest the Rangers were called on to help dislodge the Germans from the Venafro Mountains, a natural barrier to Rome just forty miles north of Naples. Following 45 days of continuous combat the Rangers were withdrawn to reorganize, recruit, and prepare for another beach landing at Anzio.
On the night of January 22, 1943, three Ranger Battalions [the Third was one of these] made a silent, unopposed landing directly in the harbor of Anzio and caught the enemy completely off guard. Their orders were to advance seven miles, establish a beachhead and dig in, which they did. The Rangers said they could have gone all the way to Rome if given the orders. By digging in, the Germans were given time to bring in re-enforcements of as many as ten divisions and occupy the mountains surrounding Anzio. From this elevated position they were able to contain the American 3rd and 45th Divisions, along with the British 10th Corps for four months. It was at this time that the Rangers faced their most severe test, as the Americans suffered many casualties due to poor leadership decisions at higher levels.
The Rangers held the farthermost point inland but were into heavy fighting both day and night for four days. They were able to repel all attacks by the enemy and make night raids behind enemy lines. They were replaced by British troops and hoped for a rest but were immediately given a new objective.
As part of the overall plan to effect a breakout, the 1st and 3rd Battalions were to infiltrate the enemy forward lines at night, march six miles and storm the town of Cisterna. Their orders were to bypass all enemy forces en route to their objective but kill all outpost guards and sentries by knife or bayonet. The Fourth Battalion was to follow one hour later, however they ran into stiff opposition with a number of men and officers killed by machine gun fire. By this time the 1st and 3rd Battalions were several miles forward, having met no opposition but the enemy was alerted by the machine guns firing on the Fourth. As dawn approached, both the 1st and 3rd Battalions found themselves in the middle of concentrated enemy forces. What ensued was the goriest, costliest battle in Ranger history.
The Rangers were outnumbered 10 to 1, facing tanks and flack wagons as well as infantry. The heaviest weapons the Rangers had were rocket-guns [bazookas] and sticky anti-tank grenades. The fighting was furious with the Rangers fighting until their ammunition ran out, then fighting with German weapons found on the field of battle. Initially the Rangers took the offensive but were soon overcome with superior numbers and firepower. With the Rangers surrounded and the 4th Battalion unable to re-enforce the 1st and 3rd, they were forced to surrender. At the end of the Battle of Cisterna only six men returned out of a force of 767. The rest were killed or captured. Later it was learned that the 1st and 3rd had been met by elements of the Hermann Goering Division, the First Parachute Division, the Twenty-first Panzers and the Seventy-first Infantry, all crack troops.
Blackie Daniels and Lyle Cunningham were with the 3rd Rangers Battalion from its organization until its capture at Cisterna. They were among those taken prisoner and spent the remainder of the war in German POW camps.
The information presented here came from the following books: “Rangers in WWII” by Robert Black, “Darby’s Rangers” by Mir Bahmanyar and “The Spearheaders” by James Altieri. Those of you with internet access will want to go to www.darbysrangers.tripod.com/. This site contains a lot of information on the 3rd Ranger Battalion. This web site was developed by Bob Price, a nephew of Lyle Cunningham, and has many references to Lyle.
I first heard a little of “Blackie Daniels’ story many years ago when he was hauling oats for his dairy from my place. “Blackie” had just moved to a farm he had purchased nearby. I was intrigued by his WWII experiences. He told me that he had been a member of the Rangers and about how they would make night infiltrations behind enemy lines, capturing enemy soldiers for interrogation and doing many acts to instill fear in the enemy. I had never heard of the Rangers at that time but through the years have had an interest because I knew and respected a man who had been a Ranger. “Blackie’s” children still live in Roger Mills County. They are Ardith Daniels, Karen Farrell and Ellen Kirk.
Lyle Cunningham was killed in a car accident in 1946, not long after being freed from a German prison camp. Lyle has several relatives still living in Cheyenne and the surrounding area.