The Road to Cisterna
is the story of Darby’s Rangers, an elite American army unit in World War II, selected for toughness and specially trained in beach landings and lightning raids deep behind enemy lines. Commanded by Colonel William Orlando Darby, the 1st Ranger Battalion spearheaded landings in North Africa and helped defeat German general Erwin Rommel—the Desert Fox—in Tunisia. Its success inspired the creation of two more battalions led by Darby in the invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland. The Rangers’ record of victories ended in central Italy at the Battle of Cisterna, where a force of almost sixty thousand Germans wiped them out. The German forces captured all but a few of the survivors, but many Rangers made daring escapes from prisoner-of-war camps. Of the Rangers who fought that battle, forty-six tell their stories in this book.
David Lyle Williams spent over two decades collecting the memories of Darby Rangers, enabling him to compile an unprecedentedly thorough history of the unit. Unlike previous accounts, more than 160 Rangers speak here in their own words and voices, giving an intimate picture of their combat experiences, enabling the reader to know them as individuals.