last battle of Gen. William Orlando Darby, The

Army, Jan 2003 by Ossad, Steven L

The colonel walked out of the vacation hotel that served as the 86th Mountain Infantry headquarters and started to move toward the broad, scenic esplanade along the shore of the lake. It was a beautiful sun-drenched spring day in the resort of Torbole which, though shattered by the recent fighting, still commanded a magnificent southerly vista of Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake. The commander wanted to see the view before continuing his tour of the front lines.

His mood was ebullient, and he had every reason to be satisfied. In just two days, he had learned, the war in Italy would be over, and his men were winning the final victory. Considering the long path that had led him to this idyllic and deceptively peaceful place-spanning both the exhilaration of success and the despair of failure-no one could fault him for enjoying a moment of unabashed pride.

Col. William Darby, the creator and driving spirit of Darby's Rangers, was one of the truly legendary American combat commanders to emerge from World War II. When the war began he had been a captain of artillery and a general's aide. By its end he was a full colonel and had commanded battalions, regiments and brigade-sized forces in battle, finally rising to assistant division commander of the famous 10th Mountain Division.

He was not a man who led from the rear. One of his overriding principles was that no officer should ask his soldiers to do in combat what he himself was not willing to do. His list of medals .and awards, including two Distinguished Service Crosses and three Purple Hearts, testified to his adherence to this cardinal precept of leadership as well as his personal courage and willingness to go in harm's way with his men. In fact, it was a well-known belief among the troops that the commander was the most decorated of all the Rangers. An oft-told story best sums up Darby's style of command. A staff officer looking for Darby went to the Salerno beach shortly after the landing in September 1943. After stopping several men wearing the Ranger patch, he approached another asking for the commander. A faint smile appeared on the face of the soldier, who replied, "You'll never find him this far back."

As organizer, principal trainer and intrepid leader of the first three Army Ranger battalions, Darby had personally led his men to victories in Africa, Sicily and Salerno. One week after the successful combat landing at Anzio, he watched helplessly as his Rangers suffered a terrible, bloody defeat at Cisterna, Italy, just a few miles from the beach. After that nightmare, he was assigned to a Pentagon staff job and for all practical purposes disappeared from the war.

Just one year later, however, he was back in action in Italy and by late April 1945 was on the promotion list for brigadier general-- the first in his West Point class to be nominated to the rank, and at age 34, one of the youngest in U.S. history. The drive to Verona and the clearing of Lake Garda-the last significant action in Italy-cut off the retreat of German Army Group C, which was streaming north toward the Brenner Pass, and redeemed his promise as a great soldier. As he walked to the jeep waiting to take him on a visit to the front line, Darby stood once more in a moment of triumph. His name, once covered in glory and then clouded by defeat, would again be associated with victory. Our military history offers few such stunning examples of the spectacular rise, precipitous fall and dramatic vindication of a combat leader.

William Orlando Darby was born on February 8,1911, in Fort Smith, Ark., and graduated in the middle of his West Point class (177of 346) in June 1933. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery and served in a succession of field, staff and school assignments typical for a young officer during the interwar years. In January 1942, Darby was among the first Americans to reach Europe, serving as aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, commanding general of American forces in Northern Ireland.

While acting as an escort, he attracted the attention of then Col. Lucian K. Truscott Jr., who was forming an American commando-type unit and looking for the right man to command it. On the recommendation of Gen. Hartle, Truscott interviewed the young artillery officer and was impressed with Darby's credentials, especially his amphibious training and his desire to see combat. Truscott described him as "outstanding in appearance, possessed of a most attractive personality ... keen, intelligent and filled with enthusiasm." Darby was selected and was immediately promoted to major. Within 10 weeks he was jumped in grade once again to lieutenant colonel. It was a breathtaking ascent in rank, even during wartime, but the position required a senior field grade officer.

The new unit was formed on June 19,1942, and was designated the 1st Ranger Battalion in homage to the pre-Revolutionary War colonial units of the same name. The most famous of these was the light infantry led by Maj. Robert Rogers (1731-1795) during the French and Indian War and immortalized for generations of young American readers in Kenneth Robert's Northwest Passage. Truscott selected the name because: