Onward We Charge

Book excerpt: Colonel William Darby was a hero by anyone's standards. His elite battalion of Army Rangers paved the way for Ranger success in subsequent wars—and left an unforgettable legacy in its wake. “Brings Darby's story to life with verve and skill.”—Evan Thomas, author of Ike’s Bluff • “Thoroughly engrossing.”—Larry Alexander, coauthor of A Higher Call • “A vivid portrait.”—Gerald Astor, author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide • “Riveting.”—John Wukovits, author of One Square Mile of Hell On a beach in Salerno in 1943, shortly after the American invasion, a staff officer stopped an Army Ranger and asked him where he might find William Darby. The soldier replied, “You’ll never find him this far back.” Darby was one of the most successful—and admirable—officers of World War II. At the start of the war he was an artillery captain and a general’s aide. But by 1945, he was a full colonel who had commanded Ranger battalions in twelve major battles, including the invasions of North Africa and Sicily, and the landings at Salerno and Anzio in Italy. Darby never led his men into a fight he wouldn’t take on personally, and his group of specially-selected, hard-trained Army Rangers became legendary for their astonishing bravery and deadliness under fire. Onward We Charge takes readers from the beachheads of North Africa to the bloody campaigns of southern Italy, and to Darby’s tragic death by German shrapnel just eight days before V-E Day. This is the true story of a man who held his own beside the greatest military figures in history.