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September
1942:
Dundee and Glasgow After
months of training at Achnacarry and an experience with live
combat for a few of the Rangers in the Dieppe Raid, the entire 1st
Ranger Battalion was moved to Dundee on the east coast of Scotland
on 3 September 1942. Here they took part in a three-week training
program that stressed attacks on coastal defenses, pillboxes, and
antiaircraft positions with emphasis on planning, control, and
individual initiative. This program, like the one that had just
been completed, involved the use of live ammunition.
On 24 September, the battalion
moved to the vicinity of Glasgow where it became attached to the
1st Infantry Division, in preparation for Operation Torch, the Allied landing
in French North Africa. Four days later, the 1st Ranger Battalion
took the form it would keep throughout the fighting in North
Africa as a single independent fighting unit, with the exception
of a few minor changes.
In Dundee they enjoyed a respite
from the relentless nights in tents and actually had their first
taste of home since leaving the States. They stayed with local families where they
enjoyed all the comforts of home, gratefully sharing their
rations with these kind people, both soldier and host ate
plentiful home
cooked meals in Dundee. Although training continued everyday, the
Rangers were also able to enjoy some social activities during
their brief evenings off. For the Rangers who never returned home,
their families are grateful to the kindness shown by the civilians
of Dundee for showing those Rangers later KIA in World War II,
their last taste of home.
They were still Rangers in training
as they moved out early each day to train with the  British Commandos. They
were taken by boat and landed on the rocky coastline near Dundee.
The location was ideal for training in amphibious landings and
also scaling the rocky cliffs off the shoreline. Although the
Rangers never knew when, or where their next mission might be (and for the
majority who had not been involved in the Dieppe Raid, their first
mission), they felt certain it would involve an
amphibious landing with cliffs to climb.
Their stay in Dundee lasted only a
few short weeks. While they were there they enjoyed their stays
with the local families, the entertainment offered in the pubs,
and of course, the ladies. One Ranger lost his life, and another
was seriously injured while in
Dundee due to a freak explosion during a training exercise, but
outside of this tragic event, their stay in Dundee was one many
remember to this day. The town was devastated when the Rangers
moved out to their next assignment. The entire population turned
out to bid them farewell at the Railroad Station.
From Dundee, they were moved to
Corker Hill near Glasgow. It was here in
Glasgow, that they
met Father Basil, a Roman Catholic Chaplain. Father
Basil was attached to the British Commandos, but was assigned
for a brief time to the 1st Ranger Battalion. The
Rangers established a bond with Father Basil that lasted many,
many years to come.
The European Theater Command
assigned two photographers to the 1st Ranger Battalion
at Glasgow, Phil Stern and Henry Paluch. Phil Stern had worked
for Life and Look magazines, and Henry Paluch was a movie
producer. Paluch was eventually reassigned to another unit, while
Phil Stern remained with the Rangers until he was wounded in North
Africa.
Stern took many photos of
the 1st Ranger Battalion that are treasures today. These photos have been shared in recent years at the Ranger
Reunions and offered for sale at their Silent and Live Auction
events. Stern's photos and reports won great
recognition for the Rangers as an elite force conducting Special
Operations at the onset of United State’s involvement of World
War II.
October 1942 Father Basil
(in beret)
(photo
courtesy Ranger Donald Frederick 1st and 4th Ranger Battalion)
Training continued for the 1st
Ranger Battalion in pre-invasion exercises throughout the month of
October. They trained and prepared for Operation Torch, to be
executed in North Africa in November of 1942.
Ranger Favorite, Father Basil
highlighted:
The Initial meeting with Father
Basil in Dundee resulted in a mutual love between Rangers and
priest that lasted a lifetime. Father Bail was originally attached
to the British Commandos. He was a tall slender fellow who was a
British Army Captain, and also a priest.
Colonel Darby first met Father
Basil when the Rangers were training at Dundee. He made a request
to Brigadier Laycock to allow the Father to accompany the Rangers
on their first invasion, that in North Africa. His request was
granted, and Father Basil was there with the Rangers prior to the
invasion.
At the assault landing on Arzew,
Father Basil complained to Darby that he wished to be included in the
actual landing. He eventually persuaded Darby to allow him to land
with Headquarters and was there afterwards to bury the first
Ranger killed on the continent of North Africa, as a result of
this assault.
Remarkably, during the conflict of
El Guetar, Father Basil used his Italian to convince the Italian
soldiers to surrender, and was awarded the Silver Star for this
deed. During this campaign in North Africa, the British located
Father Basil and demanded he return to the UK, he ignored this
order. The British then cut his pay
to force his return, but still he remained with his beloved
Rangers. It wasn’t until he was threatened with a Court Martial
that he finally broke down and returned as requested.
It caused
him great anguish to leave his beloved Rangers. The Rangers, in
turn, were equally saddened over his departure.
Father Basil collected an offering
among the Rangers several times, the Rangers were always very
generous. With a portion of this offering, he had a chalice made and engraved First Ranger
Battalion. After his sad departure from them, he did
return to see the Rangers one last time somewhere in
Italy before they entered Cisterna. He brought the
chalice with him to use for communion. He carried this chalice
with him and used it in mass for years after war’s end, some 50
years after war’s end. The search for the whereabouts of this
chalice continues to this day. (If you know the whereabouts
of this chalice, please contact us!)
The Ranger language mortified
Father Basil, especially when they used the Lord’s name in vain.
The Rangers loved this man and made every effort to clean up their
combat seasoned language. There were several methods employed by
the Rangers to accomplish this, usually it came in the form of a
fine.
Outside of a short stint in Naples,
Father Basil was involved in other areas of the war. No matter
where his assignments took him, he stayed in touch with his
Rangers through letters. In 1961, when the Ranger Battalions
Association of World War II held it’s biennial Reunion in
Baltimore, MD, Father Basil and the Rangers met once more. He was
located at Loughborough University, teaching philosophy. The
Rangers immediately invited him to attend their Reunion. Father
Basil wrote his superiors requesting a leave and an opportunity to
reunite with his Rangers. Permission was granted and thereafter,
he attended many biennial Reunions in the United
States. Father Basil was the primary speaker at his initial
Reunion with the Rangers in Baltimore.
Father Basil was eventually
inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame, an unusual honor for even a
Ranger. His induction was not as an honorary member, but as an
actual Ranger. Father Basil passed away in the early 1990’s and
is greatly missed by many of the Rangers of the 1st, 3rd,
and 4th Ranger Battalions to this day.
References: Rangers in World War II, by Robert W.
Black, article by Ranger Carl Lehmann, Leavenworth
Papers, photos coutesy US Army and Ranger Donald S. Frederick, 1st
and 4th Ranger Battalion
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