The 6615th Ranger Force was a regiment of the United States Army, raised for service in World War II.
The 6615th Ranger Force was formed specially for use in the Anzio landings (codenamed Operation Shingle).
After the U.S. VI Corps occupied Anzio, the corps commander, Major General John P. Lucas and the 3rd Division commander, Major General Lucian Truscott, met with Colonel Darby and decided to have the Rangers sneak behind the German lines and capture the town of Cisterna.
However, the German commanders, Field Marshal Albert von Kesselring and General Eberhard von Mackensen suspected an American attack in the vicinity of Cisterna and sent a large force of crack troops, armored units, and artillery to cut off the Rangers.
On the night of January 30, 1944, the 1st and 3rd Ranger battalions made their way behind enemy lines and killed the German sentries in Cisterna.
Colonel Murray's 4th Battalion, with armored and infantry support, fought a bitter, bloody battle with the Germans to try to save the surrounded Rangers of the[1] 1st and 3rd.