The Houdini Club: The Epic Journey and Daring Escapes of the First Army Rangers of WWII

Historian Bahmanyar (Run to the Sound of the Guns) offers a propulsive account of the 1st Ranger battalion, a storied unit formed shortly after the U.S. entered WWII. Bahmanyar describes how Maj. William Orlando Darby, an ambitious 32-year-old West Point graduate, built up the unit as part of U.S. efforts to rapidly modernize its military, modeling his force after the cutting-edge British Commandos (“shock troopers” trained to carry out night raids and amphibious attacks). With a warts-and-all approach, Bahmanyar brings to vivid life Darby’s elite soldiers, from “soft-spoken” executive officer Herman Dammer—whose wife later claimed he was the true source of Darby’s famed strategic brilliance—to Second Lt. Charles Shunstrom, recalled by his comrades as both “the bravest of the brave” and a “psychopath.” Bahmanyar chronicles their operations and assaults, beginning with the failed 1942 amphibious invasion of France at Dieppe, then traces the unit’s long redemption arc through the Mediterranean theater, where it and two new ranger units it trained were critical in the taking of North Africa and Italy, spearheading several pivotal amphibious invasions and sneaking behind enemy lines to overtake hard-to-reach enemy outposts under cover of night. Bahmanyar also spotlights the (astonishingly frequent) escapes made by Darby’s rangers from POW camps, which got them nicknamed the “Houdini Club.” This will enthrall WWII history buffs. (Apr.)