1st Ranger Battalion

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1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
1st Ranger Battalion shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1942–44, 1948–51, 1974–present
Country	United States of America
Branch	United States Army
Type	Specialized light infantry
Role	Special operations
Size	Battalion
Part of	75th Ranger Regiment
Garrison/HQ	Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia
Engagements	World War II North Africa campaign Italian Campaign Korean War Vietnam War Operation Eagle Claw Operation Urgent Fury Operation Just Cause Gulf War War on terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Operation Inherent Resolve[1]
Commanders
Notable commanders	William Orlando Darby
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia
Unit beret flash
NATO Map Symbol (1998)
NATO Map Symbol (2017)

The 1st Ranger Battalion, currently based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is the first of three ranger battalions belonging to the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

It was originally formed shortly after the United States' entry into World War II and was modeled after the British Commandos during the war. Members from the unit were the first American soldiers to see combat in the European theater when they participated in the failed raid on Dieppe in France in 1942, during which three Rangers were killed and several more were captured. Later, the 1st Ranger Battalion was sent to North Africa where they participated in the landings in Algeria and the fighting in Tunisia in 1943. Also in 1943 the unit provided training cadre to train up two more Ranger battalions between the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.^[2] After World War II, the 1st Ranger Battalion went through a number of changes of name and composition as it has been activated, deactivated, and reorganized on a number of occasions. However, the unit has lived on in one form or another since then, serving in the Korean and Vietnam Wars before being consolidated into the 75th Ranger Regiment of which it is a part today. Deployments have included operations in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan as part of the wider global war on terrorism.