DOG COMPANY: The Boys of Pointe du Huc

[Shanghai Jack]

Dog Company

 

In war, the right man in the right place at the right time can make the difference between victory and defeat. Patrick K. O’Donnell tells the dramatic story of the 68 soldiers who served in the U.S. Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion, Company D—“Dog Company”—who made that difference, time and again, in some of World War II’s most pivotal clashes.

 

In its first action as part of the D-Day invasion, the men of Dog Company scaled the sheer 90-foot cliffs to destroy the German guns emplacements atop Pointe du Hoc that threatened to derail the Allied landings. On the slopes of Hill 400, in Germany’s Hürtgen Forest, the Rangers launched a desperate bayonet charge across an open field. And in a “quiet” section of the Ardennes, Dog Company suddenly found itself on the tip of the spear at the Battle of the Bulge. Wherever they fought, Dog Company did what had to be done, proving an invaluable asset to the Allied armies in their quest to smash Hitler’s Third Reich.

 

America had many heroes in World War II, but few can say that, but for them, the course of the war would have been very different. Dog Company charts the exploits of the men who made that difference.