Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jorden Weir | U.S. Army 1st Lt. Robert T. Edlin, the executive officer for Able Company, 2nd Ranger...... read more read more
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On a damp still morning in September 1944, more than three months after D-Day and the “Impossible Mission” at Point du Hoc, Lieutenant Robert T. Edlin of 2nd Ranger Battalion stepped off into a live minefield near the city of Brest.
He wasn’t ordered there. He wasn’t backed by a company of men or the thunder of supporting artillery. He was accompanied by only three Rangers, staring down a German stronghold manned by more than 800 Nazi soldiers.
What happened next defies reason. It was so audacious, so improbable, that it reads more like legend than history.
But to the Rangers of 2nd Battalion, 81 years later, it’s more than legend. It’s a legacy that has rippled across time and laid the foundation for courage wherever Rangers have been called to lead the way. It is the spirit of the Ranger Creed and the motto that defines them: Sua Sponte.
THE FOOL LIEUTENANT
“[Edlin] was a platoon leader of the newly formed 2nd Ranger Battalion during WWII, which was commanded by the legendary Lt. Col. Jim Rudder,” said Lt. Col. Ross Daly, commander of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), and an avid military and Ranger historian, “so he knew joining up that he’d play a key role in the most dangerous fighting to come. They did their train-up in England, and six months later were on a boat headed for D-Day.”
They called him the Fool Lieutenant.
“Edlin earned the nickname on the eve of D-Day,” said Daly, “when his men noticed his calm, unshakable demeanor and said, “That damn Fool Lieutenant ain’t afraid of nothin’.”
Unfortunately, “afraid of nothin’,” is not the same as, “bulletproof,” which Edlin learned at Omaha Beach, where he was shot twice while still on the Higgins boat, losing large chunks of his left calf and pieces of bone from his right tibia. As quickly as he had arrived, Edlin was evacuated on a troop carrier boat headed back to England.
But that was far from the end.
Once back in Oxford, England, Edlin began furiously rehabbing his injuries, determined to get back to his Rangers.
“He not only declined a chance to return to the United States,” said Command Sgt. Maj. David Archibeque, the senior enlisted advisor for 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, “but he actually left the hospital early, much earlier than the doctors wanted him to, in order to rejoin 2nd Ranger Batt in Cherbourg [France].”
THE FABULOUS FOUR
As the new executive officer, Edlin formed a rhythm of personally inspecting Able Company’s forward listening posts. It was during one of these that he and his first sergeant, Bill White, encountered sergeants Bill Dreher and Bill Courtney.
“They were frustrated with all the waiting around in foxholes,” said Archibeque, “so the four men began patrolling no-man’s land together, using continual reconnaissance patrols to keep the enemy off balance.
They became known as the “Fabulous Four”. Edlin, Courtney, Dreher, and White, later replaced by Sgt. Warran Burmaster, were small enough to move unseen, deadly enough to punch above their weight, and over time became one of the most decorated four-man patrols in U.S. Army history.
During the late summer of 1944, Edlin’s patrol harassed enemy positions, killed and captured dozens of German soldiers, and specialized in knocking out fortified pillboxes. When the Rangers were tasked to support the American advance into Brittany and silence four massive 280mm cannons at Brest, the Fabulous Four were at the forefront, bringing their lethal skillset to the fight.
Over the next two weeks they ran 17 patrols, most of which ended in gunfights.
It was business as usual for these seasoned Rangers.
Until the day they came upon “The Fort.”
THE PATROL
On September 9, the Four were scouting approximately 11 miles north of the inner city when they came across a 50-acre German battery complex manned by more than 800 German soldiers. At the center was “The Fort”, a three-story bunker housing the German command center and an observation post for the 280mm cannons. Fortified concrete pillboxes filled nearly all the surrounding land.
Live minefields filled the rest.
Edlin’s task that day was simple: spot enemy pillboxes, chart the minefields, and capture prisoners.
All went according to plan, until they came upon one minefield that looked different. Artillery barrages the past few weeks had peppered the once pristine landscape, destroying both earth and the mines contained within. This was where Courtney noticed a pattern of artillery craters that seemed to lead directly to the concrete pillbox. Suddenly a previously unknown and deadly barrier had a path of safety drawn right through it.
Reasoning that there would have been no time for the Nazi occupation to plant new mines in the craters, Courtney said, “I think I can see a way through.”
Then he took off towards the pillbox.
The others followed, moving swiftly and methodically from crater to crater, using the depth of the holes for both cover and concealment as they inched closer and closer, until they finally found themselves staring down the mouth of the bunker.
Edlin had a decision to make.
They could sneak away right then and there, and in doing so could deliver a bounty of valuable intelligence to Rudder, who would undoubtedly use it to great effect in the fight to come.
Or,
They could attempt to take the pillbox, accepting two possible realities: one where success meant penetrating a denied area and creating a valuable window of opportunity for 2nd Ranger Battalion to move in and accomplish their mission … and one where failure would bring the full wrath of 800 armed Nazis directly down on their heads.
How long he struggled with the decision is unknown. What is known is that Edlin eventually sent Burmaster back across to the edge of the minefield to act as a getaway man in case it all went south.
Then taking a deep breath …
… They stormed the pillbox with speed and precision, rifles drawn. The enemy, caught completely off guard, never had a chance to recover, as three angry American Rangers took immediate control of the room, shouting orders in broken German, and forcing everyone’s hands in the air.
They had done it. The foothold was secured.
But, having come this far, Edlin wondered if they could do more.
A short time later Rudder, who was commanding from their staging area, received a shocking radio message.
“Burmaster called back to report that they were currently guarding about 20 new prisoners and that the Fool Lieutenant was heading into The Fort to negotiate a surrender,” said Daly.
INTO THE FORT
Edlin and Courtney, with an English-speaking German officer between them, made their way resolutely through the belly of the beast, walking by occupied bunkers and buildings, past countless potential threats around every corner and down every darkened alley, toward the beating heart of the compound.
Amazingly, they stayed unnoticed the entire way.
A long tunnel led them into The Fort, and once inside they proceeded through the labyrinth within. Slowly, deliberately, they moved. From an underground infirmary, up some stairs, down a well-lit corridor, using the English-speaking German to talk down every person they encountered along the way. Finally, they came to an ornate wooden door.
They had arrived.
Without further warning, Edlin flung the door open and rushed in.
Courtney slammed the door behind them and posted up.
Edlin beelined directly to the commander, German Lt. Col. Martin Furst, and jammed the cold metal barrel of his gun in the man’s face.
After disarming the Nazi commander, Edlin reportedly said, “Why don’t you just surrender your fort and get this whole thing over with.”
He told Furst the area was surrounded and that, even now, Rangers were infiltrating the garrison.
As far as bald-faced lies go, it wasn’t bad.
“Furst opted to verify Edlin’s claim by making a phone call,” said Daly, “after which he hung up and told Edlin, “There are only three of you. You are my prisoners now.”
Edlin didn’t flinch.
He didn’t hesitate.
He did what only a Ranger would dare.
“Edlin grabbed a frag grenade, shoved it into Furst’s belly and said, “I’m ready to die. Are you?” said Archibeque, “Then he pulled the pin on the grenade and began to count.”
One …
Two …
That was as far as he got. Furst, now panicked, reportedly shouted, "Okay!" and Edlin promptly replaced the pin in his grenade.
The Ranger’s bluff, if it was a bluff at all, worked.
Furst announced the surrender on the camp’s PA system, and, moments later, having never fired a single shot, the Rangers watched as a horde of men poured endlessly from buildings and passageways into the courtyard, stacked their weapons neatly to the side, and fell into a formation.
“It shouldn’t have worked,” said Daly. “By every measure of war it should have failed, with all four Rangers being either killed or captured on the spot. But it didn’t, and Edlin ended up pulling off one of the most impressive and unlikely surrenders in military history.”
SUA SPONTE
The Ranger motto is Sua Sponte, which means “Of their own accord.” It symbolizes not just the all-volunteer nature of an elite, direct action raid force, but also captures the Rangers’ spirit of disciplined initiative and a readiness to take immediate action in the absence of formal orders. Of recognizing and seizing opportunities to achieve the mission regardless of rank or title, and of displaying the audacity and decisiveness necessary to win the day, no matter the enemy.
When Edlin walked into the lion’s den that day 81 years ago, he wasn’t just fighting a war. He wasn’t just doing a patrol, or navigating a minefield, or even orchestrating an enemy surrender. He was forging a legacy, one of courage and unwavering dedication to his Rangers and the mission.
“It’s Rangers like [Edlin] that make 2nd Ranger Battalion, and the entire Regiment, what it is today,” said Archibeque. “Everything he did that day: never failing his comrades, energetically meeting the enemies of his country, displaying the intestinal fortitude to fight on to the Ranger Objective and ultimately completing the mission, all of it … Edlin embodied the spirit of the Ranger Creed before there even was one. He embodied Sua Sponte before we took it as our motto. He set the incredibly high standards that every Ranger today is measured against.”
The Fool Lieutenant showed that victory belongs not only to the strong, but to the bold. Not only to the many, but to the few with the courage to act Sua Sponte, of their own accord, even against unimaginable odds.
In short, he showed what it means to be a Ranger.
Sua Sponte
Rangers Lead The Way
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2025 14:13 |
| Story ID: | 548148 |
| Location: | GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 38 |
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