The 'Black Panther' Tank Battalion
The 761st 'Black Panther' Tank Battalion was the first African-American armored unit to see combat.
Before and during mobilization for World War II, officials in Washington, D.C., debated whether or not African-American soldiers should be used in armored units. Many military men and politicians believed that blacks did not have the brains, quickness or moral stamina to fight in a war.
Referring to his World War I experiences, Colonel James A. Moss, commander of the 367th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, stated, "As fighting troops, the Negro must be rated as second-class material, this primarily to his inferior intelligence and lack of mental and moral qualities." Colonel Perry L. Miles, commander of the 371st Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division, voiced a similar opinion: "In a future war, the main use of the Negro should be in labor organizations." General George S. Patton, Jr., in a letter to his wife, wrote that "a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor."
The armed forces embraced these beliefs even though African Americans had fought with courage and distinction in the Revolutionary War and every other war and conflict ever waged by the United States. They overlooked the fact that four regiments of the 93rd Division had served with the French during World War I and that the French government had awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre to three of the four regiments and to a company of the fourth, as well as to the 1st Battalion, 367th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division.
Lieutenant General Leslie J. McNair, chief of the U.S. Army ground forces, was the main proponent of allowing African Americans to serve in armored units. He believed his nation could ill afford to exclude such a potentially important source of manpower. The black press, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Congress of Racial Equality also placed increasing pressure on the War Department and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration to allow black soldiers to serve on an equal footing with white soldiers.
In the summer of 1940, Congress passed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which said, "In the selection and training of men under this act, there shall be no discrimination against any person on account of race and color." In October, howeve...
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...17th Airborne Division. Assigned at various times to the Third, Seventh and Ninth armies, the Black Panthers fought major engagements in six European countries and participated in four major Allied campaigns. During that time, the unit inflicted 130,000 casualties on the German army and captured, destroyed or aided in the liberation of more than 30 towns, several concentration camps, four airfields, three ammunition supply dumps, 461 wheeled vehicles, 34 tanks, 113 large guns, and thousands of individual and crew-served weapons. This was accomplished in spite of extremely adverse weather conditions, difficult terrain not suited to armor, heavily fortified enemy positions, extreme shortages of replacement personnel and equipment, an overall casualty rate approaching 50 percent and the loss of 71 tanks.
In 1978--33 years after the end of World War II--the 761st Tank Battalion received a Presidential Unit Citation. In 1997, 53 years after giving his life on the battlefield, Sergeant Ruben Rivers was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The motto of the 761st Tank Battalion has always been "Come Out Fighting." In World War II, that is exactly what the Black Panthers did.
The 369th Infantry Regiment otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters was the first all-black US combat unit that was shipped during WW I and was crucial in the WWII battles in Hawaii and Okinawa. These members who were skilled and very proud were shipped to Hawaii and protected the Hawaiian islands with antiaircraft from Japanese attack. William De Fossett was one of the main leaders of the 369th regiment, who joined it due to the regiments fame from the waning days of World War I. The original Harlem Hellfighters fought with the French Army and were awarded for their excellent service. De Fossett made the highly selective and demanding requirements of the 369th regiment. He grew up in the highly cultured neighborhoods of Harlem. Although the Harlem Hellfighters wer...
For example, the civil war. Clark, was a prime example of this because he also helped others to become successful, by creating infantry units to give jobs to African Americans who wanted them. This was a huge deal in the late 1800’s because many African Americans needed to get out of poverty, and needed to make change, to ultimately inform others, who advocated for segregation, that they will not stop until an solution will be implemented. This was shown throughout the article, Black Civil War Soldiers, in which proves the fact that many African Americans were trying to create infantry units, “Some blacks took this as their cue to begin forming infantry units of their own. African Americans from New Orleans formed three National Guard units: the First, Second and Third Louisiana Native Guard.” This has further helped the African American community. Therefore, this proved the fact that Corporal Ira Clark was in fact a great character portrayed during the late
The movie “Glory” tells the history and the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. It became the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. The Regiment was made up of black soldiers – some were Northern freemen, some were escaped slaves. The leader was General Robert Gould Shaw, the son of Boston abolitionists. The men of the 54th Regiment proved themselves worthy of the freedom for which they fighting, and the respect of their fellow white soldiers.
fighting against the Germans, and 171 African Americans were awarded the French Croix de Guerre or Legion of Honor for their heroic actions.
The 1989 film Glory is a classic Civil War film based on the history of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. The film focuses on the courage displayed by the first black regiment in the Civil War, also known as the “Fighting Fifty-fourth.” The regiment headed by the admirable Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Matthew Broderick, must overcome an enormous amount of adversity during the war. The film was daring for filmmakers Zwick and Fields because it was a film not only with, “vivid and frightening battle scenes and finely etched dramatic characters, but a film that shattered the great Civil War taboo-it told a story of African Americans(Chadwick). Many articles and texts leading up to the film failed to mention the participation of African Americans in the Civil War. In fact, the participation of African Americans helped turn the course of the war and nearly 300,000 fought for the North.
The Harlem Hellfighters were originally called the 369th infantry during WW1. They got there nickname from Germany. German soldiers were called the “Hellfighters.” The 369th infantry was made up of all African Americans from Harlem, NY. Therefore, the 369th infantry got its nickname the “Harlem Hellfighters.” These African American men had many hardships throughout the 1900s. “The first all-black fighting unit to arrive in France was New York’s 369th Infantry.” (Martin) The motto of the 369th Infantry was “God damn, let’s go.” The 369th Infantry “spent 191 days in the front-line trenches, that’s more than any other unit during WW1. There was often nothing between the German Army and Paris but these black volunteers from New York.” (Martin) “A. Phillip Randolph was pessimistic about what the war would mean for black Americans. He pointed out that Negroes had sacrificed their blood on the battlefields of every American War since the Revolution, but it still had not brought them full citizenship.” (National Archives) The 369th infantry were actually not allowed to participate in the farewell parade of New York’s National Guard, the so-called Rainbow division. The reason was that “black isn’t a color of the Rainbow.” (National Archives)
The Army enjoyed showing every picture of a black soldier in action or the heroic stories of certain African-Americans because there were very few instances. The classic heroic story used entailed the plight of Doris Miller, the African-American messman aboard the West Virginia who, on the invasion of Pearl Harbor, moved ?his mortally wounded captain to a place of great safety? and shot down six Japanese planes with a machine gun (Neverdon-Morton 6). Additionally, the government film, ?The Negro Soldier? depicted the army as though there were many active African-American soldiers, due to the fact that ?the War Department?s policy seems to be to give the greatest possible publicity to those very few Negro units? (Wilson 98). No matter how involved these soldiers appeared to Americans in this movie, Ruth Wilson, author of Jim Crow Joins Up, stated that it ?[?] by no means compensates for the fact that only a very small number of Negroes is being given opportunity for front...
Black soldiers were among the bravest of those fighting in the Civil War. Both free Blacks in the Union army and escaped slaves from the South rushed to fight for their freedom and they fought with distinction in many major Civil War battles. Many whites thought Blacks could not be soldiers. They were slaves. They were inferior. Many thought that if Blacks could fight in the war it would make them equal to whites and prove the theory of slavery was wrong. Even though Black soldiers had to face much discrimination during the Civil War, they were willing to fight to the death for their freedom. In the movie “Glory“ the director focused on the African Americans in the north that fought in the 54th regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. During the time of the Civil War, the African Americans that fought in the 54th regiment were often treated unfairly but there were always nice people that backed them up.
In the first article “The lonely Eagles” by Robert A. Rose, D.D.S. gave me a great insight to who these men really were. The U.S. Air Force Association honored all the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII at the 2008 Air and Space Conference. They gave out lifetime achievement awards to all who were there. Retired Airmen such as Colonel Charles McGhee, Lt. Colonel Walter McCreary and Colonel Elmer Jones were there to share the spotlight they deserved. They left a lasting legacy to aviators and support personnel. In his book "Lonely Eagles", Dr. Robert A. Rose tells there story of America’s black pilots in World War II. The book is a story of true patriotism, remarkable combat skills. The U.S. Air Force Association express their gratitude and the nation thanks to these heroes for their accomplished and duty's more than 60 ago.
World War II opened up several opportunities for African American men during and after the war. First of all, the blacks were able to join the military, the Navy and the Army Air Corps’ (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The African Americans were allowed to join the military because they were needed, but they would be trained separately and put in separate groups then the white men because America was still prejudice. (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The same went for the African Americans that joined the Navy, only they were given the menial jobs instead of the huge jobs (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). African Americans that joined the Army Air Corps’ were also segregated (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The Army Air Corps’ African American also known as the Tuskegee Airmen were sent to the blacks university in Tuskegee for their training (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). They became one of the most well known groups of flyers during World War II th...
Kersten, Andrew E. "African Americans and World War II." Organization of American Historians Magazine of History. Organization of American Historians, n.d. Web.
Throughout history, many groups have been segregated at one point or another. These groups included Native Americans, Jews, and many many more. Some groups accepted their fate, while others fought to prove who they really were. Really overall, African-Americans at the time of World War II were one of the most segregated and oppressed groups of all time. However, instead of accepting their fate, they chose to prove who they were and are through fighting and other means, such as demonstrations. African-Americans helped in World War II through the 761st Tank Battalion, the Tuskegee Airmen, and other actions off the frontline.
During the years leading up to World War I, no black man had ever served as a pilot for the United States Army, ever since the beginning of the United States Army Air Service in 1907. The Tuskegee Airmen changed this and played a huge part in the fight for African-American rights for years to come.
Since even before the United States has been classified as a nation, African Americans have served in armed forces. From a little village militias to the army or sailors, African Americans have stepped up to help defend and eventually earn their own freedom. The battle for unification and for recognition of black soldiers has been a slow undertaking. It wasn't until after World War II that the U.S. armed forces became fully and lawfully unified, under a 1948 executive order by President Harry S. Truman. They were “unified”; meaning that the African American troops could be in the same regiments and squads as the white men. Previously they underwent completely separate training and were assorted to their own regiments. Throughout time many groups of enlisted black men have made up the hammer which broke down the racial barriers which were all too common up until about 45 years ago. All of this had to start somewhere, which leads me to the Revolutionary War.
Black soldiers made their first major impact in the United States military during the Civil War. Upon their entrance into the armed forces, African Americans were discriminated against by the white soldiers. A regiment in the Union army called the Buffalo soldiers was viewed as inferior. None of the white soldiers wanted to fight with this group, so the Buffalo soldiers were sent to the far west where they could fight and not interfere with the whites. The Buffalo soldiers operated in the west from 1867-1896. During this span, fourteen medals of honor were awarded to the Buffalo soldiers, the highest military award. These soldiers became known for their bravery and courage in battle. This angered the whites, who did not want African Americans in the military. However, the courage demonstrated by the Buffalo soldiers allowed for other African American regiments to be created (“Buffalo Soldier”).