"African American Platoons in World War II" Topic

"The American soldiers hemmed in on the east bank of the Rhine River were desperately protecting their tenuous Remagen bridgehead, resisting repeated German attempts to infiltrate their perimeter. Fighting throughout the night, sometimes hand to hand, the men doggedly held their position, firing flares, hurling grenades and shooting wildly at shadowy figures as the enemy counterattacked repeatedly up the deep-cut draws and forested ridges above the town of Erpel, directly across the Rhine from Remagen.

For the men of K Company, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division, the situation was dire enough on the night of March 13, 1945, for them to call in friendly artillery on their positions in an effort to shake off their tormentors. Almost immediately, fire from American 155mm and 105mm batteries on the west bank of the river lit the blackened sky like distant lightning, the shells' thunderous concussions reverberating up the steep ravines to the ridgeline where K Company was dug in.,."
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Amicalement
Armand

Like WWI, or even before, many of the Black/African-American units/troops of the segregated US Military didn't get the credit or press, etc., they should have. De-segregating the US Military after WWII was a great step forward. For the US military and America.

I am still waiting for a "Band of Brothers" or " The Pacific"-type of series with the 761st Negro Tank Battalion as the subject. The Tuskegee Airmen's story has been told many times (and justifiably so) and it is past time for the 761st's story to be exposed to the general public. Last time I saw the 761st mentioned was in an episode of "Archer".

I would like to see a series about the 4 regiments of African-American soldiers who served with the French in 1918.

The black volunteers who took rank reductions to form all black infantry platoons that were added to white companies short of replacements during/after the Battle of the Bulge. Because they would not integrate them into white units. Their history is often lost.

Dan

There are a lot of good history/stories about Blacks/Africans troops that served. Would be good to see some docs/movies about them.

There was one movie about a Black American unit the served in WWII Italy. 93d Inf Div.? Had not seen it in a very long time. IIRC, "The Secret of St. ? ". Maybe Spike Lee directed it ?

I believe you mean "Miracle of St Anna" which indeed was directed by Spike Lee
imdb.com/title/tt1046997

That's it ! Thanks Marc ! As I said, I have not seen that in years. Will keep my eyes open for it.

French 2e DB were shocked that they had to drop all their colonial troops, on moving to England for the invasion with US Third Army, due to the segregation rule. Hard to believe only 75 years ago, thank God we seem to have moved on.

Agreed ! After the Draft was wisely ended, in '72-'73. When I was a Rifle PL in the 101, '80-'82. My Plt of 36 Authorized were mostly African America, Hispanic, even 1 or 2 American Indians. I can truly say they generally all did their jobs as did most of the "white" soldiers. I had only one AWOL and no judicial punishment, i.e. Article 15s, etc.

Albeit sometimes my PSG, or 1SG had to raise a little . And yes, even my Co Cdr had to chew my on a rare occasion.

As we know one should base their opinions, etc., of a man[or woman] by their deeds, actions, etc. … not race, etc.

The French 2e DB dropped most of its colonial troops because it was ear-marked to re-take Paris, and it wouldn't do, politically, for non-white troops to be involved in that operation. AFAIK, the directive to do so came from the French command structure, not the American or British. However, it still had some N. African soldiers, at least within it's reccon unit, the 12th Chasseurs d'Afrique. Unlike the U.S. Army, the French did include both white and "native" troops within some units, albeit the officers tended to be mostly white. However, the French troops driving up the Rhone (Anvil/Dragoon) and fighting in Italy, included both white and "native" elements.

Anyone who is keen on painting a very mixed-race army might consider doing a Brazilian unit. The Brazilian Army was completely integrated down to the squad level, and included whites and blacks of various hues and national origines, as well as people of Japanese descent. "Sargent Suzuki and privates Silva and Bauer assaulted the German machinegun nest in San Gabriel and destroyed it."

Yes, even in WWI, Hispanic and Native American troops were integrated into US Army units, the same as "whites" . But African Americans served in separate units, like, IIRC, the NY NG 15th Inf Rgt. Which had a very good combat record.

And of course in WWII, most Asians were in the all Oriental 100th Bn/442 Rgt. And they too preformed very well in combat …