![]() Without waiting for orders, Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers climbed out of his lead tank carrying a large cable. The men also faced a German roadblock that would have meant almost certain death. And where hit it, they cut it off like you had a … welding torch. “The tank would rock when something hit it and we didn’t know what happened,” he said. ![]() Anderson in his book, “Come Out Fighting: The Epic Tale of the 761st Tank Battalion.”ĭade remembered laughing with some infantry soldiers, not realizing how serious the situation was until the rounds started coming in. “The inside of a tank is a helluva place to be, when red-hot, white-hot steel fragments are ricocheting around, and just can’t go anywhere else but the inside of that tank,” described Private First Class Trezzvant W. The men fought hard, but it was still a terrifying, disorienting experience, especially when rain turned the roads to muddy rivers that made it nearly impossible to maneuver. The tankers rolled into battle, coming under heavy fire in Vic-sur-Seille, France, on November 8, 1944. With those words ringing in their ears, “you had to respect the man,” said 761st veteran Staff Sergeant Floyd Dade Jr. Don’t let them down, and, damn you, don’t let me down.” Most of all, your race is looking forward to you. … Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. General George Patton addressed the tankers himself, famously saying, “I would never have asked for you if you weren’t good. Jenkins.Īrmy leaders were certainly happy to see the men. Then-Lieutenant General George Patton awards a Silver Star to Army Private Ernest A. ![]() … It got to the point in combat where the units were interacting like everyone was the same. … What is the thing foremost on their minds? They want to kill Hitler. But for the most part, they’re with their unit and it clicks. “They are not obsessed with race,” said Gina DiNicolo, a former Marine officer and author of “The Black Panthers: A Story of Race, War, and Courage.” “They’re running into some problems, some challenges. Many infantry soldiers didn’t even know that the tankers running with them were Black, said Robinson. When the unit finally got to France, the tankers encountered a few individuals who may have had trouble with color of their skin, but for the most part, soldiers were worried about their missions and about staying alive. In fact, 2nd Lieutenant Jackie Robinson’s famous bus incident and subsequent court-martial took place while he was attached to the 761st. He explained that the tankers experienced a lot of racism in their rural training grounds at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and Camp Hood, Texas. ![]() Robinson, the historian for the 761st Tank Battalion Association, and a former armor crewman in the Massachusetts National Guard. Because they were African-Americans, the Army didn’t quite know what to do with them,” said former Sergeant Wayne D. “They trained for almost two years at a time when armor crewmen were getting as little as three months of training because of the pressures of the war. By 1945, the tankers were steely and battle-hardened, but even before they landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on October 10, 1944, they were some of the best-trained tankers in the Army. The 761st was the first African-American tank unit to go into combat. A tank from Company A, 761st Tank Battalion, crosses the Seille River in France on November 9, 1944, the unit’s second of 183 days in combat.Īrmy leaders hadn’t chosen just any tank battalion when they assigned the 761st Tank Battalion to lead Task Force Rhine with elements of the 103rd Infantry Division.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |