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As the people of the United States watched World War I ignite across Europe, African American citizens saw an
opportunity to win the respect of their white neighbors. America was a segregated society and African Americans
were considered, at best, second class citizens. Yet despite that, there were many African American men willing to
serve in the nation’s military, but even as it became apparent that the United States would enter the war in
Europe, blacks were still being turned away from military service.
When the United States declared war against Germany in April of 1917, War Department planners quickly realized
that the standing Army of 126,000 men would not be enough to ensure victory overseas. The standard volunteer
system proved to be inadequate in raising an Army, so on 18 May 1917 Congress passed the Selective Service Act
requiring all male citizens between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for the draft. Even before the act was
passed, African American males from all over the country eagerly joined the war effort. They viewed the conflict as
an opportunity to prove their loyalty, patriotism, and worthiness for equal treatment in the United States.
Following the Civil War, the Army disbanded volunteer “colored” regiments, and established six Regular Army
regiments of black troops with white officers. In 1869, the infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and
25th Infantry. The two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th, were retained. These regiments were posted in the
West and Southwest where they were heavily engaged in the Indian War. During the Spanish-American War, all
four regiments saw service.
When World War I broke out, there were four all-black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and
25th Infantry. The men in these units were considered heroes in their communities. Within one week of Wilson’s
declaration of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black volunteers because the quotas for African
Americans were filled.
When it came to the draft, however, there was a reversal in usual discriminatory policy. Draft boards were
comprised entirely of white men. Although there were no specific segregation provisions outlined in the draft
legislation, blacks were told to tear off one corner of their registration cards so they could easily be identified and
inducted separately. Now instead of turning blacks away, the draft boards were doing all they could to bring them
into service, southern draft boards in particular. One Georgia county exemption board discharged forty-four
percent of white registrants on physical grounds and exempted only three percent of black registrants based on
the same requirements. It was fairly common for southern postal workers to deliberately withhold the registration
cards of eligible black men and have them arrested for being draft dodgers. African American men who owned
their own farms and had families were often drafted before single white employees of large planters. Although
comprising just ten percent of the entire United States population, blacks supplied thirteen percent of inductees.
While still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race relations than the other branches of the
military. Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and
the Coast Guard. By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical,
engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists, and intelligence
officers.
Although technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks got the opportunity to serve in combat
units. Most were limited to labor battalions. The combat elements of the U.S. Army were kept completely
segregated. The four established all-black Regular Army regiments were not used in overseas combat roles but
instead were diffused throughout American held territory. There was such a backlash from the African American
community, however, that the War Department finally created the 92d and 93d Divisions, both primarily black
combat units, in 1917.
With the creation of African American units also came the demand for African-American officers. The War
Department thought the soldiers would be more likely to follow men of their own color, thereby reducing the risk
of any sort of uprising. Most leaders of the African American community agreed, and it was decided that the Army
would create a segregated, but supposedly equal, officer training camp. In May 1917, Fort Des Moines opened its
doors to black officer-trainees. Approximately 1,250 men attended the camp in Des Moines, Iowa.
Two hundred fifty of those men were already noncommissioned officers, and the rest were civilians. The average
man attending the camp only had to have a high school education, and only twelve percent scored above average
in the classification tests given by the Army.
Run by then LTC Charles C. Ballou, the fort’s staff of twelve West Point graduates, and a few noncommissioned
officers from the four original all-black regiments put the candidates through a rigorous training routine. They
practiced drilling with and without arms, signaling, physical training, memorizing the organization of the regiment,
reading maps, and training on the rifle and bayonet. However, as Ballou noted after the war, the men doing the
training did not take the job very seriously, and seemed to consider the school, and the candidates, a waste of
time. Consequently, the War Department determined that the instruction at Fort Des Moines was poor and
inadequate. Also adding to the poor training was the fact that no one knew exactly what to expect in France, so it
was difficult to train as precisely as was needed.
On 15 October 1917, 639 African-American men received their commissions as either captain or first or second
lieutenant, and were assigned to infantry, artillery, and engineer units with the 92d Division. This was to be the
first and only class to graduate from Fort Des Moines; the War Department shut it down soon after their
departure. Future black candidates attended either special traning camps in Puerto Rico (from which 433 officers
graduated), the Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama, or regular officer training facilities in the United States .
The Army had no written policy on what to do if an officer training camp became integrated, so each camp was
allowed to decide for itself the manner in which the integration was executed. Some were completely segregated
and others allowed for blacks and whites to train together. Over 700 additional black officers graduated from
these camps, bringing the total number to 1,353.
Although African Americans were earning higher positions in the Army, that did not necessarily mean they were
getting equal treatment. Black draftees were treated with extreme hostility when they arrived for training. White
men refused to salute black officers and black officers were often barred from the officer’s clubs and quarters. The
War Department rarely interceded, and discrimination was usually overlooked or sometimes condoned. Because
many Southern civilians protested having blacks from other states inhabit nearby training camps, the War
Department stipulated that no more than one-fourth of the trainees in any Army camp in the U.S. could be African
American.
Even when integrated into fairly progressive camps, black soldiers were often treated badly and sometimes went
for long periods without proper clothing. There were also reports of blacks receiving old Civil War uniforms and
being forced to sleep outside in pitched tents instead of warmer, sturdier barracks. Some were forced to eat
outside in the winter months, while others went without a change of clothes for months at a time. Not all black
soldiers suffered treatment like this, however, as those who were lucky enough to train at newly erected National
Army cantonments lived in comfortable barracks and had sanitary latrines, hot food, and plenty of clothes.
The first black troops sent overseas belonged to service units. Because the work that these units did was
absolutely invaluable to the war effort, commanders promised special privileges in return for high-yield results.
With such motivation, the soldiers would often work for twenty-four hours straight unloading ships and
transporting men and materiel to and from various bases, ports, and railroad depots. As the war continued and
soldiers took to the battlefields, black labor units became responsible for digging trenches, removing unexploded
shells from fields, clearing disabled equipment and barbed wire, and burying soldiers killed in action. Despite all
the hard and essential work they provided, African American stevedores received the worst treatment of all black
troops serving in World War I.
Although not nearly as respected as any of the white soldiers involved in the war effort, African American combat
troops, in many respects, were much better off than the laborers. The two combat divisions--the 92d and 93d
Divisions--had two completely different experiences while fighting the Great War.
The 92d Division was created in October 1917 and put under the command of BG Charles C. Ballou, who had
organized the first African American officer candidate school. Organized in a manner similar to the other American
divisions, the 92d was made up of four infantry regiments, three field artillery regiments, a trench mortar battery,
three machine gun battalions, a signal battalion, an engineer regiment, an engineer train, and various support
units.
Although in no case did a black officer command a white officer, most of the officers (up to the rank of first
lieutenant) in the unit were African American. Unlike just about every other American unit training to go into battle,
soldiers from the 92d were forced to train separately while in the United States. The War Department, fearing
racial uprisings, was willing to sacrifice the unit’s ability to develop cohesion and pride. The lack of a strong bond
between the men was one of the factors that led to the unit’s poor performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign.
The personal animosity between LTG Robert Bullard, commander of the American Second Army, and BG Ballou was
another problem. Bullard was not only a staunch racist, but he also had a rivalry going with BG Ballou. In order to
make both Ballou and the black soldiers appear completely incompetent, Bullard spread misinformation about the
successes and failures of the 92d.
Even COL Allen J. Greer, Ballou’s chief of staff, was in on the plan to sabotage the reputation of his African
American unit, and helped put a negative twist on stories from the front lines. Regardless of how well the 92d
Division actually did on the battlefield, it was virtually impossible to overcome the slander from prejudiced officers.
Following some initial successes in Lorraine in mid-August, on 20 September 1918, the 92d was ordered to
proceed to the Argonne Forest in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The division reached the front
lines just before the first assault. The 368th Infantry Regiment immediately received orders to fill a gap between
the American 77th Division and the French 37th Division. However, due to their lack of training with the French,
shortages of equipment, and unfamiliarity with the terrain, the regiment did not successfully complete this
important assignment. The failure to accomplish this crucial mission blemished the 92d’s combat record, and it was
often used by military authorities for more than thirty years to prove the inadequacy of African American soldiers in
combat.
After the disaster in the Argonne, the entire division was sent to a relatively quiet area of the front in the
Marbache sector. Their primary mission was nevertheless a dangerous one: harass the enemy with frequent
patrols. The danger of the assignment was reflected in the 462 casualties sustained in just the first month of
patrolling. Although American commanders were dissatisfied with the unit’s performance, the French obviously had
a different opinion--they decorated members of the 365th Infantry and 350th Machine Gun Battalion for their
aggressiveness and bravery.
By late 1918, the German Army was in full retreat, the Allied Commander in Chief, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch,
wanted to apply heavy pressure for a decisive breakthrough and defeat. The 92d was ordered to take the heights
east of Champney, France, on 10 November 1918. Although only lasting one day, the attack was fierce and
bloody, costing the division over 500 casualties.
As the 92d Division struggled to clear its reputation, the 93d Division had a much more successful experience.
Commanded by BG Roy Hoffman, the 93d Division was also organized in December 1917. Unlike other American
infantry divisions, the 93d was limited to four infantry regiments, three of which were comprised of National Guard
units from New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Tennessee.
Being made up of mostly draftees and National Guardsmen, the 93d lacked any sort of consistency in its
experience or composition. The unit also lacked its full number of combat units and support elements, and as a
result never attained full divisional strength. Seeming to have odds stacked against it, the 93d fared remarkably
well when faced with battle.
The situation was desperate in France, and with exhausted and dwindling armies, the French begged the United
States for men. GEN John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, promised them four American
regiments. He decided to give them the regiments of the 93d Division since the French, who had used French
colonial troops from Senegal, had experience in employing black soldiers in combat. The first African American
combat troops to set foot on French soil belonged to the 93d Division. Armed, organized, and equipped as a
French unit, the 93d quickly adjusted to their new assignment. Although experiencing some difficulties like
language problems, the black soldiers were treated as equals.
The 369th Infantry was the first regiment of the 93d Division to reach France. They arrived in the port city of Brest
in December 1917. On 10 March, after three months of duty with the Services of Supply, the 369th received orders
to join the French 16th Division in Givry en Argonne for additional training. After three weeks the regiment was
sent to the front lines in a region just west of the Argonne Forest. For nearly a month they held their position
against German assaults, and after only a brief break from the front, the 369th was placed once again in the
middle of the German offensive, this time at Minacourt, France. From 18 July to 6 August 1918, the 369th Infantry,
now proudly nicknamed the “Harlem Hellfighters,” proved their tenacity once again by helping the French 161st
Division drive the Germans from their trenches during the Aisne-Marne counter-offensive.
In this three-week period, the Germans were making many small night raids into Allied territory. During one of
these raids, a member of the 369th Infantry, CPL Henry Johnson, fought off an entire German raiding party using
only a pistol and a knife. Killing four of the Germans and wounding many more, his actions allowed an wounded
comrade to escape capture and led to the seizure of a stockpile of German arms. Johnson and his comrade were
wounded and both received the French Croix de Guerre for their gallantry. Johnson was also promoted to
sergeant.
From 26 September to 5 October, the 369th participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and continued to fight
well throughout the remainder of the war. The regiment fought in the front lines for a total of 191 days, five days
longer than any other regiment in the AEF. France awarded the entire unit the Croix de Guerre, along with
presenting 171 individual awards for exceptional gallantry in action.
Although the 369th won much of the glory for the 93d Division, the 370th, 371st, and 372d Regiments, eached
assigned to different French divisions, also proved themselves worthy of acclaim at the front. The 370th fought
hard in both the Meuse-Argonne and Oise-Aisne campaigns. Seventy-one members of the regiment received the
French Croix de Guerre, and another twenty-one soldiers received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).
Company C, 371st Infantry, earned the Croix de Guerre with Palm. The 371st Regiment spent more than three
months on the front lines in the Verdun area, and for its extraordinary service in the Champagne offensive, the
entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm. In addition, three of the 371st’s officers were
awarded the French Legion of Honor, 123 men won the Croix de Guerre, and twenty-six earned the DSC.
The 372d Infantry also performed admirably during the American assault in Champagne, and afterwards assisted
in the capture of Monthois. It was there the regiment faced strong resistance and numerous counterattacks,
resulting in many instances of hand-to-hand combat. In less than two weeks of front line service, the 372d
suffered 600 casualties. The regiment earned a unit Croix de Guerre with Palm, and in addition, forty-three
officers, fourteen noncommissioned officers, and 116 privates received either the Croix de Guerre or the DSC.
On 11 November 1918 at 1100, the armistice between the Allies and Central Powers went into effect. Like all
other American soldiers, the African American troops reveled in celebration and took justifiable pride the great
victory they helped achieve. It was not without great cost: the 92d Division suffered 1,647 battle causualties and
the 93d Division suffered 3,534. Expecting to come home heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon
their return. Back home, many whites feared that African Americans would return demanding equality and would
try to attain it by employing their military training. As the troops returned, there was an increase of racial tension.
During the summer and fall of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America. The lynching
of blacks also increased from fifty-eight in 1918 to seventy-seven in 1919. At least ten of those victims were war
veterans, and some were lynched while in uniform.
Despite this treatment, African American men continued to enlist in the military, including veterans of World War I
that came home to such violence and ingratitude. They served their county in the brief period of peace after the
World War I, and many went on to fight in World War II. It was not until the 1948 that President Harry S Truman
issued an executive order to desegregate the military, although it took the Korean War to fully integrate the Army.
African Americans finally began to receive the equal treatment their predecessors had earned in combat in France
during World War I, and as far back as the American Revolution.
opportunity to win the respect of their white neighbors. America was a segregated society and African Americans
were considered, at best, second class citizens. Yet despite that, there were many African American men willing to
serve in the nation’s military, but even as it became apparent that the United States would enter the war in
Europe, blacks were still being turned away from military service.
When the United States declared war against Germany in April of 1917, War Department planners quickly realized
that the standing Army of 126,000 men would not be enough to ensure victory overseas. The standard volunteer
system proved to be inadequate in raising an Army, so on 18 May 1917 Congress passed the Selective Service Act
requiring all male citizens between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for the draft. Even before the act was
passed, African American males from all over the country eagerly joined the war effort. They viewed the conflict as
an opportunity to prove their loyalty, patriotism, and worthiness for equal treatment in the United States.
Following the Civil War, the Army disbanded volunteer “colored” regiments, and established six Regular Army
regiments of black troops with white officers. In 1869, the infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and
25th Infantry. The two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th, were retained. These regiments were posted in the
West and Southwest where they were heavily engaged in the Indian War. During the Spanish-American War, all
four regiments saw service.
When World War I broke out, there were four all-black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and
25th Infantry. The men in these units were considered heroes in their communities. Within one week of Wilson’s
declaration of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black volunteers because the quotas for African
Americans were filled.
When it came to the draft, however, there was a reversal in usual discriminatory policy. Draft boards were
comprised entirely of white men. Although there were no specific segregation provisions outlined in the draft
legislation, blacks were told to tear off one corner of their registration cards so they could easily be identified and
inducted separately. Now instead of turning blacks away, the draft boards were doing all they could to bring them
into service, southern draft boards in particular. One Georgia county exemption board discharged forty-four
percent of white registrants on physical grounds and exempted only three percent of black registrants based on
the same requirements. It was fairly common for southern postal workers to deliberately withhold the registration
cards of eligible black men and have them arrested for being draft dodgers. African American men who owned
their own farms and had families were often drafted before single white employees of large planters. Although
comprising just ten percent of the entire United States population, blacks supplied thirteen percent of inductees.
While still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race relations than the other branches of the
military. Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and
the Coast Guard. By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical,
engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists, and intelligence
officers.
Although technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks got the opportunity to serve in combat
units. Most were limited to labor battalions. The combat elements of the U.S. Army were kept completely
segregated. The four established all-black Regular Army regiments were not used in overseas combat roles but
instead were diffused throughout American held territory. There was such a backlash from the African American
community, however, that the War Department finally created the 92d and 93d Divisions, both primarily black
combat units, in 1917.
With the creation of African American units also came the demand for African-American officers. The War
Department thought the soldiers would be more likely to follow men of their own color, thereby reducing the risk
of any sort of uprising. Most leaders of the African American community agreed, and it was decided that the Army
would create a segregated, but supposedly equal, officer training camp. In May 1917, Fort Des Moines opened its
doors to black officer-trainees. Approximately 1,250 men attended the camp in Des Moines, Iowa.
Two hundred fifty of those men were already noncommissioned officers, and the rest were civilians. The average
man attending the camp only had to have a high school education, and only twelve percent scored above average
in the classification tests given by the Army.
Run by then LTC Charles C. Ballou, the fort’s staff of twelve West Point graduates, and a few noncommissioned
officers from the four original all-black regiments put the candidates through a rigorous training routine. They
practiced drilling with and without arms, signaling, physical training, memorizing the organization of the regiment,
reading maps, and training on the rifle and bayonet. However, as Ballou noted after the war, the men doing the
training did not take the job very seriously, and seemed to consider the school, and the candidates, a waste of
time. Consequently, the War Department determined that the instruction at Fort Des Moines was poor and
inadequate. Also adding to the poor training was the fact that no one knew exactly what to expect in France, so it
was difficult to train as precisely as was needed.
On 15 October 1917, 639 African-American men received their commissions as either captain or first or second
lieutenant, and were assigned to infantry, artillery, and engineer units with the 92d Division. This was to be the
first and only class to graduate from Fort Des Moines; the War Department shut it down soon after their
departure. Future black candidates attended either special traning camps in Puerto Rico (from which 433 officers
graduated), the Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama, or regular officer training facilities in the United States .
The Army had no written policy on what to do if an officer training camp became integrated, so each camp was
allowed to decide for itself the manner in which the integration was executed. Some were completely segregated
and others allowed for blacks and whites to train together. Over 700 additional black officers graduated from
these camps, bringing the total number to 1,353.
Although African Americans were earning higher positions in the Army, that did not necessarily mean they were
getting equal treatment. Black draftees were treated with extreme hostility when they arrived for training. White
men refused to salute black officers and black officers were often barred from the officer’s clubs and quarters. The
War Department rarely interceded, and discrimination was usually overlooked or sometimes condoned. Because
many Southern civilians protested having blacks from other states inhabit nearby training camps, the War
Department stipulated that no more than one-fourth of the trainees in any Army camp in the U.S. could be African
American.
Even when integrated into fairly progressive camps, black soldiers were often treated badly and sometimes went
for long periods without proper clothing. There were also reports of blacks receiving old Civil War uniforms and
being forced to sleep outside in pitched tents instead of warmer, sturdier barracks. Some were forced to eat
outside in the winter months, while others went without a change of clothes for months at a time. Not all black
soldiers suffered treatment like this, however, as those who were lucky enough to train at newly erected National
Army cantonments lived in comfortable barracks and had sanitary latrines, hot food, and plenty of clothes.
The first black troops sent overseas belonged to service units. Because the work that these units did was
absolutely invaluable to the war effort, commanders promised special privileges in return for high-yield results.
With such motivation, the soldiers would often work for twenty-four hours straight unloading ships and
transporting men and materiel to and from various bases, ports, and railroad depots. As the war continued and
soldiers took to the battlefields, black labor units became responsible for digging trenches, removing unexploded
shells from fields, clearing disabled equipment and barbed wire, and burying soldiers killed in action. Despite all
the hard and essential work they provided, African American stevedores received the worst treatment of all black
troops serving in World War I.
Although not nearly as respected as any of the white soldiers involved in the war effort, African American combat
troops, in many respects, were much better off than the laborers. The two combat divisions--the 92d and 93d
Divisions--had two completely different experiences while fighting the Great War.
The 92d Division was created in October 1917 and put under the command of BG Charles C. Ballou, who had
organized the first African American officer candidate school. Organized in a manner similar to the other American
divisions, the 92d was made up of four infantry regiments, three field artillery regiments, a trench mortar battery,
three machine gun battalions, a signal battalion, an engineer regiment, an engineer train, and various support
units.
Although in no case did a black officer command a white officer, most of the officers (up to the rank of first
lieutenant) in the unit were African American. Unlike just about every other American unit training to go into battle,
soldiers from the 92d were forced to train separately while in the United States. The War Department, fearing
racial uprisings, was willing to sacrifice the unit’s ability to develop cohesion and pride. The lack of a strong bond
between the men was one of the factors that led to the unit’s poor performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign.
The personal animosity between LTG Robert Bullard, commander of the American Second Army, and BG Ballou was
another problem. Bullard was not only a staunch racist, but he also had a rivalry going with BG Ballou. In order to
make both Ballou and the black soldiers appear completely incompetent, Bullard spread misinformation about the
successes and failures of the 92d.
Even COL Allen J. Greer, Ballou’s chief of staff, was in on the plan to sabotage the reputation of his African
American unit, and helped put a negative twist on stories from the front lines. Regardless of how well the 92d
Division actually did on the battlefield, it was virtually impossible to overcome the slander from prejudiced officers.
Following some initial successes in Lorraine in mid-August, on 20 September 1918, the 92d was ordered to
proceed to the Argonne Forest in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The division reached the front
lines just before the first assault. The 368th Infantry Regiment immediately received orders to fill a gap between
the American 77th Division and the French 37th Division. However, due to their lack of training with the French,
shortages of equipment, and unfamiliarity with the terrain, the regiment did not successfully complete this
important assignment. The failure to accomplish this crucial mission blemished the 92d’s combat record, and it was
often used by military authorities for more than thirty years to prove the inadequacy of African American soldiers in
combat.
After the disaster in the Argonne, the entire division was sent to a relatively quiet area of the front in the
Marbache sector. Their primary mission was nevertheless a dangerous one: harass the enemy with frequent
patrols. The danger of the assignment was reflected in the 462 casualties sustained in just the first month of
patrolling. Although American commanders were dissatisfied with the unit’s performance, the French obviously had
a different opinion--they decorated members of the 365th Infantry and 350th Machine Gun Battalion for their
aggressiveness and bravery.
By late 1918, the German Army was in full retreat, the Allied Commander in Chief, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch,
wanted to apply heavy pressure for a decisive breakthrough and defeat. The 92d was ordered to take the heights
east of Champney, France, on 10 November 1918. Although only lasting one day, the attack was fierce and
bloody, costing the division over 500 casualties.
As the 92d Division struggled to clear its reputation, the 93d Division had a much more successful experience.
Commanded by BG Roy Hoffman, the 93d Division was also organized in December 1917. Unlike other American
infantry divisions, the 93d was limited to four infantry regiments, three of which were comprised of National Guard
units from New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Tennessee.
Being made up of mostly draftees and National Guardsmen, the 93d lacked any sort of consistency in its
experience or composition. The unit also lacked its full number of combat units and support elements, and as a
result never attained full divisional strength. Seeming to have odds stacked against it, the 93d fared remarkably
well when faced with battle.
The situation was desperate in France, and with exhausted and dwindling armies, the French begged the United
States for men. GEN John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, promised them four American
regiments. He decided to give them the regiments of the 93d Division since the French, who had used French
colonial troops from Senegal, had experience in employing black soldiers in combat. The first African American
combat troops to set foot on French soil belonged to the 93d Division. Armed, organized, and equipped as a
French unit, the 93d quickly adjusted to their new assignment. Although experiencing some difficulties like
language problems, the black soldiers were treated as equals.
The 369th Infantry was the first regiment of the 93d Division to reach France. They arrived in the port city of Brest
in December 1917. On 10 March, after three months of duty with the Services of Supply, the 369th received orders
to join the French 16th Division in Givry en Argonne for additional training. After three weeks the regiment was
sent to the front lines in a region just west of the Argonne Forest. For nearly a month they held their position
against German assaults, and after only a brief break from the front, the 369th was placed once again in the
middle of the German offensive, this time at Minacourt, France. From 18 July to 6 August 1918, the 369th Infantry,
now proudly nicknamed the “Harlem Hellfighters,” proved their tenacity once again by helping the French 161st
Division drive the Germans from their trenches during the Aisne-Marne counter-offensive.
In this three-week period, the Germans were making many small night raids into Allied territory. During one of
these raids, a member of the 369th Infantry, CPL Henry Johnson, fought off an entire German raiding party using
only a pistol and a knife. Killing four of the Germans and wounding many more, his actions allowed an wounded
comrade to escape capture and led to the seizure of a stockpile of German arms. Johnson and his comrade were
wounded and both received the French Croix de Guerre for their gallantry. Johnson was also promoted to
sergeant.
From 26 September to 5 October, the 369th participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and continued to fight
well throughout the remainder of the war. The regiment fought in the front lines for a total of 191 days, five days
longer than any other regiment in the AEF. France awarded the entire unit the Croix de Guerre, along with
presenting 171 individual awards for exceptional gallantry in action.
Although the 369th won much of the glory for the 93d Division, the 370th, 371st, and 372d Regiments, eached
assigned to different French divisions, also proved themselves worthy of acclaim at the front. The 370th fought
hard in both the Meuse-Argonne and Oise-Aisne campaigns. Seventy-one members of the regiment received the
French Croix de Guerre, and another twenty-one soldiers received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).
Company C, 371st Infantry, earned the Croix de Guerre with Palm. The 371st Regiment spent more than three
months on the front lines in the Verdun area, and for its extraordinary service in the Champagne offensive, the
entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm. In addition, three of the 371st’s officers were
awarded the French Legion of Honor, 123 men won the Croix de Guerre, and twenty-six earned the DSC.
The 372d Infantry also performed admirably during the American assault in Champagne, and afterwards assisted
in the capture of Monthois. It was there the regiment faced strong resistance and numerous counterattacks,
resulting in many instances of hand-to-hand combat. In less than two weeks of front line service, the 372d
suffered 600 casualties. The regiment earned a unit Croix de Guerre with Palm, and in addition, forty-three
officers, fourteen noncommissioned officers, and 116 privates received either the Croix de Guerre or the DSC.
On 11 November 1918 at 1100, the armistice between the Allies and Central Powers went into effect. Like all
other American soldiers, the African American troops reveled in celebration and took justifiable pride the great
victory they helped achieve. It was not without great cost: the 92d Division suffered 1,647 battle causualties and
the 93d Division suffered 3,534. Expecting to come home heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon
their return. Back home, many whites feared that African Americans would return demanding equality and would
try to attain it by employing their military training. As the troops returned, there was an increase of racial tension.
During the summer and fall of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America. The lynching
of blacks also increased from fifty-eight in 1918 to seventy-seven in 1919. At least ten of those victims were war
veterans, and some were lynched while in uniform.
Despite this treatment, African American men continued to enlist in the military, including veterans of World War I
that came home to such violence and ingratitude. They served their county in the brief period of peace after the
World War I, and many went on to fight in World War II. It was not until the 1948 that President Harry S Truman
issued an executive order to desegregate the military, although it took the Korean War to fully integrate the Army.
African Americans finally began to receive the equal treatment their predecessors had earned in combat in France
during World War I, and as far back as the American Revolution.
| Fighting For Respect |
The first black soldiers to arrive in Europe to arrive in Europe were those of the 369th Regiment from New York. The
regiment quickly built up a reputation as excellent soldiers and were nicknamed the Hell Fighters by the German
Army. The 369th were the first Allied regiment to break through the German lines to reach the Rhine. During 191
days of fighting, the regiment did not have a man captured; nor did it lose an inch of ground by retreating. The
military leaders in France were so impressed with the way they fought at the Battle of Maison-en-Champagne that
they gave the regiment the Croix de Guerre medal.
regiment quickly built up a reputation as excellent soldiers and were nicknamed the Hell Fighters by the German
Army. The 369th were the first Allied regiment to break through the German lines to reach the Rhine. During 191
days of fighting, the regiment did not have a man captured; nor did it lose an inch of ground by retreating. The
military leaders in France were so impressed with the way they fought at the Battle of Maison-en-Champagne that
they gave the regiment the Croix de Guerre medal.
Soldiers from the 369th Infantry Regiment proudly wearing their Croix de Guerre medals.