The Black Panther Tank Battalion Essay -- essays research papers

The Black Panther storage tank BattalionThe 761st Black Panther Tank Battalion was the first black armored social unit to see combat. in the lead and during mobilization for serviceman fight II, officials in Washington, D.C., debated whether or not African-American soldiers should be used in armored units. Many military manpower and politicians believed that blacks did not have the brains, quickness or good stamina to compact in a war.Referring to his World warfare I experiences, Colonel James A. Moss, commandant of the 367th foot Regi manpowert, 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 wif e, wrote that "a colorise soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor."The gird forces embraced these beliefs even though African Americans had fought with courage and distinction in the subverter War and every other war and conflict ever waged by the United States. They overlooked the fact that quaternity 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 tierce 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 counsel of allowing African Americans to serve in armored units. He believed his nation could unfortunate afford to exclude such a potentially important offset 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. Roosevelts administration to allow black soldiers to serve on an equal footing with white soldiers.In the summer of 1940, Congress passed into practice of 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 mortal on account of race and color." In October, howeve... ...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. Thi s was cultivated in spite of extremely adverse weather conditions, difficult terrain not suited to armor, heavily fortified enemy positions, extreme shortages of replacement force-out and equipment, an overall casualty rate approaching 50 percent and the vent 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 " induce Out Fighting." In World War II, that is exactly what the Black Panthers did.