![]() Together these units made up part of the US Seventh Army, then preparing for the final drive into Germany. ![]() ![]() The crescendo of the 761st Tank Battalion’s WWII service began a few days later, when it was moved again by train and attached to the 103rd Infantry Division in conjunction with several other African American units, most notably the crack 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion. And they crossed into Germany on March 3. ![]() Over the next few weeks the battalion worked with the 79th Infantry Division to push the line forward to the Rhine River, capturing several important towns and railway junctions. The men were pleasantly surprised here to be welcomed as liberators by the people of Holland-often they were better treated, in fact, than they were by their white fellow Americans. And so, at the beginning of February, the Black Panthers were sent 140 miles north to the town of Jabeek on the Dutch-German border. Courtesy National Archives.Ī good unit like the 761st could expect little rest, however, at a time that demanded all combat-capable formations to be deployed to the front. Tankers of the 761st Tank Battalion on an M5 Stuart light tank prepare for action. Wear and tear on equipment, especially to trucks and the workhorse M4 Sherman medium tanks that made up the bulk of the Black Panthers’ striking power, increasingly forced the men to make use of M5 Stuart light tanks to carry supplies to frontline units, perform reconnaissance, and even engage in combat. All too often, decorations-when the white US Army hierarchy chose to award them-were bestowed posthumously. Every time they fought bravely, and every time they emerged victorious.īut the casualties had been heavy. Then, in the latter stages of the Battle of the Bulge, attached to the 87th Infantry Division, they had engaged in fierce fighting for the town of Tillet. Entering combat in early November 1944 attached to the 26th Infantry Division, they had captured towns like Morville-les-Vic and Guebling against strong enemy resistance. ![]() The African American 761st Tank Battalion, the “Black Panthers,” had built a distinguished, indeed heroic record of service in the fall and winter of 1944-1945. ![]()
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