In 1941, the U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion, the first all-black armored unit. By December 1944 they were fighting the Axis in Northern Italy, from the Ligurian Sea through the Po Valley and into the Apennine Mountains, where they helped breach the Gothic Line--the Germans' last major defensive line of the Italian Campaign. After the war the 758th was deactivated but was reformed as the 64th Tank Battalion, keeping their distinguished insignia, a tusked elephant head over the motto "We Pierce." They entered the Korean War still segregated but returned fully integrated (though discrimination continued internally). Through the years, they fought with almost every American tank--the Stuart, the Sherman, the Pershing, the Patton and today's Abrams. Victorious over two fascist (and racist) regimes, many black servicemen returned home to what they hoped would be a more tolerant nation. Most were bitterly disappointed--segregation was still the law of the land. For many, disappointment became a determination to fight discrimination with the same resolve that had defeated the Axis.

In 1941, the U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion, the first all-black armored unit. By December 1944 they were fighting the Axis in Northern Italy, from the Ligurian Sea through the Po Valley and into the Apennine Mountains, where they helped breach the Gothic Line--the Germans' last major defensive line of the Italian Campaign. After the war the 758th was deactivated but was reformed as the 64th Tank Battalion, keeping their distinguished insignia, a tusked elephant head over the motto "We Pierce." They entered the Korean War still segregated but returned fully integrated (though discrimination continued internally). Through the years, they fought with almost every American tank--the Stuart, the Sherman, the Pershing, the Patton and today's Abrams. Victorious over two fascist (and racist) regimes, many black servicemen returned home to what they hoped would be a more tolerant nation. Most were bitterly disappointed--segregation was still the law of the land. For many, disappointment became a determination to fight discrimination with the same resolve that had defeated the Axis.

On the battlefields of World War II, the men of the African American 761st Tank Battalion under General Patton broke through enemy lines with the same courage with which they broke down the racist limitations set upon them by others—proving themselves as tough, reliable, and determined to fight as any tank unit in combat. Beginning in November 1944, the 761st Tank Battalion engaged the enemy for 183 straight days, spearheading many of General Patton's offensives at the Battle of the Bulge and in six European countries. No other unit fought for so long and so hard without respite. The 761st defeated more than 6,000 enemy soldiers, captured thirty towns, liberated Jews from concentration camps—and made history as the first African American armored unit to enter the war. This is the true story of the Black Panthers, who proudly lived up to their motto (Come Out Fighting) and paved the way for African Americans in the U.S. military—while battling against the skepticism and racism of the very people they fought for.

This is a comprehensive record of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first African American armored unit to enter combat. 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, inflicting heavy casualties on the German army and capturing or destroying thousands of weapons, despite severe weather, difficult terrain, heavily fortified enemy positions, extreme shortages of replacement personnel and equipment, and an overall casualty rate approaching 50 percent. Richly illustrated and containing many interviews with surviving members of the 761st, this work gives long overdue recognition to the unit whose motto was "Come Out Fighting." It recounts the events that in 1978--33 years after the end of World War II--led to the 761st Tank Battalion's receiving a Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive. Also described are the efforts that resulted, in 1997--53 years after giving his life on the battlefield--in the Medal of Honor being posthumously awarded to Sergeant Ruben Rivers.

"Chronicles history of first African Americans serving in armored units, service of 784th Tank Battalion. Observations and comments from veterans of the battalion, it paints a vivid picture of World War II as seen through the eyes of soldiers who had to confront second-class treatment by their army and fellow soldiers while enduring the horrors of war"--Provided by publisher (cf OCLC)

Their motto was "Come Out Fighting," and that they did without fail. The 761st Tank Battalion - the famed "Black Panthers" - was the first African American armored unit to enter combat, and in World War II they fought in four major Allied campaigns and inflicted 130,000 casualties on the German army. And the fighting was intense - only one out of every two Black Panthers made it home alive. This is the complete history of the 761st, told in large part through the words of the surviving members of the unit. Richly illustrated, this work recounts how the unit was given long overdue recognition - the Presidential Unit Citation and the Medal of Honor - in recent years.

Ulysses Lee's The Employment of Negro Troops has been long and widely recognized as a standard work on the subject. Although revised and consolidated before publication, the study was written largely between 1947 and 1951. If the now much-cited title has an echo of an earlier period, that very echo testifies to the book's rather remarkable twofold achievement; that Lee wrote it when he did, well before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and that is reputation - for authority and objectivity - has endured so well. This is a landmark study in military and social history. As a key source for understanding the integration of the Army, Dr. Lee's work eminently deserves a continuing readership.