The 761st Tank Battalion

by Lee Davis

The first Black Armored Unit to see action in WW II was active in 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. The 761st Tank Battalion landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy October 10, 1944.  The 761st was up for grabs by anyone who needed tankers, becoming known overseas as the "Bastard Outfit."  General George Patton who wanted only the best in his 3rd Army requested the 761st.  As a result of their great fighting abilities they spearheaded a number of Patton's moves into enemy territory. They forced a hole in the Siegfried Line, fighting in France, Belgium, and Germany, and were first of all American forces to link up with the Russian Army at the river Steye in Austria.  The unit was split up and attached to other divisions so they never got credit for what they actually did.

In their first engagement units of the 761st were attached to the 26th Division.  The assignment was to take the town of Morville-les-vic. According to sergeant Edward Donald and corporal Horace Evans, their first mission was to be their last.  B-Company was told to ride through this little town, shoot it up, throw some hand grenades, and wipe it out.  Actually the town was laden with Germans and had been passed by Patton because it would slow down his advance.  The real mission of the 761st was to go in and let the Germans use up their ammunition on "Green" Black tankers so the  white infantry could come in and mop up.  It was a suicide mission, but the 761st took Morville-les-vic.

It was the 761st that, after three days of steady fighting, punched a hole through the Siegfried Line. Patton's 4th Armored Division poured through into Germany and received all the credit without giving the 761st honorable mention.

When the news of the German breakthrough in he Ardenns Forest reached Patton he 761st along with other tankers were diverted north to take part in what has become known as the BATTLE OF THE BULGE.  The objective given to the 761st was the German strong hold in the town of Tillet.  Every other American unit assigned to take the town had beaten.  Tanks, artillery, and infantry inside the Ardenns Forest had tried to take Tillet and all had failed.  After a week of steady fighting, the same SS troops that had held Patton up at Normandy, the 761st took Tillet and drove the Germans out in full retreat.

After being in combat 178 days, on the front line, word was out that the war was coming to an end.  Orders were cut not to give the 761st any gasoline for their tanks to keep them from being the first American troops to meet the Russians.  That honor was to go to the 13th and 14th Armored Divisions, white troops, however, a sergeant of the 761st supply company took trucks to the Kohlgrube depot and talked with the men in a Black quartermaster unit.  By telling them who they were, what had happened, and what they wanted to do, they agreed to help.  The quartermaster enlisted men stole 30,000 gallons of gasoline from the airstrip for the 761st Tank Battalion.  You may not read about it, or see it in the movies, but the 761st Tank Battalion were the first American troops to meet the Russian Army at the Steye River, Austria.

Other Black units to serve in the Battle of the Bulge were the 614th Tank Destroyer, 333rd, 378th, and 969th Field Artillery Battalions, and the 3418th Trucking company (Red Ball Express). Additionally, more than 2,500 Blacks from service units - quartermaster, engineers, cooks- answered the call for infantrymen.  They served with white units, where they remained after the Battle of the Bulge.

Bibliography

The Invisible Soldier- Compiled and Edited by Mary Penick Motley, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1975

US Army in World War II: Special Studies, The Employment of Negro Troops, Washington DC Office of the Chief of Military History, 1966

Come Out Fighting: The Epic of the 761st Tank Battalion, 1942-1945, Privately Printed, 1945