ISBN: 0-7864-2758-2
Pages: x + 205

Acknowledgments; Foreword; Prologue; photos; maps; Afterword; Chapter Notes; Bibliography; Index

   It's a shame it took so many years for a history of the 784th Tank Battalion to appear, because most of the unit's veterans have already passed on, but the remaining survivors must be very pleased with the fine book produced by Joe Wilson, Jr. The author, son of a veteran of the 761st Tank Battalion, has already written a history of his father's unit, and the two volumes make strong additions to the literature of US WWII unit histories as well as providing remarkable insights into the little-known experiences of African American tankers.
   The shameful fact that most Americans, including most of the US military hierarchy, deemed African Americans unsuitable for combat during World War II greatly hindered the establishment of black combat formations. (The author, by the way, seems to use African American, black, and Negro interchangeably throughout the book.) George Patton is quoted as saying "A colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor." Nevertheless, thanks in large measure to influence wielded by Eleanor Roosevelt and General Leslie McNair, the Army decided to establish a number of African American tank battalions, if only for experimental purposes.
   The 784th Tank Battalion was formed in April 1943 with white officers and black non-coms and men and initially trained with Stuart light tanks at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana in highly segregated conditions. Wilson points out that many of the black troops from the north were quickly forced to learn to cope with the reality of racial separation in the deep south, including the danger of straying into the "wrong" part of town.
   In September the battalion moved to Camp Hood, Texas and converted from Stuarts to Sherman medium tanks. In October 1944 the unit departed Texas for New York and overseas deployment, arriving in Liverpool on 10 November 1944. On Christmas Day the battalion landed at Rouen, France.
   The next day the 784th began a road march to Eschweiler, Germany where it was attached to the 104th Infantry Division. On its first day at the front, the battalion received its baptism of fire when it was accidentally hit by friendly bombs, killing two men. That only served as an introduction to action. While supporting the 104th in January, the tankers suffered almost a hundred casualties, many of them from frostbite. At the beginning of February the battalion was attached to the 35th Infantry Division along the Roer River where it was apparently subjected to attacks by German V-1 rockets. Shortly afterwards the 784th took part in Operation Grenade, and the author follows the battalion's subsequent exploits with Task Force Byrne and in action in "Eight-eight Alley."
   Here's a sample of what Wilson writes about the battalion in battle:

   2200 hours, February 25, 1945: elements of the 134th Infantry Regiment assaulted Hilfarth in force. 784th Tank Battalion's Able Company along with the Assault Gun Platoon fired into Hilfarth in direct support of the infantry as they moved in under this fire. The barrage ceased when the Doughs made it in and around the burning structures. They began clearing the town and took the stone bridge intact before the Germans could blow it up. Two combat engineers, Tech-5 James Stanislau and Private Harold Wright, braved automatic weapons to cut the demolition wires and drop the explosive devices into the river. Access to the bridge had been denied to the enemy by the 161st Field Artillery Battalion's skillful use of interdiction artillery fire. They fired at a rate of one round per minute; that kept the enemy away from the bridge and surrounding area for days. Able Company, 784th Tank Battalion rolled into Hilfarth early the next morning and provided armored support in the mop-up operations. Next they crossed over into Doveren and attacked northeast.
   After crossing to the east bank, elements of the 134th Infantry Regiment encountered several pillboxes and took numerous prisoners against moderate resistance as they captured several small towns. Each infantry platoon had 2 intrepid assault engineer soldiers attached who would move in under the tank and heavy weapons fire to plant ear-splitting blockbuster-type high explosive devices near the entrances of the pillboxes. The blast blew the pillbox occupants our of this world. The concussion from the tank's 75-millimeter high explosive shells stunned the pillbox occupants long enough to allow the combat engineers to plant these devices.
   The following morning, Item Company, 134th Infantry Regiment, loaded up on the back of the 784th tanks for an assault on the town of Wassenberg. On the road into town, they encountered 3 deadly anti-tank guns that destroyed one 784th tank. That entire tank crew, less one man, escaped the inferno. Corporal Earl Morgan perished inside the blazing tank. The infantry captured 2 of the enemy anti-tank gun crews while the third crew escaped after destroying their weapon and ammunition.
   On the following day, Able Company led elements of the 134th Infantry Regiment towards the crossroads at Birgelen. Anti-tank mines and roadblocks held up the advance. One tank hit a mine with minimal damage. The combat engineers moved forward and removed the mines, and the tanks blasted away the roadblocks. The enemy left their equipment and rations behind in their hasty withdrawal.
   Meanwhile, Baker Company, 784th Tank Battalion supported the 137th Infantry Regiment in their crossing of the Roer River on a bridge in the 84th Infantry Division's sector. They went immediately on the attack to clear wooded areas and small towns while under a deadly barrage of intermittent fire from enemy artillery batteries that occupied positions along high grounds east of Gerderath.

   In addition to what Wilson writes, approximately half the book comprises material taken from letters, interviews, and other primary source material. Here's a typical contribution from one of the unit's veterans:

   Rheinberg, Germany, is where I was wounded. Rheinberg was a little town on the Rhine. We cleared the way for the infantry under small arms and mortar fire. I was riding uncovered with my hatch open for better vision. We were in a line formation about 50 to 100 yards apart. It was just a platoon of tanks, 5, possibly 6. We moved in on Rheinburg and captured it. Prior to moving into Rheinberg my tank was hit by a mortar shell and fragments flew up and hit me in the face. It felt like a baseball bat or something. I fell to the floor. It hurt and I told my crew I was hit, I was hit, I was hurt and I was going to kill the first Kraut that I see. That was a trickle-down that we heard from General Patton. He admonished all of his troops to not call the German soldiers Jerry because Jerry sounds too friendly. "If you have to call those SOBs anything, call them Krauts!" That was the first time I used the word Kraut because I was in pain. I told my crew, just keep going and I'm going to kill the first Kraut I see. We skidded into the town square. On the cobblestones we skidded to a stop where the doughs were rounding up prisoners. As the first prisoner walked past my tank, I climbed up and out of the turret and cocked my submachine gun and I leveled down on the first one I saw. I was going to kill him. The prisoner screamed, he fell down to the ground in the fetal position and started screaming: "NEIN! NEIN! (NO! NO!) BITTE! BITTE! BITTE! (PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!)" I was concentrating on whether I was going to shoot him in the head or in the belly. I was thinking, if I shoot him in the head, it will kill him instantly. If I shoot him in the belly, his guts will fall all over the place and he'll be screaming even more. I was aiming for his head and he kept saying, "NEIN! NEIN!." He then said, "KINDER! KINDER! (CHILDREN! CHILDREN!)," I turned away. In the meantime my crew was yelling at me, "Don't do it! Don't do it!" The doughs were yelling at me, "Kill him! Kill the SOB! Kill him!" My crew won out. I couldn't shoot the man.

   Like every unit in action at the front, the 784th's casualties continued to mount in the early months of 1945. Because of segregation and the rather experimental nature of the African American armor, however, no pipeline existed to send a flow of trained black tankers to the battalion to replace losses. As a consequence, volunteers from black service units were given minimal training and thrown into the unit. Shortages of trained black manpower persisted, and—with integration still years away—many of the 784th's tanks rolled into action with short-handed crews. "As casualties became acute, the assistant driver/bow gunner would be eliminated first. This denied the tank the use of the ball-mounted machine gun, which proved effective against infantry. The loader/assistant gunner was next to go and the tank commander doubled as the loader. This gave the tank a bare minimum, a 3-man crew."
   Nevertheless, the unit crossed the Rhine in March and fought to reduce the Ruhr pocket before advancing all the way to the Elbe, ending the war deep in the heart of Germany.
   In addition to the combat record of the 784th, Wilson also devotes one chapter each to its sister African American tank battalions, the 758th and 761st, as well as one chapter to the 784th's experience of Nazi atrocities and genocide.
   The battalion was shipped back to the US in December 1945 and deactivated. Wilson follows the lives of many of the men through the post-war years, including the very touching story of Bill Hughes who in July 2005 returned to the Netherlands to visit the grave of his comrade, Corporal Curley J. Ausmer.
   After all these years, the author has performed a terrific job finding so many survivors, so many first-hand accounts, and so many photographs of such a small and obscure unit. While Wilson writes his own perfectly solid prose, the words of the veterans bring the story into sharp focus and provide the seal of authenticity. The photos also add a great deal to the book. Snapshots by infantryman Murray Leff especially stand out.
   The 784th Tank Battalion in World War II is first and foremost the history of "just another" US tank battalion in Europe, and its battles and its record echo the experiences of almost every other American tank battalion in the theater. However, without hammering anyone over the head, the author and the first-hand accounts of the veterans make it clear that they really did—as the old cliche goes—fight a war on two fronts. They fought against the German enemy and they fought against the deeply ingrained prejudice of much of the US Army.
   The book is a good addition to any bookshelf of unit histories, and a testimonial to the proud men who endured pervasive social injustice while risking their lives for a nation that failed to accord them a full measure of human dignity.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the McFarland & Company.
   Thanks to McFarland for providing this review copy.