UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II

Special Studies

THE EMPLOYMENT OFNEGRO TROOPS

byUlysses Lee

 CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D.   C., 2000 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-60003 First Printed 1966-CMH   Pub 11-4  

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office   Washington, D.C. 20402 

 UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II   Stetson Conn, General Editor 
Advisory Committee (As of 15 June 1965)
Fred C. Cole        Washington and Lee University 
 Lt. Gen. August Schomburg      Industrial College of the Armed Forces  James A. Field, Jr.      Swarthmore College  Maj. Gen. David W. Gray      U.S. Continental Army Command  Ernest R. May      Harvard University  Brig. Gen. Jaroslav T. Folda      U.S. Army War College  Earl Pomeroy      University of Oregon  Brig. Gen. Elias C. Townsend      U.S. Army Command and General Staff College  Charles P. Roland      Tulane University  Lt. Col. Thomas E. Griess      United States Military Academy 
Theodore Ropp        Duke University 

*Office of the Chief of Military History*

 Brig. Gen. Hal C. Pattison, Chief  of Military History 
Chief HistorianStetson ConnChief, Histories DivisionCol. Paul P. HinkleyChief, Editorial and Graphics DivisionCol. Joseph S. CoulterEditor-in-ChiefJoseph R. Friedman. . . to Those Who Served
Foreword

The principal problem in the employment of Negro Americans as soldiers in World   War II was that the civilian backgrounds of Negroes made them generally less   well prepared than white Americans to become soldiers or leaders of men. This   problem was greatly complicated by contemporary attitudes and practices in American   society that tended further to inhibit the most efficient use of Negroes in   military service. Despite these handicaps Negro soldiers played a larger role   in the most recent great war than in any previous American conflict. While the   bulk of the more than half a million of them who were overseas by early 1945   were serving in supply and construction units, many were directly engaged with   the enemy on the ground and in the air. If proportionately fewer Negroes became   combat troops than the Army had contemplated in its prewar mobilization plans,   this was true for white soldiers as well. Global war generated a need for service   troops far greater than anyone visualized before Pearl Harbor, as well as a   need to use all able-bodied Americans regardless of color or other distinction   in military or civilian support of the war effort. 

 The integration of whites and Negroes in the armed forces of the United States   in the early 1950's and the continued rapid advance of Negroes in the American   economic and social order have substantially altered the circumstances governing   their use as soldiers a quarter century ago. Nevertheless another full mobilization   of American manpower for national defense would again bring to the fore many   of the problems described in this volume. Dr. Lee's work embodies a record of   service of which Americans generally can be proud, and for which the country   is grateful.
Washington, D. C.    18 June 1965
HAL C. PATTISON    Brigadier General, U. S. A.  *Chief of Military History*
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The Author

Ulysses Lee, now Professor of English at Morgan   State College, Baltimore, was a member of the Office of the Chief of Military   History from 1946 to 1952, concluding a decade of active Army officer service   in ranks from first lieutenant to major. In World War II he served as an Education   Officer and Editorial Analyst in the field and in the headquarters of Army Service   Forces; for seven years thereafter he was the military history specialist on   Negroes in the Army and prepared this volume.

 A graduate of Howard University, Dr. Lee taught   at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Chicago   as a Rosenwald Fellow between 1936 and his entry into military service in 1942.   He received his doctorate in the history of culture from the University of Chicago   in 1953, and from then until going to Morgan in 1956 he taught at Lincoln University,   Missouri. Co-editor of The Negro Caravan, an anthology of writings by American   Negroes published in 1941, he was author-editor of the Army Service Forces manual,   Leadership and the Negro Soldier, published in 1944, and has been the author   of many reviews and articles published before and since. Dr. Lee has also been   associate editor of The Midwest Journal of the College Language Association   and a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Negro History.

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Preface

Recognizing that the story of Negro participation in military service during   World War II was of national interest as well as of great value for future military   planning, the Assistant Secretary of War in February 1944 recommended preparation   of a book on this subject. The opportunity to undertake it came two years later   with the assignment to the Army's Historical Division of the author, then a   captain and a man highly qualified by training and experience to write such   a work. After careful examination of the sources and reflection Captain Lee   concluded that it would be impracticable to write a comprehensive and balanced   history about Negro soldiers in a single volume. His plan, formally approved   in August 1946, was to focus his own work on the development of Army policies   in the use of Negroes in military service and on the problems associated with   the execution of these policies at home and abroad, leaving to the authors of   other volumes in the Army's World War II series, then taking shape, the responsibility   for covering activities of Negroes in particular topical areas.

This definition of the author's objective is needed in order to understand   why he has described his work "in no sense a history of Negro troops in   World War II." Writing some years ago, he explained: "The purpose   of the present volume is to bring together the significant experience of the   Army in dealing with an important national question: the full use of the human   resources represented by that 10 percent of national population that is Negro.   It does not attempt to follow, in narrative form, the participation of Negro   troops in the many branches, commands, and units of the Army . . . . A fully   descriptive title for the present volume, in the nineteenth century manner,   would read: `The U.S. Army and Its Use of Negro Troops in World War II: Problems   in the Development and Application of Policy with Some Attention to the Results,   Public and Military.' " Thus, in accordance with his objective, the author   gives considerably more attention to the employment of Negroes as combat soldiers   than to their use as service troops overseas. Even though a large majority of   the Negroes sent overseas saw duty in service rather than in combat units, their   employment in service forces did not present the same number or degree of problems.

The volume opens with background chapters recalling the experience of Negroes   in the Army in World War I, the position of Negroes in the Army between wars,   and Army planning for their use in another great war, as well 

**ix**

as the clash of public and private views over employment of Negroes as soldiers.   It continues with chapters on the particular problems associated with absorbing   large numbers of Negroes into the Army-the provision of separate facilities   for them, their leadership and training difficulties, their physical fitness   for service, morale factors influencing their eagerness to serve, and the disorders   that attracted so much attention to the problems of their, service. The concluding   eight chapters are concerned principally with the employment of Negro soldiers   overseas, in ground and air combat units and in service units.

The author wrote most of this volume between 1947 and 1951, and the University   of Chicago accepted its opening chapters as a doctoral dissertation. After Dr.   Lee left the Army to return to teaching, he revised his work in the light of   comments and criticisms received from the many reviewers of his original draft.   As revised by Dr. Lee, the work was still too long for publication as a single   volume; and in my capacity of General Editor I have reduced the revised manuscript   considerably in length and reorganized and consolidated certain of the original   chapters. The changes made by me were along lines agreed to in conferences with   Dr. Lee and in consonance with his expressed wishes, or at least with my interpretation   of them.

Certain other volumes of this series, as planned in 1946, gave particular I   attention to the Army's use of Negroes, notably The Procurement and Training   of Ground Combat Troops, by Robert R. Palmer, Bell I. Wiley, and William R.   Keast; The Women's Army Cords, by Mattie E. Treadwell; and The Army and Industrial   Manpower, by Byron Fairchild and Jonathan Grossman. Bell I. Whey's Army Ground   Forces Study No. 36, "The Training of Negro Troops," offers an interesting   comparative treatment of that topic. Dennis D. Nelson's study, "The Integration   of the Negro into the United States Navy, 1776-1947," deals mostly with   the Navy's policies and practices during World War II, and the monograph by   Jean Byers, "A Study of the Negro in Military Service," describes   policies and practices in both services during the war. The volume by Charles   E. Francis, Tuskegee Airmen: The Story of the Negro in the U.S. Air Force (Boston,   1956), and the one by Lee Nichols, Breakthrough on the Color Front (New York,   1954) , offer useful insight into the military service of Negroes during and   after the war. The reader is also referred, for more detailed maps of the p,   many theaters of war in which Negroes served, to the theater volumes of the   Army's World War II series.

In its planning, this work owes much to the Army's first Chief Historian, Dr.   Walter L. Wright, Jr. The original draft, less the two concluding chapters,   was carefully reviewed and criticized by a panel under the chairmanship of his   successor, Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield, which met on 4 January 1952. Panel critics   in addition to Dr. Greenfield were Dr. John Hope Franklin, then Professor of   History at Howard University; General 

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Wade H. Haislip (USA Ret.), then Chief of the General Staff's Personnel Division;   Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau (USA Ret.), then Commandant of the Army War College;   Dr. William T. Hutchinson, Professor of History at the University of Chicago;   Col. (now Brig. Gen.) George C. O'Connor, then Chief, Histories Division, OCMH;   and Dr. Donald R. Young of the Russell Sage Foundation. Paralleling this panel   review all or parts of the author's work went to a large number of knowledgeable   critics, many of them the leaders of Negro troops during the war, and the work   as revised for publication has also been reviewed by several individuals qualified   to do so. To all of these, named and unnamed, who have read and criticized this   work, the author and the Office of the Chief of Military History owe a debt   of gratitude.

Acknowledgment is due also to those who have contributed materially in preparing   this work for publication: Mrs. Loretto C. Stevens, assistant editor; Miss Barbara   J. Harris, editorial clerk; Mrs. Norma B. Sherris, photographic editor; and   Billy C. Mossman, map compiler. Mrs. Dorothy Neill McCabe prepared the index.

Prefaces usually conclude not only with acknowledgments of assistance but also   with a statement of the author's sole responsibility for any errors of fact   or flaws of interpretation. Since Dr. Lee has not been able to participate fully   in the final revision and editing of his work, it would be improper to hold   him responsible for the contents of the work as printed. I accept this responsibility.

**xi**

Washington, D. C.    18 June 1965 
STETSON CONN Chief Historian and General Editor  
Contents
***Chapter******Page*****I.       AFTER WORLD WAR I** 3 *The Military       orientation of The Negro Public* 3*Praise       in the Press* 6*Under       the Surface* 8 *An Army       Postwar View* 15**II.       PEACETIME PRACTICES AND PLANS** 21*"There       Is Not Enough Army to Go Around"* 23*The Civilian       Components* 29*The Planning       Problem* 30*The 1922       Plan* 32*Modifications       and Developments, 1923-33* 35*The 1937       Plan* 37*The New       Mobilization Regulations* 39*Percentages       and Types* 41*The Revisions       of 1940* 46*On The       Threshold of Mobilization* 48**III.       THE NEGRO POSITIONS DEFINED** 51*Beginning       Campaigns* 52*The Air       Corps and Public Law 18* 55*Subversives       and Patriots* 65*New Bills       and units* 68*The Selective       Training and Service Act* 71*Announcements       and Appointments* 74*The Lines       Form* 82**IV.       EXPANDING NEGRO STRENGTH** 88*Initial       Expansion* 88*Housing* 97*Camp Locations* 100*Cadres       for Units* 107**V.       UNITS: THE QUOTA PHASE** 111*The Distribution       Problem* 111*Ground       Units for the Air Forces* 113*Flying       Units* 116*Nondivisional       Ground Combat Units* 119*The Traditional       Arms: Divisions* 122*Services       units* 128*Miscellaneous       Units and Minor Problems* 133**VI.       PROPOSALS AND COUNTERPROPOSALS** 136*The Hastie       Survey* 136*The Editor's       Conference and Its Aftermath* 141*Action       on the Hastie Proposals* 147 *A War       Plans Approach* 150*The Chamberlain       Plan* 152*The Advisory       Committee* 157*Air Forces       proposals and Hastie's Resignation* 162*Gibson       and Aide's Office* 174**VII.       OFFICERS FOR NEGRO TROOPS** 179*Initial       Procurements Policies* 180*White       Officers and Their Leadership Dilemma* 182*White       Officers: The Search for Standards* 188 *Plans       for Mobilizing Negro Officers* 191*The Policy       in Operation* 195*Command       Problems in the Negro Regiments* 198*Officer       Candidates* 202**VIII.       THE QUEST FOR LEADERSHIP CONTINUES** 205*Plans       After Pearl Harbor* 205*The Negro       Officer Troop Basis* 208*The Negro       Officer Candidate Supply* 211 *Assignment       Difficulties* 212*Low Proficiency       and Other Limitations* 213*Mechanics       of Assignment* 216*Negro       Officer's Leadership Dilemma* 219*Mixed       Staff and Their Problems* 220*Men of       the Spirit* 225*"Weeding       Out": Rotation and Reclassification* 231*Unending       Quest* 237**IX.       UNITS: MEN AND TRAINING** 239*Standards       and Inductions* 239*Classifications       Tests* 241*Scores       and Units* 243*Screening       Proposals* 248 *Special       Training Plans* 257 *The Plan       in Operations* 261 *Service       Command Special Training Units* 263 *Instructional       Problems* 265 *Barriers       to Advanced Training* 270 **X.       PHYSICAL FITNESS** 275 *Health       and Inductions* 275 *The Venereal       Disease Problem* 276 *The Antivenereal       Disease Campaign* 278 *The Fly       Problem* 281 *The Tuskegee       Program* 286 *General       Fitness for Full Duty* 291 **XI.       MORALE** 300 *Recreational       Facilities* 302 *Camp       Towns* 309 *The All-Negro       Posts* 312 *Transportation* 315 *The impact       of Intangibles* 324 *Symbols       and Apprehensions* 331 *Esprit* 332 *Mission       and Morale* 339 **XII.       HARVEST OF DISORDER** 348 *The March       of Violence* 349 *First       Correctives* 357 *Reactions       and Resolutions* 359 *Public       Approaches* 363 *Renewal       and Reassessment* 366 *Individual       Violence* 374 *Civilian       Disorders* 376 **XIII.       TOWARD AN OBJECTIVE** 380 *Advice       to Commanders* 381 *The Bureau       of Public Relations and the Press* 383 *Films* 387 *Instruction       in Leadership* 389 *New Instructions       on Facilities* 397 *Developments       in ASF* 401 **XIV.       MANPOWER AND READJUSTMENTS** 405 *Military       Manpower for 1943-45* 405 *Selective       Service Shortages and Quotas* 408 *General       Trends, 1943* 414 *Flexible       Organization and Negro Units* 417 *Shifting       Manpower Allocations* 419 *Women       and Manpower* 421 *Conversions       and Inactivations* 424 *The End       of proportional Representation* 425 **XV.       OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENT AND THE NATURE OF UNITS** 428 *Establishing       a policy* 428 *Developing       Practices* 431 *Staff       Approaches and Surveys* 434 *Problems       Overseas* 437 *Deployment       and the Future of Units* 441 *Unit       Shortages and Shipment Policies* 445 *Public       Concern* 448 **XVI.       INTRODUCTION TO COMBAT: AIR AND AFTERMATH** 450 *The Fighter       Program* 451 *Chill       Upon the Future* 452 *The 99th:       Catalyst* 456 *A Closer       view* 458 *Expansion       in the Air Program* 461 *The 99th       Shakes Off a Chill* 466 **XVII.       CONVERSIONS AND  COMMITMENTS** 468 *State       of the Units* 468 *Infantry       Deployment* 471 *Reactions       to conversions* 474 *The McCloy       Committee Faces the Issue* 481 *Readiness       for Overseas Movement* 485 **XVIII.       GROUND, AIR, AND THE ASSET SIDE** 497 *The 24th       Infantry* 497 *The 93d       Division* 500 *The 24th       Infantry on Bougainville* 502 *The 25th       Regimental Combat Team* 504 *After       Bougainville* 515 *The Fighter       Units* 517 *The "Asset       Side"* 523 *The Asset       Side?* 529 **XIX.       MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN** 536 *The 370th       Regimental Combat Team: The First Six Weeks* 539 *Shift       to the Sea* 544 *Bowed       Before Massa* 547 *The Full       Division Arrives* 553 *A Fourth       Hand* 557 *First       Reports* 560 *Serchio       Valley Counterattack* 562 *Winter       Defense* 567 *February       Attack* 568 *Reorganized       Again* 572 *The       Gibson Visit* 575 *SECOND       WIND* 579 *New       Winds Blowing* 588 **XX.       SERVICE UNITS AROUND THE WORLD** 591 *The First       Units Out* 594 *Road       Builders* 609 *Liberia       Force* 619 *Rear       Area Employment* 622 *Service       Units in the Combat Zone* 636 **XXI.       ARTILLERY AND ARMORED UNITS IN THE ETO** 644 *Artillery* 644 *Tanks       and Tank Destroyers* 660 **XXII.       VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REPLACEMENTS** 688 *BIBLIOGRAPHICAL       NOTE* 707 *GLOSSARY* 709 *BASIC MILITARY       MAP SYMBOLS* 715 
**Tables**
1.  Negro       Units in Protective Mobilization Plan, 1940 (Continental United States) 43 2.  Racial       Distribution by of Service (Enlisted Only), 31 December 1942 134 3.  Negro       National Guard Officers, 24 September 1940 192 4.  Negro       Reserve Officers Eligible for active Duty, 30 June 1940 193 5.  Distribution       of Army General Classification  Test Scores, March 1941-December 1942 244 6. Mechanical       Aptitude Test Score Distributions for Men Processed at Reception Center,       September-December 1942  245 7.  Army       General Classification Test Score of Enlisted Personnel, 46th Field Artillery       Brigade, Camp Livingston, Alabama, 30 April 1942 247 8.  Separations       of Negro Enlisted Men by Selected Causes, December 1941-May 1945 299 9.  Racial       Distribution, Troop Basis, 1943 (Enlisted Strengths) 406 10.Accessions       of  Enlisted Men by Source, July 1940-August 1945 414 11.Quarterly       Negro Strength and Total Strength of the Army, December 1941-December 1945 415 12.  Quarterly       Negro Strength of the Army, by Category, December 1941-December 1945 416 
**Maps**
1. The       Area of Operations, 1 September 1944-24 April 1945 536 2.  The       Massa Area 546 3.  The       Serchio Valley 563 
**Illustrations**
Col. Charles       Young as a Captain 9 2d Lt. John       H. Alexander 12 Brig. Gen.       Benjamin O. Davis 78 Maj. Gen.       Walter R Weaver at Tuskegee 120 The Lonely       Eagles 121 Cavalrymen       Leaving West Riding Hall, Fort Riley 124 Military       Police Unit, Columbus, Georgia 132 Paratrooper       Trainees 161 99th Fighter       Squadron Trainees 253 Watching       a Boxing Match at Camp Claiborne, 1943 301 ANP War       Correspondent Interviewing Signalmen 386 Hospitality       at a British Pub 442 Air Base       Security Troops, North Africa 444 Lt. Col.       Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., at Press Conference 454 24th Infantrymen       Plotting Defensive Positions, Bougainville 503 Knee-Deep       in Mud 510 332d Fighter       Group Pilots Being Briefed 519 Unloading       Supplies at Hollandia 522 105-mm.       Howitzers of 598th Field Artillery Firing Across the Arno 540 Unit of       370th RCT Crossing the Serchio 541 365th Infantrymen       Pinned Down by Enemy Fire 568 758th Tank       Battalion Supporting Advance, Mount Belvedere 585 Steel Bridge       Over The Laloki River 603 Operating       Heavy Equipment on the Alaska Highway 610 Engineer       Troops on the Ledo Road 612 12-ton Pneumatic       Float Bridge, Burma 614 Overnight       Stop Along the Ledo Road 620 Baseball       Game 621 Transferring       D-Day Casualties at Southampton 628 Red Ball       Express 632 Smoke Screen       for Third Army 635 General       Dwight D. Eisenhower at Cherbourg 641 Field Piece       in the Periers Sector 645 Artillerymen       Firing 8-inch Howitzer 655 Volunteers       for Combat Infantry Replacement 692 47th Reinforcement       Battalion in Training 694 
All illustrations are from Department of Defense   files.

*page created 15 January 2002*

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