World War II Day by Day

South West Pacific Area HQ, Brisbane, Australia · January 24, 1944

On this date in 1944 an advance party of the 93rd Infan­try Divi­sion landed on the Pacif­ic Is­land of Guadal­canal, the first Afri­can Amer­i­can (“colored” was the term used at the time) infan­try unit to see action in World War II. Reacti­vated on May 15, 1942, at Fort Hua­chu­ca, Ari­zona, home of the famed Buf­falo Sol­diers, the 16,000 all‑Black “Blue Hel­mets,” a nick­name the sol­diers had acquired when their divi­sion fought in France in the First World War, saw ser­vice in the Pacific Theater during World War II: at Bou­gain­ville (Solo­mon Is­lands), where they were attached to the Ameri­cal Divi­sion; on the Admi­ralty Islands (Bis­marck Archi­pel­ago) and Dutch New Guinea; and in the Philip­pines. The divi­sion’s regi­ments mainly acted as con­struc­tion units (for exam­ple, con­struc­ting air­fields from which fighter and bomber oper­a­tions could pum­mel other Japanese-held islands) and in defensive and security operations.

In the European Theater the counter­part to the 93rd Infan­try Divi­sion was the all-Black 92nd Infan­try Divi­sion (known as the “Buf­falo Divi­sion”), which was part of Gen. Mark Clark’s U.S. Fifth Army in Italy (see photo essay below). The 92nd Infan­try Divi­sion entered com­bat in Naples, Italy, on August 24, 1944. (The most-dec­o­rated infan­try unit in World War II, the Japa­nese Amer­i­can 442nd In­fan­try Regi­ment (Nisei), was attached to the 92nd.) Three months later, in Novem­ber 1944, men of the all-Black 761st Tank Bat­tal­ion, the so-called “Black Pan­thers” attached to Gen. George S. Patton’s U.S. Third Army, made his­tory as the first Afri­can Amer­i­can armored unit to enter the war, engaging the German enemy for 183 straight days and spear­heading many of Patton’s offen­sives at the Battle of the Bulge and in 6 Euro­pean coun­tries. No other tank unit fought so hard (suf­fering a casualty rate close to 50 per­cent) and for so long without respite.

All of the segregated divisions, irrespec­tive of their thea­ters of oper­a­tion, fought a 2‑front war—against the enemy and against chron­ic racism and the widely held belief that African American sol­diers, sailors, and air­men and airwomen were not up to the task.

African American Servicemen in World War II in the Pacific and European Theaters

Left: Cautiously advancing through Bougainville’s jungle while on patrol in Japanese territory off the Numa-Numa Trail, these members of the 93rd Infantry Division were among the first African American foot soldiers to go into action in the South Pacific Theater. Bougainville, May 1, 1944.

Right: African American troops of the 24th Infantry Division, attached to the Americal Division, wait to advance behind a tank assault on the Japanese near Empress Augusta Bay on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

Left: A platoon of African American troops surrounds a farmhouse near Vierville-sur-Mer, France, as it prepares to eliminate a German sniper holding up the U.S. advance from the Omaha beachhead. Normandy, Oper­a­tion Over­lord, June 10, 1944.

Right: Following the advance of infantry from the Omaha beach­head, these African Amer­i­can members of a field artil­lery battery set up a new posi­tion for their 155 mm howitzer. Normandy, France, June 28, 1944.

Left: Members of an African American mortar company of the 92nd Infantry (“Buffalo”) Division pass the ammu­ni­tion and heave it over at the Germans in an almost end­less stream near Massa, Tuscany, some 200 miles/­322 kilo­meters north of Rome, the Italian capital, November 1944. The mortar company was credited with liquidating several enemy machine gun nests.

Right: Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, Commanding General of the 92nd Infantry Division, inspects his troops during a decoration ceremony in Italy, March 1945. The 92nd Division was strengthened with the addition of the highly decorated Japanese American 442nd Infantry Regiment (Nisei).

Left: Five members of the 332nd Fighter Group, nick­named the “Red Tails,” converse in the shadow of one of the P‑51 Mustangs they fly. Italy, August 1944. Seen on the left is Lt. Dempsey W. Morgan, a graduate of the Flight School at Tuskegee, Alabama. On an Octo­ber 4, 1944, mission over a German airbase in Greece, Morgan and 4 other 332nd Fighter pilots destroyed 9 enemy planes while they were still on the ground. For this mission all 5 were awarded the Dis­tin­guished Flying Cross. They joined 91 other Tuskegee Airmen to have won the DFC.

Right: Black crew members of the USS Mason proudly look over the destroyer escort on the day it was commissioned at Boston Navy Yard on March 20, 1944. The Mason was the first U.S. Navy ship to have a predominately African American crew.

Tribute to Buffalo Soldiers in Italy 1944–1945