do this was long refused, but after endless other delays and troubles, the Field Artillery finally came into being with a few Negro officers. Before the artillery was ready, the division mobilized at Camp Upton, between May 28 and June 4, and embarked by the tenth of June for France.

The entire 92nd Division arrived at Brest by June 20. A week later, the whole division went to Bourbonne-les-Bains, where it stayed in training until August 6. Here, a determined effort at wholesale replacement of the Negro officers took place. Fifty White lieutenants were sent to the camp to replace Negro officers. "Efficiency boards began to weed out Negro men.

Without doubt, there was among Black American officers as among White American officers much inefficiency due to lack of adaptability, training, and the hurry of preparation. But in the case of the Negro officers, repeatedly, the race question came to the fore and permission was asked to remove the Negro officers because they were Negroes, while the inefficiency charge was a wholesale one against their "race and nature."

General headquarters, by this time, had settled down to a policy of requiring individuals, rather than wholesale accusation. While the new policy made a difference, in the army no officer can hold his position long if his superiors for any reason wish to get rid of him. Eventually, many of the waiting White Lieutenants went away. However, the Negro officers began to be systematically reduced in number.

On August 6 the division entered the front-line trenches in the Vosges sector. They stayed there until September 20. It was a quiet sector, with only an occational German raid to repel. About September 20, the division began to move to the Argonne. This is where the great American drive to cut off the Germans was to take place. The Negro troops were not to enter the front-lines. General Pershing explained this action by saying that the Negro troops were entirely unequipped for front-line service. The 368th Regiment arrived in the Argonne September 24. Despite the Generals concerns, this regiment was sent into battle on the front-line on the morning of September 26. The typical instance of the difficulties of Negro officers and troops of the 368th follows.

This is a story of the failure of White officers to do their duty and a partially successful and long-continued effort of company officers and men to do their duty dispite this problem. There was inexperience and incompetence among the Black officers. However, these problems were not confined to the Black officers. In the officers case, the responsibility lay elsewhere. It was the duty

Click:Next Page

Click:Return to Home Page

Click:Next Page

J.Linzy-28


jmlinzy@hotmail.com
April 17,,1998
1