The German tide was overwhelming, however, driving through the defending infantry. At some outposts, black artillerymen took up rifles and fought alongside the infantry, in one case beating off a German attack and inflicting serious casualties. The 106th Division was quickly thrown into disarray. They were preparing a musical theater performance when the German offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge began on December 16. Tired from months of constant service, the men took the opportunity to relax, with a recreation center that included a beer hall, bowling alley, and even a badminton court. The 333rd Battalion was deployed around the small town of Schönberg in an atmosphere “tranquil to a point almost approaching garrison conditions,” as a later report would admit.
The 333rd and 969th battalions were equipped with the M1 155mm howitzer, a versatile and effective truck-drawn weapon used by the US Army until the Vietnam War, and still in use in some parts of the world today.Ī 155mm howitzer preparing for action. Subsequently, two other field artillery battalions would be added to this group. In 1943, however, it was reorganized as the 333rd Field Artillery Group, consisting of the 333rd and 969th Field Artillery Battalions, both African American units with mostly white officers. The 333rd was originally organized as a regiment in 1942, and trained at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. Compounding the tragedy, this atrocity was not officially recognized in the United States until many decades after the war had ended. That sacrifice unfortunately ended in tragedy for 11 American soldiers, murdered in one of the many atrocities committed by German Waffen-SS troops, in this case with particular savagery because the victims were black.
Top Image: African American crew of an M1 155mm howitzer in action courtesy of the US Army.Īn act of heroic self-sacrifice highlighted the dedicated service of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, a segregated African American unit that bolstered American forces in Western Europe during World War II.
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