The Harlem Hellfighters - The 369th Infantry - Extra History

outpost 20 argonne forest 0200 hours may 14 1918. two soldiers privates henry johnson and needham roberts stand alert at the outpost though american they wear french helmets and belts over their us army uniforms and carry french rifles a bullet whizzes by german snipers they're under attack they hunger down in their dugout and line up grenades suddenly a noise someone's cutting through the gate roberts decides to run for help but falls wounded and he makes his way back to johnson to help him shut grenades at the enemy until they both run out switching to his rifle johnson holds fast against the determined german assault but he runs out of bullets and in the confusion he mistakenly loads an american magazine into his french rifle jamming it as german soldiers storm into their position johnson resorts to swinging the gun like a club until he takes a blow to the head fighting to stay conscious he sees three enemies grabbing roberts johnson draws a bolo knife and prepares for his final stand he slashes and stabs three of the enemies then descends into a berserker rage ignoring gunshots to his face and hands he attacks the german squad with such a fury that they flee and when reinforcements arrive they find four dead enemies and evidence johnson wounded ten more he will be promoted to sergeant receive an award from the french earn the nickname black death and become the most legendary member of the harlem health fighters [Music] as we continue to educate ourselves on black history in america we urge you to join us in supporting highly important charities such as this week's organization black veterans for social justice which service vets their family members and their communities learn more and donate via the link below three years into world war one the united states joined the conflict after germany sank a number of her merchant ships and despite their poor treatment under reconstruction and jim crow many of the nation's african-american men eagerly enlisted they saw the war as an opportunity to prove their worth and challenge stereotypes initially they were turned away but then the secretary of war initiated a draft that included all able-bodied men between the ages of 21 and 30 including black men but even before the draft members of the african-american community including veterans of the spanish-american war had actively lobbied state governments to form african-american national guard units the white politicians had no interest in supporting the notion until the governor of new york approved the idea and appointed white veteran colonel william hayward to organize the recruitment the men assigned to this new regiment the 15th infantry many of them from harlem new york reported for service on july 25th 1917 at new york's camp whitman they initially stood at over 2 000 mostly black and puerto rican recruits with nearly another 2 000 on their way thanks in part to the draft but as their numbers grew training proved difficult due to lack of space but then they received both good and bad news the good news the army found a suitable training camp the bad news it was camp wadsworth in spartanburg south carolina the local reception was predictably racist before they'd even arrived the spartanburg chamber of commerce issued a letter claiming the most tragic consequences would follow the introduction of the new york negro with his northern ideas into the community life of spartanburg they were in essence implying that a black us troop would be met with violence and while that turned out to be an empty threat plenty of spartanburg's businesses refused to serve the black soldiers which prompted camp wadsworth's white soldiers to boycott those establishments in solidarity meanwhile in the heart of the war the french were under pressure and low on men they called on the united states for reinforcements so under the command of general john j pershing an entire u.s brigade that included the 15th was shipped to france as an autonomous unit for the beleaguered men of the 15th even the trip was rife with difficulties it took them several tries to even make it out of american waters after a mechanical breakdown an onboard fire and a collision during a blizzard forced multiple returns to port but finally on the 27th of december the men of the 15th arrived in france only to be relegated to digging and other back-breaking labor despite the fact that pershing was supposedly an advocate for black soldiers he was stuck in a racism sandwich on one side many of his white soldiers refused to fight alongside blacks and on the other many high-ranking government officials advised it might be bad for his career if he integrated his troops and this might be why after a few months he decided to loan his black regiment to the 16th division of the french army redesignated the 369th infantry in may of 1918 these men would finally get their chance to fight and after two months in the trenches they were reassigned as part of an allied counter-attack for the most part the french seemed grateful for the reinforcements and in what must have been a nice change of pace for the men of the 369th their race was not treated as a negative this was partially due to the french having a long history of men of color serving in their ranks from the revolutionary general thomas alexandre dumas to many colonial soldiers for morocco and senegal then in september the 316 infantry forged their legacy in a fierce battle they captured the town of cecil with one of the white american officers lieutenant george s robbs taking charge of his platoon after their superior officers were killed and as he and his men doggedly took out snipers and machine gun nests rob himself refused to leave the field despite multiple combat wounds holding cischolt gave the allies a strategic advantage but the 369th had done almost too good of a job as they'd outpaced the french troops that were supposed to flank them but by the time they received the order to pull back they had already stormed 14 kilometers through heavy german opposition it was a victory that cost them 851 men the u.s awarded lieutenant robb the medal of honor for his actions while the black men who fought at robb's side would receive no such official commendations but they had earned a host of unofficial titles from the black rattlers due to their rattlesnake insignia to their french nickname the men of bronze and also the moniker that frightened germans had started calling them hell fighters and that one stuck the harlem hell fighters even with the late start the hellfighters spent a spent 191 days in combat more than any other us regiment and though they suffered casualties they never lost a foot of ground and none were ever captured alive some 40 of them when they weren't fighting even served as morale boosters by being part of the regiment's hell fighters band led by the legendary composer james reese europe the band is said to have played for the wounded as well as military and civilian audiences and it's also credited to have introduced jazz to the french and british ironically not only did a man named europe forever change music in europe he also paved the way to international acclaim for the likes of duke ellington and louis armstrong while the us government withheld medals from these brave men the french did the opposite after seashell french command awarded a hundred and seventy-one hell fighters the qual de guerre for their actions and a harlem hell fighters monument stands in sichult to this day not to mention the same award had already been bestowed on henry johnson and needham roberts for their brave stand in the argonne forest five months prior but sadly those honors meant little when the hell fighters returned to the u.s in february of 1919 they returned to new york only to find that they wouldn't be allowed to march in the victory parade with the white troops thankfully colonel hayward was able to arrange a separate parade that started on fifth avenue and ended in the heart of harlem there thousands of well-wishers and families greeted the hell fighters with cheers as the hell fighters band led the way henry johnson also enjoyed some notoriety but once the war was over the army cut him loose the fact was most veterans from segregated regiments never received their promised benefits or even any medals and despite 21 combat injuries johnson did not receive the purple heart and he never fully recovered from the physical and mental damage he'd sustained defending outpost 20. his marriage in tatters and physically unable to hold down a job he died penniless in 1929 at the age of 36. he was buried in arlington other hellfighters would also meet tragic ends including james reese europe stabbed in the neck by a bandmate and another hellfighter private leroy johnston would survive the war and the long journey home only to be lynched in arkansas during the elaine massacre of 1919 but their legacy lived on the harlem hell fighters paved the way for later african americans in the us army from the tuskegee airmen to benjamin o davis who was commanding the 369th hell fighters in 1940 when he became america's first black brigadier general in 2015 president obama posthumously awarded johnson the medal of honor prior president bill clinton awarded johnson his long overdue purple heart in 1996 but these modern honors hardly compensate for the treatment these brave men received after serving honorably as we rekindle conversations about how america can live up to its promises we must never forget the sacrifices of men like those in the harlem hell fighters and remember that all who answer the call to serve their country deserve a hero's welcome when they finally come home until next time everyone did you all know that ahmed ziad turk alicia bramble casey muscha dominic valenciana gunner clovis kyle murgatroyd and o reals 1 were all legendary patrons thanks everyone you

Channel: Extra History

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Id: RV-c62e7g1k

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 10 2020