369th Infantry Regiment World War I Harlem Hellfighters

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369th Infantry RegimentWorld War IHarlem
Hellfighters

• Or Bloodthirsty Blackmen
• As called by the Germans

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Background

• The bravery of African-American soldiers during
  World War I has been largely overlooked.
• The U.S. military didn't have much faith in the
  combat abilities of black Americans during the
  conflict.
• Two hundred thousand black men were stationed in
  France during the Great War but the majority of
  them were assigned to support roles like building
  bridges and driving supply vehicles.

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Background

• Harlem Hellfighters is the popular name for the
  369th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 15th New
  York National Guard Regiment.
• The unit was also known as The Black Rattlers, in
  addition to several other nicknames.
• The 369th Infantry Regiment was known for being
  the first African American Regiment during WWI.

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Background

• The 369th Infantry Regiment was constituted June
  2, 1913 in the New York Army National Guard as
  the 15th New York Infantry Regiment.
• It was organized on June 29, 1916 at New York
  City.
• It was mustered into Federal service on July 25,
  1917 at Camp Whitman, New York.

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Background

• It was drafted into Federal service August 5,
  1917.
• The regiment trained in the New York area,
  performed guard duty at various locations in New
  York, and trained more intensely at Camp
  Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where
  they experienced significant racism from the
  local communities, and other units.
• The 15th Infantry Regiment NYARNG was assigned on
  December 1, 1917 to the 185th Infantry Brigade.

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Background

• It was commanded by Col. William Hayward, a
  member of the Union League Club of New York,
  which sponsored the 369th in the tradition of the
  20th U.S. Colored Infantry, which the club had
  also sponsored in the Civil War.

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France

• The 15th Infantry Regiment shipped out from the
  New York Port of Embarkation on December 27,
  1917, and joined its brigade upon arrival in
  France, but the unit was relegated to labor
  service duties instead of combat training.
• On January 1, 1918 they landed on the French
  coast but they didn't see action right away,
  because nobody knew what to do with them.

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France

• They were the first African American combat group
  to set foot on French soil, and their band
  immediately struck up the "Marseillaise" in a
  rhythmically spirited rendition that French
  soldiers initially failed to recognize as their
  own national anthem.
• Orders came from General Pershing to proceed to a
  center where an engineering detachment was busy
  building facilities to support a
  multi-million-man force, and musical instruments
  were exchanged for pick and shovel.

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France

• Badly in need of fresh troops after years of
  brutal trench warfare, the French persuaded
  American General John J. Pershing to reassign the
  369th and three other colored regiments to their
  Fourth Army.
• The men of the 369th and their new commanders
  took to each other immediately.

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France

• Thousands of their own troops had either been
  killed in combat or had deserted and since they
  already had experience fighting with personnel
  from Senegal and Morocco, they welcomed the
  arrival of the African-American unit.

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France

• The French officers held none of the prejudices
  that African-Americans faced in the U.S. Army.
• The men were issued French helmets and brown
  leather belts and pouches, although they
  continued to wear their U.S. uniforms.

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France

• In an environment free of bigotry, the Americans
  quickly learned the use of French weaponry,
  French battle tactics and in many cases even the
  French language.
• It didnt take long for the regiment to start
  building a reputation for courage under fire.

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France

• Later the 369th was reassigned to Gen. Leboucs
  161st Division in order to participate in the
  Allied counterattack.
• On August 19, the regiment went off the line for
  rest and training of replacements.
• On September 25, 1918 the French 4th Army went on
  the offensive in conjunction with the American
  drive in the Meuse-Argonne.

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France

• From July 15-18, 1918 they fought the Germans in
  Champagne and occupied the lines at Calvaire and
  Beausejour.
• They proved themselves to be tough soldiers once
  again in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
• On September 29th, after two days of intense
  combat, they captured the town of Séchault.
• They also took part in the battles at
  Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood.

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France

• The 369th turned in a good account of itself in
  heavy fighting, sustaining severe losses.
• They captured the important village of Séchault.
• At one point the 369th advanced faster than
  French troops on their right and left flanks.
• There was danger of being cut off.
• By the time the regiment pulled back for
  reorganization, it had advanced fourteen
  kilometers through severe German resistance.

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France

• In mid-October the regiment was moved to a quiet
  sector in the Vosges Mountains.
• It was there on November 11, the day of the
  Armistice.
• Six days later the 369th made its last advance
  and on November 26, reached the banks of the
  Rhine River, the first Allied unit to get there.

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Heroes

• One Medal of Honor and many Distinguished Service
  Crosses were awarded to members of the regiment.
• The most celebrated man in the 369th was Pvt.
  Henry Lincoln Johnson, a former Albany, New York,
  rail station porter, who earned the nickname
  "Black Death" for his actions in combat in
  France.

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Heroes

• While stationed at a listening post in the
  Montplaisir sector of the Argonne forest, a
  raiding party attacked Johnson and his partner,
  Needham Roberts.
• When he ran out of bullets, Johnson used the butt
  of his rifle and a smaller bolo knife to keep the
  Germans at bay.
• He plunged his weapon into the skull of one man
  and in the stomach of the other when Roberts, who
  was seriously hurt, was being dragged away to the
  enemy lines.

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Heroes

• The Germans finally withdrew with at least four
  dead and several others wounded.
• Roberts and Johnson were near death themselves,
  but managed to survive until a relief party
  reached them.
• They were the first Americans to earn the French
  Croix de Guerre during the war.

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Heroes

• Both men were promoted to sergeant, and soon made
  headlines back in the U.S.
• Needham Roberts, who came from Trenton, New
  Jersey, also received the War Cross from the
  French government.

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Heroes

• As the war entered its closing months, the men of
  the 369th executed a string of daring battlefield
  exploits.
• At the battle of Belleau Wood, Colonel Hayward
  shrugged off French soldiers advising him to
  retreat and led his troops through a German
  artillery barrage, declaring, My men never
  retire. They go forward, or they die!

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Heroes

• Captain Fillmore, the man who initially sponsored
  the regiment in New York, received the Croix de
  Guerre for conspicuous bravery in an offensive
  against the German stronghold of Butte de Mesnil.

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Heroes

• A sergeant named William Butler earned the
  Distinguished Service Cross for attacking a
  German raiding party single-handed, freeing six
  fellow Americans who had been taken prisoner.
• The Germans began referring to the men of the
  369th as Blutlustige Schwartzmanner -
  bloodthirsty black men.
• The French gave the regiment the nickname it
  would take into history - the Hellfighters.

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Heroes

• By the end of the war, 171 members of the 369th
  were awarded the Legion of Honor.
• Photographs show that the 369th carried the New
  York Regimental flag overseas, the ONLY unit to
  do so.
• The French government awarded the regiment the
  Croix de Guerre with silver star for the taking
  of Séchault.
• One of their commanding officers, Col. Benjamin
  O. Davis Sr., would become the Army's first black
  general in 1940.

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Heroes

• The 369th Infantry Regiment was the first New
  York unit to return to the United States, and was
  the first unit to march up Fifth Avenue from the
  Washington Square Park Arch to their Armory in
  Harlem, and their unit was placed on the
  permanent list with other veteran units.

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Heroes

• Among the recruits was James Reese Europe, a
  musician who had gained national fame through his
  collaboration with the popular dancers Vernon and
  Irene Castle.
• Europe had staged the first performance by
  African-American musicians at Carnegie Hall, had
  been the first African-American bandleader to
  receive a major recording contract, and was
  president of New Yorks first effective
  professional organization for African-American
  musicians, the Clef Club.

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Heroes

• Europe passed the Lieutenants examination and
  earned a commission.
• Lieutenant Europe was planned to leave the
  regimental band in the hands of his bandmaster,
  Eugene Mikell, and his friend and collaborator,
  Noble Sissle.
• He would be commanding a machine gun unit
  instead.

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Heroes

• As the 369th was fighting on the front lines, the
  regimental band was making a name for itself as
  well.
• Europe, the first African-American officer to
  lead troops into battle during the war, had been
  wounded during a poison gas attack in mid-June.

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Heroes

• In the hospital, Europe completed the chorus of
  "On Patrol in No Man's Land," based on the
  bombardment the night before.
• It was to become one of the band's most popular
  hits after the group's return to the United
  States.

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Heroes

• He recovered easily, even writing one of his most
  popular songs while sitting in a field hospital
  bed, but history isnt clear on the question of
  whether he ever returned to the battlefield.
• By mid-August, though, he had returned to his
  role of leading the band.
• Eugene Mikell and Noble Sissle had led the band
  successfully while Europe was at the front, but
  with Europe back in charge the bands popularity
  took off.

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Heroes

• The band was sent to give a single concert in
  Paris, but they were so well received that their
  assignment was extended by an additional two
  months.
• They spent those months touring the camps and
  hospitals around the city and performing for
  Allied soldiers and French citizens alike.

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Heroes

• Their popularity stemmed not from what they
  played, but rather from how they played.
• Their performances were infused with a style that
  people were only just beginning to call Jazz.

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Heroes

• The Hellfighters Band had signed a contract with
  the Pathé Record Company and was making plans for
  a tour across the United States.
• Regiment and band alike were welcomed back to New
  York City with a grand parade viewed by almost
  one million people.

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Heroes

• Two weeks later, in Boston on the final leg of
  the bands first tour, James Reese Europe was
  killed.
• His throat had been slashed by his drummer,
  Herbert Wright, following a professional
  reprimand.
• Eugene Mikell tried to take his place as
  bandleader, but without Europe the publics
  interest faded.

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End of the War

• When the war finally ended, the now-famous and
  highly decorated 369th Hellfighters were given
  the honor of serving as the Allied Forces
  advance guard.
• They were the first unit to march through the
  German lines and reach the Rhine River.

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Back Home

• The regiment was relieved on December 12, 1918
  from assignment to the French 161st Division, and
  returned to the New York Port of Embarkation.
• It was demobilized on February 28, 1919 at Camp
  Upton at Yaphank, New York, and returned to the
  New York Army National Guard.

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Records

• In re-capping the story of the 369th Arthur W.
  Little, who had been a battalion commander, wrote
  in the regimental history From Harlem to the
  Rhine that it was official that the outfit was
  191 days under fire, never lost a foot of ground
  or had a man taken prisoner, though on two
  occasions men were captured but they were
  recovered.

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Records

• Only once did it fail to take its objective and
  that was due largely to bungling by French
  artillery support.

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Records

• Only once did it fail to take its objective and
  that was due largely to bungling by French
  artillery support.

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Back Home

• During its service the regiment suffered 1500
  casualties and took part in the following
  campaigns
•  ChampagneMarne
• MeuseArgonne
• Champagne 1918
• Alsace 1918
• Of the 200,000 African American soldiers in
  Europe, roughly 42,000 saw combat.

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Back Home

• The surviving members of the 369th, Johnson and
  Roberts among them, were back in New York in
  early 1919.
• 170 individual members received medals while in
  Europe but they soon discovered their service in
  the war didn't mean much to the U.S. government,
  because they got no recognition whatsoever.

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Back Home

• Black veterans were still on the receiving end of
  extreme hatred from white citizens.
• Thousands of African-Americans had migrated from
  southern states to northern areas including
  Chicago and Washington D.C. to look for better
  employment opportunities, and in doing so hoped
  they would be accepted as equals.

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Back Home

• Colonel Hayward pulled every political string he
  could to assure his men would be rewarded with a
  victory parade when they came home in February
  1919.
• Crowds thronged New York City's Fifth Avenue as
  the 369th marched to the music of their now-
  famous regimental jazz band leader, James Reese
  Europe.
• After the parade, city officials honored the
  troops at a special dinner.

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Back Home

• Black veterans were still on the receiving end of
  extreme hatred from white citizens.
• Thousands of African-Americans had migrated from
  southern states to northern areas including
  Chicago and Washington D.C. to look for better
  employment opportunities, and in doing so hoped
  they would be accepted as equals.

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Back Home

• Together with previous African-American regiments
  like the 54th Massachusetts volunteers of the
  Civil War and the Buffalo Soldiers of the
  American frontier, they stand as shining examples
  of Americans willing to risk their lives and
  perform great deeds of heroism, even when the
  country they served wasnt willing to give them
  equal recognition in return.

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