Saturday, November 25, 2017
The Hellfighters Untold Story
Private Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were African-American who served in the American Expeditionary Forces as part of the 369th Regiment or better known as the "Harlem Hellfighters" during WW1. They became two of the most famous Hellfighter that came back from the war. During their time in WW1, they fought along side the French Army because segregation laws in the United States did not allow African-American to fight along white Americans during WW1. On the night of May 14th, 1918, Private Johnson and Roberts were on observation duty when they started to hear the sound of barbwire being cut. They both realized that German storm troopers were coming to attack them. Both Roberts and Johnson, fought back the invading Germans leading to Roberts being injured and Johnson the only one standing. Johnson would jam his gun by accidentally putting in the wrong ammo leaving him only with his jammed gun, his fists and his bolo knife. He would use his bolo knife to kill 4 German soldiers getting himself 21 wounds at the end of the fight. Germans would start to retreat knowing they wouldn't win the fight. With 21 wounds this lead to Johnson passing out and waiting for his allies to get him. Once his allies had gotten to Johnson and Roberts they realized what had happened. They found almost 20 wounded German soldiers and 4 dead ones and realized that Johnson and Roberts had fought them off. The news would be heard by many and would reach news to French government. This one act of bravery would lead to the both Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts would earn France's version of the Medal of Honor called the Croix de Guerre. This was highest award from the French and making Needham and Henry the first American's to have ever earned the Croix de Guerre. Once the war had ended Roberts and Johnson returned to United States to be praised by the public as heroes. This actions that these two took and the 369th would pave the way for future African-American soldiers in the US Army.
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That's such a cool story, I'd never heard of them before. They were allowed to fight along side the french, why do you think many other European countries were more accepting of different races than America? The forced segregation in the military of the time is another example of the institutionalized racism present during the time of WWI, but people like Johnson and Roberts were examples of people who fought against this, showing they would fight in WWI even if their home country would not treat them as equals. This is very humbling. Also, where were Roberts and Johnson situation that allowed Johnson to be able to defend himself with only a knife and not get shot dead?
ReplyDeleteI think European forces such as the French who fought along them welcomed any help from the American's sent because European countries didn't didn't segregate any African people that were in their countries and were treated somewhat equally from what I know. I forgot to mention that the story takes place in a listening outpost in the Argonne forest.
DeleteThis is such a interesting story. It really gave the name hellfighters a reason. In a drastic comparison with this, the Harlem Hellfighters' rifles had to be segregated with the rest of the military. As many white Americans refused to fight alongside with the hellfighters. This decision was apparently initiated with some arms complications as they were forced to give back their assigned Springfield rifles, and every other bit of American gear including helmets, Army greens, and food rations. In replacement, the soldiers had received the French Label rifles which was nowhere as good as the Springfields. Despite all of this difficulty with segregation, it amazes me that these fighters were still able to advance and march with hope.
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