Patton's Panthers: The African-American 761st Tank Battalion In World War II (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A cold January rain drizzled onto the rolling red-dust hills of central Oklahoma the day Ruben Rivers walked to war..." (more)
Key Phrases: black tankers, disabled tank, colored officers, Colonel Bates, Captain Williams, Able Company (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Journalist Sasser, a veteran of both the army and the navy, retells the story of the first "colored" (the term in use at the time) armored unit allowed to enter combat, where it spearheaded Patton's drives, defeated more than 6,000 German soldiers, and liberated concentration camps. The unit's story, like the story of any "first," is also that of the enemies on their own side--the hatred and prejudice that had, for half a century, deliberately consigned colored military personnel to do the work no one else wanted to do. Stylistically, Sasser adopts the storyteller's approach, following various men and officers of the battalion from their homes, through training, and finally into combat in a Europe that is fast departing living memory. Much of the dialogue Sasser uses is constructed, of course, but it is convincing. Though not the first study of the 761st, this highly readable book is one of the best. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

On the battlefields of World War II, the men of the African-American 761st Tank Battalion under General Patton broke through enemy lines with the same courage with which they broke down the racist limitations set upon them by others -- proving themselves as tough, reliable, and determined to fight as any tank unit in combat.

Beginning in November 1944, they engaged the enemy for 183 straight days, spearheading many of Patton's offensives at the Battle of the Bulge and in six European countries. No other unit fought for so long and so hard without respite. The 761st defeated more than 6,000 enemy soldiers, captured thirty towns, liberated Jews from concentration camps -- and made history as the first African-American armored unit to enter the war.

This is the true story of the Black Panthers, who proudly lived up to their motto (Come Out Fighting) and paved the way for African-Americans in the U.S. military -- while battling against the skepticism and racism of the very people they fought for.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743485009
• ISBN-13: 978-0743485005
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #255,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a different America, February 11, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Sasser provides an inspiring tale of duty and sacrifice. By a group of soldiers for a nation that barely knew or appreciated their devotion.

Some other groups of Negro combatants in World War 2 have been fairly well known. Like the Tuskegee pilots. But few readers might have hitherto known of this accomplished tank battalion.

Sasser writes of a thankfully different America. The casual and pervasive racism described in page after page is now mostly history. What some readers might find especially infuriating is some of the descriptions of the combat experiences in Europe. Where racist attitudes amongst white officers often caused the battalion to enter combat with less equipment or training than white units.

The book is timely, and long overdue. Many of the soldiers who served in the battalion have died. The book gives them and the survivors some belated public recognition.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing read, full of flavor and relatively rich in content, April 4, 2006

By	Mannie Liscum (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patton's Panthers : The African-American 761st Tank Battalion In World War II (Paperback)

Armed service of African-Americans is one of the least covered topics in the greater realm of WWII historiography. This is quite unfortunate as the number of African-Americans to proudly and honorably serve the US armed forces in the Second World War was not trivial. Nor was their contribution to the Allied war effort trivial. While most African-Americans served in service and support units in the segregated US services of the 1930-40's, there were a small number of all African-American combat units, and by the end of the war a few integrated units (although integration occurred on a platoon rather than individual basis as occurred with white soldiers), that served with equal, if not greater, distinction to all white units. Fortunately for all Americans the past few years have brought a number of historiographies of the contributions of African-American soldiers to the Allied victory in WWII, both in Europe and Asia. `Patton's Panthers: The African-American 761st Tank Battalion in World War II' by Charles W. Sasser is a solid contribution to this growing literature that anyone interested in WWII and/or issues of segregation/race relations in the middle of the 20th Century should pick up.

Not only does `Patton's Panthers' deal with a historical issue worthy of coverage but it does so with flair. Sasser's writing style is quite easy to follow and he presents material with literary flavor. While this makes the reading fun and informative at the same time, much in the same way Stephen Ambrose, John Keeghan, Cornelius Ryan, and John Toland's works function, Sasser's style goes a bit beyond that of the aforementioned authors. Two aspects of Sasser's approach to `Patton's Panthers' are particularly noteworthy in this context:

First, it may take authors a while to get used to the `frank' language Sasser uses to present the stories. Not only are curse words frequent, but also political correctness is often left in the editing room. Sasser rarely refers to the soldiers at the center of the story as African-Americans but rather Negroes. It is not entirely clear that Sasser did not do this in fact for visceral impact - most culturally-enlightened individuals prefer to use African-American as a term to denote people of color - since the first half of the book is peppered with Negro and Negroes, while in the latter half use of this more derogatory term becomes much less frequent. This reviewer certainly recoiled at the free use of the term Negro(es), but right or wrong this approach did help to highlight emotionally the more important issues of bigotry and discrimination that these warriors experienced. Somehow by being more `politically incorrect' Sasser may have actually been able to drive home more clearly the morally correct issue of race tolerance and brotherhood that we should all strive for.

The second aspect of Sasser's writing approach that stood out to this reviewer was the way in which nearly all the `recollections' of the African-American soldiers presented read like a stereotypical screen play of uneducated son's of poor southern African-American sharecroppers. Again this seems to have been done for `affect' as Sasser states very clearly in his `Author's Notes': "...I have had to rely on numerous sources to fill gaps left by memory and official record. Also, using my own knowledge and experience with war and men at war, I have had to improvise and to necessarily re-create scenes and dialog in certain instances...I strive to match personalities with the situation and the action while maintaining factual content." Either a majority of African-American soldiers in the 761st actually spoke the way Sasser wrote their dialog or other authors who have recounted the exploits of the 761st, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Joe Wilson Jr. (both African-Americans themselves, the latter's father was in the 761st), have excessively `cleaned up' the dialog. It is likely that reality is somewhere in between. Yet this reviewer believes that latter two authors' recounting of combat dialog and reminiscences are probably more representative and that Sasser's self-admitted alteration was done for affect. Please do not read into either of these criticisms anything prejudice on the part of Sasser. This reviewer feels that Sasser has approached this topic fairly and thoroughly, and deserves credit for bringing to light (again) the exploits of these brave soldiers who have been forgotten, even denied, by their countrymen. Rather the reader should simply be aware that Sasser's writing style has potentially taken wide liberty to pull the reader into the story and human drama by drawing on stereotypes and visceral hot buttons.

All in all `Patton's Panther's a solid historical piece of work that is also a thoroughly enjoyable read. The bonus a reader gets is a rich human story of the contrasts between the lives of bigotry and inequality these African-American men lived in the United States before and after the war versus the equally scary, sacrificial, and heroic lives they shared with their white brethren in combat in NW Europe. 4.5 Stars!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brave Men - American Heroes, March 9, 2005

By	Neal Bellet (Wayne, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Patton's Panthers by Charles Sasser is a good book about the African-American 761st Tank Battalion that fought in World War II. I also read Brothers In Arms by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar which covered the same subject matter and found this book to be much easier to follow. The book takes us from training up to the end of the war, and the only constant during this entire time was the way these fine men were treated by many of their fellow soldiers, nurses who were supposed to care for them, fellow citizens, and many of the commanding officers of the Army. Even the mainstream press of the day would bypass the 761st in order to write about only white soldiers in their stories. With that background, it is understandable, although extremely unfortunate that the men of the 761st had to wait so long to be recognized for what they did, and how well they did it. They fought hard and long and did everything that was asked of them and more, yet were still treated like second class citizens by many. A prime example of this was when one of the men of the 761st, upon arriving home with a chest full of medals, and despite all that he had been through, was still told by the driver to move to the back of the bus. This is a book that should be read by all. The only shortcomings were two obvious historical inaccuracies. The first one has Lt. General Leslie McNair being killed by the Germans when he was killed by friendly fire. The second one has General Patton carrying pearl-handled pistols. His pistols were ivory-handled.