Blood on German snow : an African American artilleryman in World War II and beyond / / Emiel W. Owens

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910956444503321
• Autore: Owens Emiel W. <1922->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: College Station, : Texas A&M University Press, 2006
• ISBN: 1-299-05220-7; 1-60344-531-5
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (156 p.)
• Collana: Texas A&M University military history series ; ; #105
• Disciplina: 940.54/8173
• Soggetti: World War, 1939-1945 - Artillery operations, American; World War, 1939-1945 - Participation, African American; World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Western Front; World War, 1939-1945; Soldiers - United States; African American soldiers
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- A Typical African American and a U. S. Citizen -- So You're in the Army Now: Training -- To the War in Europe -- March to the German Front -- In Battle in Europe -- To the Pacifi c and the Philippines -- Heading Home, Heading North, Heading Out -- Summing Up -- Bibliography -- Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: Emiel Owens served his country in the 777th Field Artillery, involved in actions from Omaha Beach to the occupation army in the Philippines. Like the rest of the U.S. Army at the time, the 777th was a segregated unit. Remarkably few memoirs by African Americans have been published from the World War II era, making Owens's account especially valuable. Because he situates his military experience in the larger context of his life and the society in which he lived, his story also reveals much about the changing racial climate of the last several decades. A native Texan, Owens recounts his early experiences in a small, rural school outside Austin during the hard times of the Depression. In 1943, he was drafted into the army, landing in England in August 1944. Ten days later he was on Omaha Beach. By November ; 3 Owens and his unit were supporting the 30th Infantry Division as it attacked German towns and cities leading into the Ruhr Pocket and the Huertgen Forest. Owens starkly portrays the horror of the Kohlscheid Penetration. He was awarded a certificate of merit for his actions in that theater. With help from the G.I. bill, Owens returned to college and then to graduate school at Ohio State University, since universities in his home state were still closed to African Americans. He earned a Ph.D. in economics, which led to a productive academic and consulting career. This is a uniquely captivating story of an African American man's journey from a segregated Texas town to the battlefields of Europe and on to postwar success in a world changed forever by the war Americans--black and white--had fought.

A colonel in the armored divisions : a memoir, 1941-1945 / / William S. Triplet ; edited by Robert H. Ferrell

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910967014403321
• Autore: Triplet William S. <1900->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Columbia, MO, : University of Missouri Press, c2001
• ISBN: 0-8262-6360-7
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (317 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): FerrellRobert H
• Disciplina: 940.54/8173
• Soggetti: World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945 - Tank warfare
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on the Editing -- A Colonel in the Armored Divisions -- One. The Infantry Board -- Two. Lucky Thirteenth: I -- Three. Lucky Thirteenth: II -- Four. Eighteenth Armored Group (Amphibious) -- Five. Waves -- Six. The LST -- Seven. Guns and Bays -- Eight. To the Second Armored -- Nine. Taking Command -- Ten. They've Got a Lot of Stuff in There -- Eleven. Defeat -- Twelve. To the Seventh Armored -- Thirteen. Hunnange -- Fourteen. Recapture of St. Vith -- Fifteen. High Ground -- Sixteen. In and Out -- Seventeen. Remagen Rolandseck Bad ; Godesberg -- Eighteen. The Autobahn War -- Nineteen. On the Way to Giessen -- Twenty. To Hemer -- Twenty-One. The Baltic Front -- Notes -- Bibliographical Essay -- Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: In this fascinating memoir William S. Triplet continues the saga begun in his earlier book, A Youth in the Meuse-Argonne: A Memoir, 1917-1918. After serving in World War I, Triplet chose to become a career military man and entered West Point. Upon graduation in 1924, his assignments were routine-to regiments in the Southwest and in Panama or as an officer in charge of Reserve Officers' Training Corps units or of men sent to a tank school. All this changed, however, when a new war opened in Europe. From 1940 to1942, Triplet was assigned to the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he engaged in testing new weapons and machines for the expanding army. He became a full colonel in December 1942. After leaving Benning he received posts with four armored forces: the Thirteenth Armored Division forming in the United States, an amphibious tank and troop carrier group training at Fort Ord, California, and the Second and Seventh Armored Divisions in Europe. His extraordinary abilities as a tank commander became evident in the Seventh Armored, where he took over a four-thousand-man unit known as Combat Command A. He was soon moving from triumph to triumph as he led his unit into Germany. Here was much room for professional judgment and decision, and the colonel was in his element. In the war's last days Triplet and his men fought their way to the Baltic, preventing many German troops from joining in the defense of Berlin against the advancing Soviet army. Although Triplet was recommended for brigadier general, Dwight D. Eisenhower believed the U.S. Army had enough generals to finish the war; thus, the indomitable Triplet served out the few remaining years of his career as a colonel. After retiring in 1954, Triplet moved to Leesburg, Virginia, where he soon began to mull over his military experiences. Fascinated by the history he had witnessed, engaged by the attraction of writing about it, he recorded his memories with a combination of verve, thoughtfulness, and harsh judgments concerning ranking officers he considered incompetent- generals not excluded. Through his annotations, Robert H. Ferrell provides the historical context for Triplet's experiences. Well written and completely absorbing, A Colonel in the Armored Divisions provides readers the rare opportunity to see firsthand what a real professional in the U.S. Army thought about America's preparation for and participation in the war against Germany and Japan.