Buffalo Soldiers in Combat

Members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, are getting last minute instructions from Lt. Manotti before going out on patrol in Bougainville jungle. P.I. 16 April 1944. (Kronfeld) .

This 155mm rifle, operated by negro troops of Section 2, Battery B, 49th Coast Artillery, is firing at Japanese positions. The soldier at (left) prepares to sponge the breech. Bougainville, 16 April 1944.

Troops of the 24th Infantry, attached to the Americal Division, wait to advance behind a tank assault on the Japanese, along Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville. 1944.

Sgt. John C. Clark and S/Sgt. Ford M. Shaw (left to right) clean their rifles in bivouac area alongside the East West Trail, Bougainville. They are members of Co. E, 25th Combat Team, 93d Division. 4 April 1944.

Cautiously advancing through the jungle, while on patrol in Japanese territory off the Numa-Numa Trail, this member of the 93d Infantry Division is among the first black foot soldiers to go into action in the South Pacific theater. 1 May 1944.

Members of the 477th Antiaircraft Artillery, Air Warning Battalion, study maps in the operations section at Oro Bay, New Guinea." 15 November 1944.

A platoon of African-American troops surrounds a farm house in a town in France, as they prepare to eliminate a German sniper holding up an advance. Omaha Beachhead, near Vierville-sur-Mer, France." June 10, 1944. Todd.

Officers of the 92d Infantry Division - Company F, 370th Combat Team, are going over maps and orders at a farmhouse one-fourth mile from the Arno River, Ponsacco Area, Italy. A half an hour later these troops successfully crossed the Arno River in the push toward the Gothic Line. 1 September 1944. (Yaskell).

Soldiers of the 161st Chemical Smoke Generating Company, U.S. Third Army, move a barrel of oil in preparation to refilling an M-2 smoke generator, which spews forth a heavy cloud of white smoke. These men are engaged in laying a smoke screen to cover bridge building activities across the Saar River near Wallerfangen, Germany. 11 December 1944.

The 105 mm. howitzers of the first African American artillery outfit in this theatre, fire at German positions across the Arno River in Italy. Battery C, 598th Field Artillery Battalion, 370th Regimental Combat Team, Fifth Army. 29 August 1944.  Ponsacco, Italy.

Members of a mortar company of the 92d Division pass the ammunition and heave it over at the Germans in an almost endless stream near Massa, Italy. This company is credited with liquidating several machine gun nests. November 1944.

Men of Company G, 365th Infantry Regiment, 92d Division Troops, are pinned down by a sniper who infiltrated through our lines of communication. The men are carrying ammunication to the assault companies. 10 January 1945. Sommocolonia area, Italy.

Genoa, Italy. In this newly liberated city the 92d Division troops enter the Galleria Guiseppe [sic] Garibaldi. April 27, 1945. Leviton.

Soldiers of the 92d Infantry (`Buffalo') Division pursue the retreating Germans through the Po Valley. German forces in Italy have since capitulated unconditionally." May 1945.

KOREAN CONFLICT. A machine gun crew of Co. A, 24th Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, turns its gun on Chinese Communists in a village across the Han River from Songnimbong, Korea. 21 February 1951.