The Lost Eleven: The Forgotten Story of Black American Soldiers Brutally Massacred in World War II

434 Pages·2017·16.04 MB·English

by  Denise George

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: George, Denise, author. | Child, Robert, 1963– author.
Title: The lost eleven: the forgotten story of black American soldiers brutally massacred in World War II/Denise George and Robert
Child.
Description: First edition. | New York: Caliber, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016041981 (print) | LCCN 2016056855 (ebook) | ISBN 9781101987391 | ISBN 9781101987407 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: United States. Army. Field Artillery Battalion, 333rd. | World War, 1939–1945—Participation, African American. |
World War, 1939–1945—Atrocities—Belgium—Wereth. | Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944–1945. | Wereth (Belgium)—History, Military
—20th century.
Classification: LCC D769.34 333rd .G46 2017 (print) | LCC D769.34 333rd (ebook) | DDC 940.54/1273—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016041981
First Edition: January 2017
Jacket photographs: snowy landscape © Dirk Wüstenhagen/Westend61/Corbis; soldiers © Bettman/Getty Images Jacket design by
Steve Meditz
While the authors have made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses and other contact information at
the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the authors assume any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after
publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web
sites or their content.
Version_1
In appreciation for the faithful service and great sacrifice of eleven black GIs
massacred in Wereth, Belgium, on December 17, 1944.
And in appreciation for all African-American men and women who have
courageously served in the U.S. military.
Freedom is not free. It is costly.
But for the compassion of a twelve-year-old Belgian boy, the
tragic fate of eleven black American soldiers might have been
forever lost to history.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Letter to the Reader
A Partial List of Characters
Part 1: The World’s Greatest Democracy
CHAPTER 1: A QUIET FOREST
CHAPTER 2: THE BERLIN OLYMPICS
CHAPTER 3: THE BANNING
CHAPTER 4: A WALL OF PHOTOGRAPHS
CHAPTER 5: LEBENSRAUM
CHAPTER 6: THE BASEBALL PITCHER FROM
PIEDMONT
CHAPTER 7: THE MEETING AT BERCHTESGADEN
CHAPTER 8: INVASION!
CHAPTER 9: THE BELGIAN FAMILY
CHAPTER 10: THE WAR BEGINS
CHAPTER 11: THE BAKER’S SON AND THE BUTCHER’S
APPRENTICE
CHAPTER 12: THE TRIP TO PARIS
CHAPTER 13: THE EINSATZGRUPPEN
Part 2: The World at War
CHAPTER 14: THE SURPRISE ATTACK
CHAPTER 15: THE NEWS AT WOLFSCHANZE
CHAPTER 16: THE DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
CHAPTER 17: THE CHANGING WORLD
CHAPTER 18: THE CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE
CHAPTER 19: THE LOUISIANA RIOT
CHAPTER 20: DRAFTED!
CHAPTER 21: THE RISK
CHAPTER 22: THE ARMY’S JIM CROW
CHAPTER 23: THE GI FROM PONTOTOC COUNTY
CHAPTER 24: CHRISTMAS OF ’42
CHAPTER 25: THE 155MM HOWITZER
CHAPTER 26: THE EARLY MONTHS OF ’43
CHAPTER 27: THE URGENT MESSAGE
CHAPTER 28: THE TRAINING MANUALS
CHAPTER 29: THE BABY
CHAPTER 30: TRAINING
CHAPTER 31: THE HELPER
CHAPTER 32: THE VISITOR
CHAPTER 33: THE NEW POW COMPOUND
CHAPTER 34: OPERATION CITADEL
CHAPTER 35: DISILLUSIONED
CHAPTER 36: THE SONG
CHAPTER 37: LATE-NIGHT REFLECTIONS
CHAPTER 38: THE WEAKENING REICH
Part 3: Leaving Camp Gruber
CHAPTER 39: TRAINING IN THE U.K.
CHAPTER 40: A STIR IN BRITAIN
CHAPTER 41: PLANNING AN ASSAULT
CHAPTER 42: D-DAY
CHAPTER 43: AN INVASION FROM THE WEST
CHAPTER 44: ARRIVING AT UTAH BEACH
CHAPTER 45: “READY! FIRE!”
CHAPTER 46: THE SYMPHONY SERENADE
CHAPTER 47: THE PLOT
CHAPTER 48: THE TERRIFYING NEWS
CHAPTER 49: THE PUSH OUT OF NORMANDY
CHAPTER 50: ONWARD INTO BATTLE
CHAPTER 51: THE SURRENDER
CHAPTER 52: BREST
CHAPTER 53: THE BATTLE, FIERCE AND DEADLY
CHAPTER 54: THE CAPTURE OF BREST
CHAPTER 55: THE LIBERATION OF PARIS
CHAPTER 56: THE BIVOUAC
CHAPTER 57: THE YOUNG, THE OLD, AND THE
WOUNDED
CHAPTER 58: THE REPORTS
CHAPTER 59: THE LONG MARCH TO BELGIUM
CHAPTER 60: THE CITY OF LIGHT
CHAPTER 61: THE PLAN
CHAPTER 62: BIVOUACKING IN BELGIUM
CHAPTER 63: OPERATION GREIF
Part 4: The Battle of the Bulge
CHAPTER 64: LIFE AT THE WEST WALL
CHAPTER 65: THE ROCKETS
CHAPTER 66: THE SECRET REVEALED
CHAPTER 67: A SLEEPLESS NIGHT
CHAPTER 68: “JUST A PHONOGRAPH”
CHAPTER 69: “TOO QUIET!”
CHAPTER 70: DARKNESS IN THE SCHNEE EIFEL
CHAPTER 71: THE ATTACK
CHAPTER 72: “SCREAMING MEEMIES!”
CHAPTER 73: THE DEATH SENTENCE
CHAPTER 74: A LONG AND DEADLY DAY
CHAPTER 75: THE BREAKTHROUGH
CHAPTER 76: CAPTURED!
CHAPTER 77: THE P-47 THUNDERBOLT
CHAPTER 78: MASSACRE AT THE BAUGNEZ
CROSSROADS
CHAPTER 79: THE FARMHOUSE
CHAPTER 80: UNEXPECTED HOSPITALITY
CHAPTER 81: THE ARREST
CHAPTER 82: THE LONG WAIT
CHAPTER 83: “THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE
VALLEY”
EPILOGUE 1: THE REST OF THE STORY
EPILOGUE 2: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS?
PHOTOS
APPENDIX 1: The Wereth 11 Memorial Speech
APPENDIX 2: U.S. Memorial Wereth Info about Memorial and
Annual Services, Etc.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ENDNOTES
INDEX
Dear Reader:
The Lost Eleven will introduce you to eleven courageous African-American GIs
in the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion who served heroically and sacrificially in
the United States Army in World War II. While most black soldiers filled
noncombatant support roles, these eleven mastered the complicated operation of
the 155mm howitzer, one of the most important weapons in the war. In 1944,
they traveled across German-occupied France with General Middleton’s VIII
Corps, providing support fire where most urgently needed. With their record-
setting speed in loading and positioning the 155, and their extreme accuracy in
firing, they helped prove the combat skill of black soldiers. This story, and the
fate of the eleven, unacknowledged for half a century and left out of the
Congressional War Crimes Report of 1949, is told here in book form for the first
time.
The events in this book are true, gleaned from military documents,
interviews, VIII Corps and 333rd Battalion after-action reports, and written
verbal accounts. While accurate in content, some of it has been creatively retold.
Some of the dialogue, unrecorded by history, has been created.
All the characters in this book are historical and use their real names, with
the exception of “Jeb,” the training instructor, and “Greta,” the Langers’
German-loyal neighbor who betrayed them, whom the Langers refused to
identify.
This exciting true story of eleven black heroes will delight your spirit, give
you rare first-person historical insights, and make you proud of America’s
devoted GIs. But be forewarned. While this story will warm your heart, it will
also break your heart. Graphic and deeply moving, this story screamed to be
written, and now yearns to be read by generations yet to be born.
It is with great honor that after seventy-two years, and within the pages of a
book, we introduce you to the Lost Eleven.
Denise George and Robert Child July 2016