Heres a little more from the same site. It seems a shame that members from the 9th and 10th Cavalry were considered only good for labor units.
Only three Colored divisions were formed during the war. Only one saw extensive combat service and it was plagued by problems. On the other hand, the few separate Colored combat battalions formed gave excellent service, most in the ETO.
The second 2nd Cavalry Division (originally it was the 3rd Cavalry Division, it became the 2nd Division when the original 2nd Division was disbanded) was disbanded in 1944. Ironically, the 2nd Cavalry Division was arguably one of the most experienced and professional divisions in the Army. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments of the division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were two of the most famous regiments in the Army. When the division was disbanded the men of these two great regiments were assigned as laborers to port and engineer battalions.
In Italy, the 92nd Division was placed under the command of Major General Edward M. Almond, an avowed racist. Almond despised his men believing them incapable of learning the duties of combat soldiers, training was perfunctory at best. Officers, who were mostly white, took their cue from General Almond and ignored many of their fundamental duties. In it's first engagements, the division appeared to confirm his fears, making little headway with heavy losses. The division was then reorganized in March and recommitted along the Ligurian coast, again with little effect. Post war studies of the use of African-American combat troops confirmed however that most of the divisions problems could be directly associated with poor training, poor leadership, and neglect of troops in the field.
The experience of the 93rd Division in the PTO was similar. It was split up and served mostly as labor parties on various Pacific islands. It suffered only 138 combat casualties however, losses to disease were severe.
Probably the most famous Colored units were the 561st Tank Battalion, the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, and the 969th Field Artillery Battalions. The 561st was assigned to Patton's Third Army over his strong objection (he believed them incapable of "thinking fast enough to fight in armor"). However, the intrepid gallantry of the Black tankers soon won him over. By the end of 1944 Patton declared "I have nothing but the best in my army. I don't care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut son's-a-bitches." In 1978 the 761st was awarded a belated but well deserved Presidential Unit Citation. The 333rd was caught by the German onslaught in the Ardennes and was partly overrun defending its guns. The remnants of the battalion fought on, joining the 969th as the backbone of the defense of Bastogne.
Another use of African-American manpower was a result of the massive attrition that was suffered in the winter of 1944 in Europe. As the infantry replacement pool evaporated in the ETO, radical steps were taken. In January 1945 General Eisenhower took the then unprecedented step of allowing African-American soldiers to volunteer as combat infantry replacements. The response was overwhelming, soldiers accepted reductions in rank in exchange for the chance to fight. These men were assigned to hard-hit divisions where they soon made an impression. Eager to prove critics of African-American combat prowess wrong, these men made up for their lack of experience with a reckless bravery. Most of the replacements continued to serve in effectively segregated units however, most of the divisions formed them into separate platoons or companies that were attached to White units.
The experience of African-American soldiers in World War II had one major and unexpected beneficial effect. Postwar investigations showed that the Colored units that performed poorly had experienced indifferent training, were poorly led, and were often issued with substandard or condemned equipment. Food and housing was also generally poorer than for comparable white units, both in garrison and in the field. On the other hand, the better led units usually performed well. These findings were partly responsible for the post-war drive to integrate the military, which indirectly led to the integration of the entire country in the 1950s and 1960s.
Military History Online - US Army in World War II
"Colored" Cavalry in WWII
