African American Troops in World War II
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
African American Troops in World War II
By (Author) Alexander Bielakowski
Illustrated by Raffaele Ruggeri
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Osprey Publishing
6th November 2007
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Second World War
Modern warfare
Ethnic studies
940.5403
Physical Properties
Paperback
64
Width 184mm, Height 248mm, Spine 7mm
250g
Description
About half a million African Americans served overseas during World War II, almost all in segregated second-line units. This artificially limited their potential contribution, but their work - especially along the logistic lifelines of the fighting divisions - was vital. This book summarizes the service of these men and women; and it also focuses on the small proportion who, remarkably, overcame prejudicial barriers to reach the battlefields in combat units of the US forces and Coast Guard. Their story is illustrated with wartime photographs, and color plates - including portraits of the most outstanding African Americans, the true heirs of the old Buffalo Soldiers.
Reviews
"Author Bielakowski tells the story of these men service by service and covers some of the greatest successes as well as some of the failures. This is all enhanced by quality period photos and the illustrations of R. Ruggeri. In all, a superb book on a part of WWII that gets very little press. A book I can justifiably recommend to you." --Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (December 2007)
Author Bio
Alexander M. Bielakowski completed his Ph.D. in U.S. military history at Kansas State University. He has written several articles on various aspects of military history, with a special interest in horse cavalry during the 20th Century. In 2000 he attended the West Point Summer Seminar in Military History at the United States Military Academy, and served as a historical consultant and interviewee for the History Channel documentary ""Animals in Action: Horses"" (2002). Dr. Bielakowski is an Associate Professor of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Raffaele Ruggeri was born in 1964 in Bologna where he still lives and works. After studying at the Fine Arts Academy he worked in several areas of graphics and design before deciding to devote himself to illustration. He has long been interested in military history and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey.
