top of page
Search

The 761st Tank Battalion: Black Heroes Who Liberated Gunskirchen (And Got Erased)


As we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, let's shine a light on a gut-wrenching, too-often-forgotten chapter: the Black Panthers of the 761st Tank Battalion storming into Austria's Gunskirchen subcamp in May 1945. These segregated GIs faced hell, shared their last scraps with 15,000 starving Jewish survivors, and still got sidelined from the history books.


As we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, let's shine a light on a gut-wrenching, too-often-forgotten chapter: the Black Panthers of the 761st Tank Battalion storming into Austria's Gunskirchen subcamp in May 1945. These segregated GIs faced hell, shared their last scraps with 15,000 starving Jewish survivors, and still got sidelined from the history books.


“We Just Cried”: Tanks Meet Skeletons


Picture this: May 4, 1945. The 761st rolls up to Mauthausen subcamps. Bodies everywhere, prisoners gnawing bark. Sgt. William McBurney later said, “We saw walking skeletons… We just cried.” They divvied rations, called medics—raw humanity amid the nightmare.

But racism robbed them blind. No cameras, no glory. Their Presidential Unit Citation? Delayed 33 years till 1978. Why? The same system that segregated them couldn't stomach Black liberators stealing the spotlight.


Erased No More: Black Troops Across the Camps


Gunskirchen wasn't solo—Black units were everywhere:

  • 183rd Engineers cleared Dachau's graves.

  • Red Ball Express medics raced aid to survivors.

  • 333rd Artillery stared down Ohrdruf's horrors.


Irony alert: Cracking Nazi chains abroad, only to dodge Jim Crow back home.

Why Dig This Up Now?


  • Smash Hate Today: Antisemitism and anti-Black racism? Same roots. The Panthers teach solidarity.

  • Fix the Record: As historian Matthew Delmont nails it, Black Americans got Nazism's evil clearest.

  • Classroom Gold: Pair with Half American (Delmont), Brothers in Arms (Jabbar), or Netflix's Liberators.


Honor Them


  • Hit the National WWII Museum's Black WWII exhibit.

  • Boost NAACP, ADL against hate.

  • Share this—amplify the untold.


“Never again” means everyone. The 761st fought for it all, despite the odds. Let's make sure their story sticks.


At Tellers Untold, we reclaim these truths. Check our Education Hub or join “From Gunskirchen to George Floyd” workshop. Courage buried? Nah—we're digging it up.


CITATION


Primary Sources & Eyewitness Accounts

  • Sgt. William McBurney quote: "We saw walking skeletons… We just cried" from 761st oral histories.​

  • Captain J.D. Pletcher's Gunskirchen report (71st Infantry Division aid efforts).

  • Leonard Smith (761st tanker): "I didn’t know that the Germans were that evil".​

Key References

  • National WWII Museum: "The Black Panthers Drive into Germany" on May 1945 liberation.​

  • US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Gunskirchen timeline, 15,000 Hungarian Jews.​

  • Wikipedia: 761st details, Presidential Unit Citation delay to 1978.​

  • Encyclopedia accounts: 71st Division with 761st support.​

Modern Scholarship

  • Matthew Delmont, Half American: Black WWII roles erased [user post context].

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Brothers in Arms [user post context].

  • Jewish Virtual Library: Camp conditions, SS flight.

Comments

bottom of page