National Defense: And the — —- Engineers

Into the wooded, gullied fields around Polly Ray Mountain at Fort Bragg, N.C., 18,000 troops of the Ninth Division moved for maneuvers. Everything was set for a nice little black & white wargame. Infantrymen and artillerymen were to attack the hill. The defenders were Lieut. Colonel John Elliott Wood’s 41st Engineers, the first regiment of Negro engineers in the new Army.

The 41st decided to make an offensive defense. Hell and “Smoky Joe” Wood’s black, grinning engineers broke loose at the same time. Out of the scrub, up from concealing gullies roared an avalanche of darky-driven trucks. Because the 41st still lacked combat equipment, like most of the Army, the trucks represented a battalion of tanks. After the make-believe tanks came more trucks, acting as troop carriers.

Through and around the enemy whites’ artillery, anti-tank defenses, infantry positions and supply lines the black Panzers darted. Only comfort for the surprised, outflanked troops of the Ninth was the providential presence of a protecting swamp in the engineers’ path. The black s— would certainly mire in the muck!

The assaulting trucks drove right to the swamp. “Smoky Joe’s” engineers quickly cut pine and scrub oak trees, in 25 minutes laid a corduroy road across the bog, swept into the astounded 39th (white) Infantry on the Ninth’s southern flank. Again the engineers wove through and around the enemy lines, ran some of their truck-tanks clear to the division command post (but caught no generals; they had fled). Before the games ended, in horrid confusion, the 41st was credited with halting the Ninth Division’s planned attack for at least a day, perhaps disrupting it completely.

Black Watch. To civilians who think of Army engineers as pick-&-shovel soldiers, the performance of the 41st might have seemed surprisingly belligerent. But not to soldiers: combat engineers fight with guns as well as shovels, often lead attacking troops into battle when enemy fortifications, tank-traps, etc. have to be demolished. Lieut. Colonel Wood’s use of simulated tanks was something extra, just to show what Negro engineers could do in a pinch.

White, North Carolina-born Joe Wood was a major at the War College in Washington when the Corps of Engineers decided to establish a Negro regiment last summer. All of his officers are white; all of them are 30 or younger. (In the U.S. Army, Negro regiments get picked officers, and officers generally vie for assignment to them.) His 1,250 privates and noncoms are Negroes, mostly from the South. Together they have made the 41st a slambang outfit which has supplied the training cadres for 14 other engineer regiments. In all, some 3,300 Negro recruits have gone through Joe Wood’s mill.

Understanding and sharing his Negroes’ love for foofaraw, Lieut. Colonel Wood has gone the limit to give the 41st splash and dash. His companies are organized by sizes: all the men in any company are within an inch of the same height (Company A’s men are five feet, eleven inches and over; Company F’s, five feet six and under). When the 41st was born, it had no band and wanted one badly. A Negro sergeant collected some battered drums and bugles, made them do until the regiment got a real band. Now the band leads the men of the 41st out to drill each morning, at retreat always plays hymns (The Son of God Goes Forth to War, Abide With Me, God of Our Fathers).

Often the dark stalwarts of the 41st sing while marching at attention. In regimental reviews, they like to sweep past at the double-quick, their faces ashine with sweat and pride. As working engineers, they built three swimming pools, also six concrete bomb shelters for artillery observers at Fort Bragg. They also created a 25-acre lake and use it for landing exercises and practice in assault boats. A kibitzer at this drill last week was New York’s Congressman (and Reserve Colonel) Hamilton Fish Jr., who was an officer in a Negro regiment in World War I.

When engineers of the 41st go to other outfits, they carry their spirit with them. The 41st tells the story of a Negro engineer who was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Va. While the engineer was on guard duty, a white general summoned him: “Boy, come here.” The engineer obeyed, saluted, said: “Suh, I’m not a boy. I’m a soldier.” Said the general: “Soldier, I’m well rebuked.”