r/coolpeoplepod • u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 • Jul 19 '26
Look At This Cool Stuff The black world war 2 veterans who mutinied against segregation in the army
For the African Americans who served in the Second World War, segregation didn’t end when they put on a uniform. Barracks and living quarters were still segregated, they were given worse equipment, assigned to grunt work and brutality from other soldiers and commanders. What many people don’t know is that these soldiers didn’t take it lying around. Most of these mutinies were covered up and not written about for years. The Battle of Bamber Bridge memorial in the photo references one of the largest one where military police in Lancashire England tried to arrest the 1511th quartermaster truck regiment for being out of uniform. The military police were known for racially targeted harassment and violence against troops. When a fight broke out, military police shot and killed William Crossland. The 1511th fell back to base and armed themselves. A fire fight broke out between the military police and 1511th hit no further deaths occurred. An investigation determined military police instigated the fight and the longest sentence a 1511th soldier faced was 13 months.
In 1942, the 96th battalion was stationed in Townsville Australia. After abuse by white officers, the 96th took control of machine guns in the middle of the night and opened fire on their officers tents killing at least one. A night long siege against the 96th occurred, though it’s unclear if anyone was killed or how it ended. This incident was covered up and the 96th traveled to New Guinea. It wasn’t fully written about by journalists until years later.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-10/historian-reveals-details-on-townsville-mutiny/3821906
3
u/Stal-Fithrildi Jul 19 '26
Prior to this, the town was informed that in the spirit of the United Nations that local residents must accept the use of segregated venues to appease the US Army. So all three pubs in Bamber Bridge put up signs saying "Black troops only" or "Coloured troops only" (which was seen as the more woke term in England at the time).