A Blind Goddess (39 page)

The deactivation of black combat units and reassignment of personnel into service units, as experienced by Tree and the fictional 617th Tank Destroyer Battalion, was routine. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments (known historically as Buffalo Soldiers) along with the entire 2nd Cavalry Division were all disbanded and their combat-trained men assigned to non-combat units.

Independent Tank Destroyer and Tank battalions were one of the routes for blacks to serve in combat. The 761st Tank Battalion was the first black armored unit committed to combat, assigned to the Third Army under General George Patton, who famously welcomed them with this speech: “I don’t care what color you are, so long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sonsabitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most
of all, your race is looking to you. Don’t let them down, don’t let me down.” They didn’t, serving 183 days in combat and receiving commendations from every unit they were assigned to.

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RITISH COUNTERINTELLIGENCE service MI5 was charged with apprehending German agents in England. Operations were overseen by the Twenty Committee, chaired by John Cecil Masterman. The name of the committee came from the number twenty in Roman numerals: XX, or double cross.

MI5 was quite successful in catching Nazi agents who reached British shores. Many turned themselves in to the authorities as soon as they landed. Others were captured soon after coming ashore. As the war progressed, German spies were instructed to contact agents already established in Great Britain. But by then, those spies were controlled by the British. As explained by Masterman in this book, the greatest fear the Twenty Committee had was one German agent slipping through their hands, thus revealing to the Nazis that none of the information coming from their agents was be trusted. With D-Day approaching, this could make the difference between a successful landing and a disaster. After the war it was determined that every agent sent by Germany to Great Britain had given themselves up or had been captured, with the possible exception of one who committed suicide. The work of the Twenty Committee is one of the great success stories in the history of counterintelligence and deception campaigns.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
AM SUPERBLY supported and assisted by the diligence and keen eye of my wife Deborah Mandel, my first reader and editor. As in all things, her work improves mine. Michael Gordon continues to provide a close read; his comments and edits are valued, even though we don’t always agree on comma usage. Juliet Grames, Senior Editor at Soho Press, provides a clear guiding hand as the manuscript undergoes her expert scrutiny. Her dedication is extraordinary.