# Were there any African American combat engineers/sappers on the Western Front in WWI?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 15, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314 "2024-04-15T11:29:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314/1 "2024-04-15T11:29:23Z")

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Were there any African American combat engineers/sappers on the Western Front in WWI? I couldn’t find any reference to any online. Could it have been one of the jobs not permitted them by the AEF?

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314/2 "2024-04-15T12:22:43Z")

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[1279th Combat Engineers (michigan.gov)](https://www.michigan.gov/dmva/about/history/military-events/spotlight/1279th-combat-engineers#:~:text=First%20organized%20in%201937%2C%20the,%2C%20Solomon%20Islands%2C%20and%20Luzon.)

Beyond that, the [92nd Infantry Division (“Buffalo Soldiers”)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)) had an integral combat engineer battalion - the 317th Engineer Battalion as part of the standard division TO&E.

_Lots_ of other engineering units (i.e. construction units) were all-Black as well- many of the airfields in England that the USAAF flew out of to bomb Germany were constructed by Black engineering units.

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314/3 "2024-04-15T12:31:00Z")

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Engineers/sappers - yes, many. Combat, most often no. African Americans generally (but see below) were not employed as combat troops, but rather as non-combatant support services including a lot of engineer units. They dug trenches and built bridges, unloaded ships and trucks, cleared barbed wire and unexploded ordnance/mines, and buried the dead. But they usually weren’t even issued weapons.

However two combat divisions were eventually created - the [92nd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)) and [93rd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/93rd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)). Insomuch as the former included an engineer regiment, those were probably full combat engineers with firearms.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314/4 "2024-04-15T12:31:03Z")

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I think your posts mostly covers WWII, @Octagon was asking about WWI.  
The bit about bombing Germany tipped me off that you got the wrong war.

Though the 92nd fits the bill. I see the [317th Engineer Regiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)#Units) listed for WWI.

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As for the 1279th:

> **First organized in 1937** , the unit that became the 1279th Combat Engineer Battalion

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-african-american-combat-engineers-sappers-on-the-western-front-in-wwi/1000314/5 "2024-04-15T18:00:08Z")

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Crud… Misread the title.