Black Panthers: A Panzer Grenadier Book (2021)

Overview

Panzer Grenadier: Black Panthers tells the story of segregated African-American units that fought in World War II.

Black Panthers is a special expansion for Panzer Grenadier: Elsenborn Ridge. It has 24 new die-cut playing pieces for the Black Panthers under their distinctive insignia, and two dozen scenarios based on the epic battles of the 761st and other African-American units.

Most of the scenarios in the Black Panthers set feature the two battalions that served on the Western front alongside white divisions. The 758th Tank Battalion remained a light tank outfit, attached to the African-American 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. The 92nd did not have a very good war, thanks in large part to its spectacularly incompetent commander, Edward “Sic ’em Ned” Almond. They often fought against die-hard Italian Fascists, who of course aren’t included in Elsenborn Ridge (and have yet to appear at all in the Panzer Grenadier series), and in terrain very different from the wooded hills of the Ardennes. But the 761st and 784th provided plenty of action.

The nature of those battles is that of grinding, close-quarters combat, emphasizing combined arms cooperation.