Today in World War II History—November 17, 1940 & 1945

Black troops of the US 92nd Infantry Division firing mortars, Massa, Italy, November 1944 (US National Archives)
80 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1940: In Germany, Jews are banned from using the same air raid shelters as Aryans.
Lithuanian Activist Front, an anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi resistance group, is organized.
Correspondent Ralph Barnes of the New York Herald Tribune is killed in an RAF plane crash in Yugoslavia, the first US war correspondent to die in WWII.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 17, 1945: War Department board under Lt. Gen. Alvan Gillem makes recommendations to have more Black officers & units in the Army, more opportunities, and equal treatment, but does not call for full desegregation—which will not happen until 1948.
New song in Top Ten: “Waitin’ for the Train to Come In.”