The 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion was activated on 25 July 1942 at Camp Carson, USA and, like many other tank destroyer battalions, would be sent to Europe. It saw combat in France, where a platoon earned the Distinguished Unit Citation, and later continued to fight gallantly in Germany and Austria until the war was over. However, unlike many other tank destroyer battalions that fought in the Second World War, this unit was crewed only by black soldiers. The men had been subjected to racism from their countrymen during training, although the battalion did eventually win the respect of the white soldiers they fought alongside. When the third platoon deployed their guns on the slopes near Climbach, France, they weren't just fighting against the Germans, but also against any prejudices that their white countrymen might have had. Having earned the respect of the 103d Infantry Division, the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion shared in their triumphs and tragedies. So when the division needed to retreat during a blizzard, or when Task Force Rhine pushed its way across the German plains, or when the division suffered heavy losses at Schillersdorf, the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion was there with them. Included in this book are lists of medals awarded to the men during the war, as well as a list of casualties and those that served in the unit.

On the night of 31 March 1945, five men were woken and taken from their cells in the city of Zwolle, in The Netherlands. They were put in a vehicle and escorted by the German occupying forces to a street nearby, where all five were lined up and executed. The corpses were left behind as the Germans left the scene. Whether by accident or betrayal, these men had fallen in to the clutches of the _Sicherheitsdienst_, the Nazi intelligence service. Although the liberation was at hand (Zwolle would be freed less than two weeks later), these men did not live to see it. This book not only reveals what the men had done and the reasons behind their execution, but also the experiences of their wives, who had tried to obtain their husbands' release, while other women were deported to concentration camps. Attention is also paid to the execution and the process leading up to it. Combining interviews with descendants, eyewitnesses, acquaintances, archival research, historical books and newspapers, family member and history student Samuel de Korte recreates an image of the executed men on that fateful morning and the families they left behind. Using a number of rare and well-known photographs, the condemned are portrayed as resistance fighters as well as fathers and husbands. The book examines not only the consequences of the men and their actions, but also the grief of the women who were left behind.