Photo By Staff Sgt. Sebastian Rothwyn | New York Army National Guard Col. Patrick Clare, commander of the 369th Sustainment...... read more read more
HARLEM, New York – New York Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 369th Sustainment Brigade might have an opportunity to take military courses at France’s reserve forces staff college this summer.
French Army Col. Stanislas de Magnienville extended the invitation for members of the unit, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters since World War I, to take non-commissioned officer and officer classes at the École de guerre-Terre, or Army War College, during a Dec. 16, 2023 presentation to 200 unit members at the 369th’s Harlem Armory here in New York.
De Magnienville, who is attached to the French embassy in D.C. and serves as a liaison to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where some of the student exchanges are already taking place, said the goal is to help NATO allies understand each other better.
“I want to go back to our roots and start building up a long-term sustainable relationship through training opportunities and school exchanges,” De Magnienville said.
New York Army National Guard Col. Patrick Clare, the commander of the 369th, said participating in this program would be a great opportunity for the brigade’s Soldiers to build their careers.
The 369th’s predecessor, the 369th Infantry Regiment, fought with the French Army in World War I, so his Army has a long relationship with the unit.
Military education exchange is valuable for allied nations because, “If we cannot understand each other, if we cannot communicate, we cannot succeed,” said de Magnienville.
De Magnienville is also director of CIOR Language Academy, NATO, and assigned to France’s military mission to the United Nations.
CIOR is an acronym for the Confédération Interalliée des Officiers de Réserve, or the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers, the world’s largest and oldest military reserve officer organization committed to advise and support NATO on reserve matters, promote reserve service and foster professional development of reserve officers.
De Magnienville recalled when his unit was in Afghanistan, that his brigadier general reported to the commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
He spoke about the pride that French military service members held being America’s longest ally.
As the American Revolutionary War raged on, the fledgling nation that would become the USA we know today would see its first friendly nation by way of the Traité d'Alliance, or Treaty of Alliance, 1778, with the Kingdom of France.
Since then, apart from a small undeclared naval war resolved through diplomatic negotiations, the two countries have never been at war, he told the New York Soldiers.
De Magnienville said that he learned about the Hellfighters in his own youth to illustrate how deep his connection with the organization goes, even now as he closes in on 40 years in the military.
A little over 100 years ago, during World War I, the 369th Infantry Regiment served under French Gen. Henri Gouraud’s Fourth Army during the Second Battle of the Marne.
The granddaughter of Gouraud hosted an event in 2023 with “Le Souvenir Francais” where De Magnienville would meet the chief medical officer of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, Lt. Col. Peter Fish, who is an avid historian.
The mission of Le Souvenir Francais, in summary, is to honor the memory of French military service members who gave their lives for freedom, promote appreciation for French culture and heritage in the United States, and strengthen the historic long-standing bonds of friendship between nations.
At the event, De Magnienville and Fish decided to network and brainstorm ideas to connect the historic Harlem Hellfighters and the French Military again to improve multinational cooperation.
One of those ideas was to provide four courses for Harlem Hellfighters to study at the Army War College in Paris – one for NCOs and three for commissioned officers up to the rank of captain.
French Army 2nd Lt. Pierre Antoine Benoit, aide to De Magnienville, said that the first opportunity will be in the summer of 2024 and, “Personally, as a young officer, when I’m advancing to senior officer, I want to go there.”
Courses range from one week to three weeks of varying intensity and responsibility and are taught in French, but attendees come from other nations’ militaries including Germany.
The name Hellfighters was given by the Germans during World War I to Soldiers of the 369th to describe their ferocity on the battlefield.
A captured Prussian officer would refer to them as “Hollenkampfer”, which was German for Hellfighters.
“They are devils,” he told his American captors about the 369th. “They smile while they kill, and they won’t be taken alive.”
In late December of 1917, the 15th Infantry Regiment of the New York Army National Guard was assigned to the US Army’s 185th Infantry Brigade, in France. The unit would be directed to perform basic labor functions despite being trained to be a warfighting organization.
Racial discrimination throughout the nation and the military was a primary factor for the relegation of non-white service members to be utilized for menial tasks.
These service members came from across the nation to be a part of the NYARNG because they believed that their service would allow them to be recognized as equals who fought for their nation the same as any other.
The commander of the regiment, Col. William Hayward, was able to convince Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, to find a way for the Soldiers to get into the fight, alleviating the pressure Pershing was facing from French and British armies to split the American Forces instead of keeping them separate.
As the reorganized and re-designated 369th Infantry Regiment, the former 15th would be assigned in April of 1918 to the French Army and distinguished themselves as an elite fighting force.
They were the first of the allied armies to reach the Rhine River. They never lost a man to capture. They spent more days in the front-line trenches than any other American unit.
The name Hellfighters was born out of the impression they left on their German enemies the battlefield. Although the unit used the nickname proudly since World War I, it would only be approved as the official designation by the Army Center of Military History, on Sept. 21, 2020.
National Guard units would continue to serve both at home and abroad, providing training and military expertise to nation partners such as Ukraine.
Inspired by Ukraine’s civil defense, the French government doubled the size of their reserve force because "An army does not fight for itself," said Gen. Thierry Burkhard, the highest-ranking general in the French military.
With a significant growth in personnel, the challenge prompted the French Army to extend De Magnienville’s service, asking him to help supervise and guide the incoming Soldiers and help extend multinational cooperation with their nation partners.
France and the USA have a long history together and the Harlem Hellfighters and France have a special connection, so this exchange was a logical step for both.
Additionally, De Magnienville and Benoit presented the CIOR Language Academy opportunity with NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The CIOR represents the interests of 1.3 million reservists across 34 participating nations within and beyond NATO, making it the world’s largest military reserve officers organization, since its founding in 1948 by the reserve officer associations of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
According to Benoit, the US Army Reserve is the biggest delegation in the CIOR, with military competitions, language academy, cyber defense and more.
The young reserve officer course includes NATO practices, NATO crisis management, and working as staff with NATO, alongside all the countries in the organization and its partners.
Two of the official languages in NATO are French and English.
Other courses include an intensive language academy program that blends academics with multinational networking and cooperation.
Instead of studying languages the way students do in high school, the focus is on military operations, according to De Magnienville. “I strongly advise you to do it if you want to be involved in an international headquarters or deployed with a multinational force.”
In an ideal world, they would like to be more involved with the Harlem Hellfighters during training and social activities.
As a young officer, Benoit said that he never dreamed of this ten years ago when he joined. “With this, I was able to specialize, and it has taken me to places I never thought possible,” he said.
Opportunities such as the reserve staff academy in Paris and the CIOR Language Academy with NATO provide pathways to improve cooperation and De Magnienville said he hopes to have a French unit that can train alongside the Hellfighters as closely they did in World War I, bridging gaps for an intricately connected future.
| Date Taken: | 01.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.22.2024 08:03 |
| Story ID: | 462163 |
| Location: | NEW YORK, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: | HARLEM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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