The U.S. Army's First All African American Tank Unit. The U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion in 1941. It was the first all-black armored unit. By December 1944 they were fighting the Axis Powers in Northern Italy, from the Ligurian Sea through the Po Valley and into the Apennine Mountains. They helped breach the Gothic Line, the Germans' last major defensive line of the Italian Campaign. The distinctive unit insignia was a tusked elephant head. Unit members were called "Tuskers".