OTL the regular black soldiers of the US Army's 9th and 10th Cav and 24th and 25th Inf Regts were excluded from being sent to fight on the Western Front after US entry into WWI in 1917, despite their record of sterling combat service on the Western frontier, Cuba, and the Philippines. 1 major reason was white fears re arming and training blacks in the aftermath of the July 1917 Houston Mutiny by disaffected members of the 24th Inf (which I previously posted on). Many experienced black NCOs from the regular black regts were sent to the Des Moines black officer training camp to form a cadre of seasoned junior African-American officers for the projected colored 92nd and 93rd Inf Divs, but the remainder of the Buffalo soldiers were relegated to garrison duty stateside, or in the case of the 9th and 10th Cav, in Hawaii and the Philippines. There was also, as I've also posted on earlier, the case of Col. Charles Young, the Army's highest-ranking black officer, who was forcibly retired early on supposed health grounds, and denied the opportunity to command black soldiers in combat or to be promoted to general (which OTL only occurred in 1967, when Brig-Gen Frederic Davison, himself a WWII veteran of the 92nd Div's service in Italy, was promoted to command of the 199th LIB in Vietnam).
Now, what PODs could facilitate the US govt deciding to actually employ these experienced black troopers on the Western front ? No Houston Mutiny ? An earlier deployment of largely inexperienced (white) American troops, who're cut down by the Germans (in the same way as led to the 1944-45 US army manpower shortage during the Ardennes campaign) such that the Wilson admin's forced to scream for seasoned soldiers (regardless of the colour of their skin) ? What about the greater influence of Charles Young in the position of general ?
Now, what PODs could facilitate the US govt deciding to actually employ these experienced black troopers on the Western front ? No Houston Mutiny ? An earlier deployment of largely inexperienced (white) American troops, who're cut down by the Germans (in the same way as led to the 1944-45 US army manpower shortage during the Ardennes campaign) such that the Wilson admin's forced to scream for seasoned soldiers (regardless of the colour of their skin) ? What about the greater influence of Charles Young in the position of general ?