Graffias
Rogue
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2011
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US soldiers who fought in World War II have commonly been depicted as honorable citizen warriors from the "Greatest Generation." But a new book uncovers the dark side of some GIs in liberated France, where robbing, raping and whoring were rife.
The liberators made a lot of noise and drank too much. They raced around in their jeeps, fought in the streets and stole. But the worst thing was their obsession with French women. They wanted sex – some for free, some for money and some by force.
After four years of German occupation, the French greeted the US soldiers landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944 as liberators. The entire country was delirious with joy. But after only a few months, a shadow was cast over the new masters' image among the French.
By the late summer of 1944, large numbers of women in Normandy were complaining about rapes by US soldiers. Fear spread among the population, as did a bitter joke: "Our men had to disguise themselves under the Germans. But when the Americans came, we had to hide the women."
I wouldn't segregate US behaviour to any of the other powers behaviour in the war.
The Germans committed mass genocide,The Japanese committed mass genocide,The Russians committed rapes as vengeance against Germans in Berlin.
War is evil, Occupation is evil, Imperialism is evil, it's what such policies create.
And when they enjoyed themselves with French women, they were not only validating their own masculinity, but also, in a metaphorical sense, the new status of the United States as a superpower, writes Roberts.
I'll guess here this is news to somone born without a brain. Americans coming from a comparatively puritancial society in the 40's finish with the hell of war and mingle with European women living in a more permissive culture and sex happens. Whores have been a part of wars since war began, check out the sex in our Civil War. The "Dark Side"? how about the "human side"? There are more rapes in our military right now that ever before. Brutality is alive and well in all cultures. In France today school children are taught about the events surrounding D-Day and what the Americans did for the nation of France.
The Germans came from a country where debauchery, intoxication, and disorder were frowned upon and they didn't go around forcing themselves on French women, stealing, engaging in public drunkenness, or spreading venereal diseases by engaging in sex with prostitutes.
This doesn't change the fact that American troops behaved like an undisciplined rabble when they claimed to have the moral high ground. Puritanism? Give me a break. The Germans came from a country where debauchery, intoxication, and disorder were frowned upon and they didn't go around forcing themselves on French women, stealing, engaging in public drunkenness, or spreading venereal diseases by engaging in sex with prostitutes. The Germans were very civil to the French people, at least until the Maquis started assassinating their soldiers and engaging in other terrorist acts.
The problem is you only ever hear about the evil of one side.
I suppose we could have stayed home and let the Nazis have it. No American rapes then.
He think the Nazis were good men. Liberators, if you will.
I imagine a few of his heroes were liberated in Nazi death camps or by firing squad.
The Europeans are still pissed off that we had to bail their asses out. The Germans will jump on anything that allows them to say, "See? They were just as bad".
Did American troops commit crimes? Sure they did. There are always bad apples. Was it a matter of policy, official, or un-official? Of course not.
The SS Dirlewanger Brigade--"The Black Hunters"--had orders, directly from Himmler, to rape, murder and pillage as did the Einsatzgruppen.
French Morrocan units raped, murdered, or kidnapped 12,000 civilians, in Italy. Not to mention, there was a French unit in the Waffen SS.
Yugoslav partisans committed 8 separate massacres, with not a single prosecution.
Crimes committed by US troops were singular events and never done en masse, or as a part of official policy.
I suppose we could have stayed home and let the Nazis have it. No American rapes then.
Pointing out allied atrocities doesn't mean equating them with those of the nazis. Apart from a small right wing fringe, the only Germans who think the way you suspect are the Germans in your mind.The Europeans are still pissed off that we had to bail their asses out. The Germans will jump on anything that allows them to say, "See? They were just as bad".
Crimes committed by US troops were singular events and never done en masse, or as a part of official policy.
This does indicate the deliberate killing of civilian populations for non-military reasons.A note by US air force general Frederick Anderson to his press office notes that such operations were "not expected in itself to shorten the war ... However, it is expected that the fact that Germany was struck all over will be passed on, from father to son, thence to grandson; that a deterrent for the initiation of future wars will definitely result."
Accidents happen. Liberating Europe from Nazi tyranny was still worth it.
This doesn't change the fact that American troops behaved like an undisciplined rabble when they claimed to have the moral high ground. Puritanism? Give me a break. The Germans came from a country where debauchery, intoxication, and disorder were frowned upon and they didn't go around forcing themselves on French women, stealing, engaging in public drunkenness, or spreading venereal diseases by engaging in sex with prostitutes. The Germans were very civil to the French people, at least until the Maquis started assassinating their soldiers and engaging in other terrorist acts.
Pointing out allied atrocities doesn't mean equating them with those of the nazis. Apart from a small right wing fringe, the only Germans who think the way you suspect are the Germans in your mind.
Well...
Google "Rheinwiesenlager".
Or think about a quote from USAAF general Anderson about the bombing of cities late in the war:
This does indicate the deliberate killing of civilian populations for non-military reasons.
Of course the US still comes of better than most countries which participated in that war, especially the Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan. So relax, accept facts, and stop sanitizing history, that shouldn't be too hard for Americans when it comes to WW2.
In many ways American troops actually behaved better than they should have according to the official policy. My grandma lived through both Russian and US occupation in Berlin and said that US soldiers very often ignored the directives which told them to make their excess food inedible instead of giving it to starving Germans. So here we have the exact opposite of what you said: the official policy was atrocious and the troops, to a large extent, behaved decently. Regarding the rapes, you're probably right about no official policy and some bad apples. It was the Soviet army that committed the mass rapes, not the Americans.
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