Southern France Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1945, Nice, Provence Alpes Cote d�?TAzur sunday Ottly 8,1945 the stars and Magazine by Ernest Leiser stars and stripes staff writer in occupied Germany we my Phe non Irater leation policy is one of a a the chief topics of conversation in occupied Germany today. In general most of the talk has been critical although the army has made out a Strong Case for its ruling a Case based on the very fact of the War itself and supported by Gen. Eisenhower whom every Soldier respects for his Good judgment. The problem has rocked the press Back Home inspired congressmen to make excited speeches and is causing concern to officials and Ordinary soldiers in the Eto. The policy originally was proclaimed As a War weapon. The German civilians definitely were not to be trusted while German soldiers were in the Field. When the War ended the complexion of the policy changed More to a psychological weapon the germans. The germans were to be shown that the allies meant business. The victors were conquerors not liberators. However the effect on the soldiers suddenly loomed As perhaps of equal if not greater importance than the effect on the germans. The troops who had fought so Long needed to rest and they wanted recreation that had As Little to do with the army As possible. They wanted to talk to people who did t Wear uniform. They wanted to go out with girls. That s when reports of breaking the ban started to come in. Just How extensive is fraternization today there is no definite answer to that nor any sure Way of finding one. An Index May be the marked increase of the cd rate in the Eto. While cd cannot All be Trace to Germany it indicates at least partially the proportions fraternization has attained. Records of arrests by military police give another indication of the increase in the number of reported cases. Bat with some commanders admittedly lax the number of unreported cases May have increased even More. Enforcement is admittedly difficult one commander said to impose such a policy successfully unless i had an my to watch every one of my men and a second my to watch the first one.1 this is obviously an exaggeration. When you say that fraternization is widespread it does not follow that the majority of soldiers fraternize. Though it May be True that a majority Are critical of the policy. It is probably the Case that much less than a majority Are violators. What is not exaggeration however is that the minority of violators is almost certainly a Large one and because of its size and the nature of the problem it has become provocative. Reihe fraternization problem began last fall when combat troops of the uj3. First army hacked through the outposts of the Siegfried line into the westernmost reaches of nazi Germany. The first outward signs of the problem were placards big Curt and foreboding which the maps pounded into the ground along the roadsides not so Long after the shooting had faded away to the East. The signs read Quot warning you Are now entering enemy country. $65 Fine for that was the beginning. It was Only a Small beginning because the american armies then held just the crumbling edges of the Reich. It was Only a minor problem because in this fringe of Germany most of the people had vanished a dead in the rubble of their Homes or evacuated to the Center of Germany. There was but a single sizable City Aachen As yet occupied by the americans and even Aachen was a bombed out ruin inhabited by a few thousand cellar dwelling Ger o officials say a must prevent the softness of 1c1c�?lest they Torjei them. They Hung out White bed sheets from their windows and they waved at the invaders. The armies were moving so fast during that week that they did no to have time to do a double take on that waving until they hit the Rhine. Then they stopped and on March 5, at the beginning of a three week Lull before what was to be the final Swift death blow at the wehrmacht a stars and stripes dispatch from the Rhineland said that Gen. Eisenhower s orders forbidding fraternization were getting their first real test. 46npoday, in the 25-mlle-wide Roer Rhine strip,1 the dispatch read a the minor problems of Aachen have suddenly become big ones. In Many towns civilians Cluster around . Soldiers just As they did in the liberated countries. Most of them seem determined to make friends. Soldiers react quickly when they meet Friendly people especially if the people Are pretty Young girls. Some soldiers though objectively agreeing that fraternization is wrong subjectively Long for non go companionship. Borne others Don t care. To them non for atomization is just a brass imposed problem they say. And they la fraternize so Long As they think there is a Good Chance they wont get caught. A these categories Are a minority but a considerable one Quot the Story continued a and the current situation is a natural for fraternization. There Are a great Many germans around. At the moment they Are Friendly and the soldiers Are lonely. The enforcement of the Rule for a while at least probably will be lax. The article concluded a thus non Irater leation will be in considerable measure an individual problem. How the gis work out the problem for themselves May prove to be the acid test for the non fraternization that was Way Back on March 6. Does it sound familiar in the period Between March 5 and March 24, when the massed forces of the Allied armies crossed the Rhine non for atomization was indeed put to the test. It was during this period that instances of German girls permitting soldiers to make advances and then preferring rape charge were reported. During the period there were numerous reports of fraternization and untold numbers of cases in which reports never throughout the Winter months the problem remained a lesser one. Of vastly More concern were the answers to such questions As How to keep warm How to keep from being pushed Back by the counter offensive but Winter came to an end. Like the weather the fraternization problem thawed out and began to get warm. On feb. 23 the Roer was crossed and in a week the Rhine was reached. Midway through that Blitz the slicing columns of tankers and motorized doughs made a discovery. There were germans in Germany the main streets were crowded with f Rater n Iza Tion should a change be undertaken in the allies policy were made. Court martial ordered fines or More serious punishments. Despite the penalties fraternization according to Milt tary commanders a t the time increased at a rapid rate. On the 24th the american armies began to move again in a burs of Speed that within three weeks had eaten 250 Miles into Germany to reach the Elbe and beyond. For the Tim being the problem of fraternization was lessened even during. This period however report of fraternization came in. When the american armies stopped on the Elbe in Austria in Czechoslovakia a sudden let Down from the breathless Tempo of the dash to Victory spread to All of the troops. Except for military government and the rounding up of prisoner hordes Large parts of the army has Little to do except wait for the official end of the War in Europe. Discipline was relaxed inevitably. The German girls not Only were Friendly but Man hungry and some american soldiers certainly were girl hungry. Fraternization spread rapidly once again during that period. It has been spreading Ever since not Only among the. Troops settling Down to a Long hard occupation but to units temporarily to gee Many awaiting redeployment. V Phat briefly is the history of the 1 problem. What is the criticism of the ban it articulate critics have said that rather than impressing the germans with our firmness of purpose the ban has worked a hardship on american soldiers. Because Many soldiers Are unwilling to undergo this hardship the Lack of female Campanion ship non fraternization has actually lowered the prestige of the uj3. Army the germans know of the ban an the know of the widespread violations. Critics ask a How can an army which continues to attempt to enforce unenforceable rules inspire respect 1 because of the ban much fraternization obviously is Clandestine. This the critics say is damaging to morale add bad for individual self respect it also tends to raise the cd rate despite the regulation a hat contraction of cd cannot be ted As a evidence of fraternization. Commanders Are diced Between the a Devil and the do eds Blue sea Quot it is said. When they attempt to enforce non fraternization strictly lose the admiration and affection of their men. When they Wink at violation they break Down Confidence in army policy there is also the complaint that it is unfair to anti nazi germans who May have been in concentration Camps or suffered otherwise to place them without the Pele As Well As ardent nazis. But the whole pattern of Well Aux no the we it policy built a Fence Between occupation troops and germans but in recent weeks the ban was lifted in the Case of children criticism generally. Is fairly up by a correspondent s statement that a natural Force is undermining the Neo fraternization rules a that great irresistible natural Force through which tor some Oen Turies boy has met Artri. It that is me present official attitude on to non for atomization Robert Murphy Gen. Eisenhower s political advisor Tot Germany recently said that the ban must be enforced until every German realized his tremendous guilt and responsibility for the War. Gen. Eisenhower himself has declared that the in should stand that if we a in not to negate the victories we have won with Force of arms we my St be sternly resolved to remind the German people that we have not forgotten the crimes that they and their government have committed. Officials Point out that As conquerors not Only of the wehrmacht but of a vicious spirit which pervaded a whole country we must cleanse the country of that spirit before its citizens can be treated As social equals. Field marshal sir Bernard a Montgomery explains that non fraternization is enforced because it is our aim to destroy the evil of the National socialist system it is too Early yet to be be fun that we have attained this aim. To prevent another Dar officials assert we must prevent the softness of if 18 and prevent the illusion created then that the germans were neither responsible for the War nor Defeated. It has officially been stated that the ban ultimately a to a be modified Eisenhower has already related its application to Young children and Gen. Jacob l Devers. Sixth army group commander. As Well As Murphy have indicated that further changes will be made in the
