Read Online The Bitter Road to Freedom: The Human Cost of Allied Victory in World War II Europe by William I. Hitchcock - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: William I. Hitchcock
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reliable local political authorities; identifying police forces and empowering them to keep order; enrolling men into labor brigades to clear roads and port facilities; and militarizing all local transportation, fuel, food, and medical supplies. Even the official history of the British Civil Affairs effort noted that this treatment seemed quite similar to Ger- man behavior during the occupation. 50
The French did not warm immediately to such robust foreign political intrusion, even at this time of desper- ate need. Planning for Civil Affairs in France was ham- pered by the extreme touchiness of the Free French leader, General Charles de Gaulle. In fact, a formal agreement between de Gaulle’s provisional govern- ment and General Eisenhower’s Supreme Headquar- ters was not signed until late August 1944—almost three months after the invasion of France. This docu- ment settled the large political questions of sovereignty
and control of liberated territory: the French agreed to do nothing to inhibit the powers of the Supreme Com- mander to prosecute the war on French soil, while the Allied armies agreed to restore French political control over liberated territory promptly and to cede political control to French authorities. 51
If de Gaulle’s Free French had worried that the Anglo- American military forces sought to gain a permanent political control in France, they were soon put at ease by the practical work that Civil Affairs officers under- took. British units set up command posts in Ouistre- ham and in Bayeux with little difficulty, and began to grapple with the basic problems of food distribution, rationing, and the search for fuel to get water pumps going again. The Civil Affairs detachments in Bayeux tried to sort out refugees, arranged for hospitals to ac- cept civilian casualties, and directed emergency medi- cal supplies from the beachheads to the clinics where they were needed. Within three weeks of the landings, the Civil Affairs units had arranged for the publication of the Renaissance du Bessin—France’s first postlib- eration newspaper, written by Allied publicity staff. American units of Civil Affairs, some of whom dropped into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne, followed simi- lar procedures in Sainte-Mère-Eglise and other towns on the Cotentin peninsula. Not the least urgent of their
first tasks was the “procurement of civilian labor for grave digging…and the disposition of cattle killed during combat activities.” 52
Cherbourg, liberated by the Americans on June 27, of- fers an excellent example of the convergence of think- ing between the French and Americans. Civil Affairs Detachment A1A1 of the U.S. Army VII Corps quickly went to work with the city mayor and other French of- ficials who “were all at their posts” and gave “whole- hearted cooperation to the detachment.” Although the port facilities had been wrecked by the Germans, the American engineers got quickly to work to prepare the quays to receive off-loaded military supplies. An- other daunting problem was the state of public health. The Civil Affairs medical officers found sanitation in the city to be “deplorable,” lacking basics like potable water and adequate sewage. The American soldiers in the city “made it worse by indiscriminate dumping” of their trash, which added to “a fly nuisance and a rat nuisance.” The hospital facilities used by the Germans were, by the time the Americans arrived, in a disas- trous state: “same old story,” according to Major Harry Tousley of the 298th General Hospital in Cherbourg: “toilets flooded with crap, no water, cockroaches black on the walls and floors.” 53 The Civil Affairs team re- stored power to the water pumping system by July 3.
The enormous stocks of food that the German garri- son had piled up in Cherbourg were duly distributed. Civil Affairs got the local cinema opened up, put out a newspaper, and even launched Radio Cherbourg. Civil Affairs officers helped
The French did not warm immediately to such robust foreign political intrusion, even at this time of desper- ate need. Planning for Civil Affairs in France was ham- pered by the extreme touchiness of the Free French leader, General Charles de Gaulle. In fact, a formal agreement between de Gaulle’s provisional govern- ment and General Eisenhower’s Supreme Headquar- ters was not signed until late August 1944—almost three months after the invasion of France. This docu- ment settled the large political questions of sovereignty
and control of liberated territory: the French agreed to do nothing to inhibit the powers of the Supreme Com- mander to prosecute the war on French soil, while the Allied armies agreed to restore French political control over liberated territory promptly and to cede political control to French authorities. 51
If de Gaulle’s Free French had worried that the Anglo- American military forces sought to gain a permanent political control in France, they were soon put at ease by the practical work that Civil Affairs officers under- took. British units set up command posts in Ouistre- ham and in Bayeux with little difficulty, and began to grapple with the basic problems of food distribution, rationing, and the search for fuel to get water pumps going again. The Civil Affairs detachments in Bayeux tried to sort out refugees, arranged for hospitals to ac- cept civilian casualties, and directed emergency medi- cal supplies from the beachheads to the clinics where they were needed. Within three weeks of the landings, the Civil Affairs units had arranged for the publication of the Renaissance du Bessin—France’s first postlib- eration newspaper, written by Allied publicity staff. American units of Civil Affairs, some of whom dropped into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne, followed simi- lar procedures in Sainte-Mère-Eglise and other towns on the Cotentin peninsula. Not the least urgent of their
first tasks was the “procurement of civilian labor for grave digging…and the disposition of cattle killed during combat activities.” 52
Cherbourg, liberated by the Americans on June 27, of- fers an excellent example of the convergence of think- ing between the French and Americans. Civil Affairs Detachment A1A1 of the U.S. Army VII Corps quickly went to work with the city mayor and other French of- ficials who “were all at their posts” and gave “whole- hearted cooperation to the detachment.” Although the port facilities had been wrecked by the Germans, the American engineers got quickly to work to prepare the quays to receive off-loaded military supplies. An- other daunting problem was the state of public health. The Civil Affairs medical officers found sanitation in the city to be “deplorable,” lacking basics like potable water and adequate sewage. The American soldiers in the city “made it worse by indiscriminate dumping” of their trash, which added to “a fly nuisance and a rat nuisance.” The hospital facilities used by the Germans were, by the time the Americans arrived, in a disas- trous state: “same old story,” according to Major Harry Tousley of the 298th General Hospital in Cherbourg: “toilets flooded with crap, no water, cockroaches black on the walls and floors.” 53 The Civil Affairs team re- stored power to the water pumping system by July 3.
The enormous stocks of food that the German garri- son had piled up in Cherbourg were duly distributed. Civil Affairs got the local cinema opened up, put out a newspaper, and even launched Radio Cherbourg. Civil Affairs officers helped
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