70th Anniversary of D-Day

[Kataria]

WWII wasn't our fight. The Nazis were evil yes, but the British were more so in our region.

 

[Mahmoud_EGY]

American GI's and the rape of French Women after D-Day


By Mathieu von Rohr


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."

With the landing on Omaha Beach, "a veritable tsunami of male lust" washed over France, writes Mary Louise Roberts, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, in her new book "What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France." In it, Roberts scrapes away at the idealized picture of war heroes. Although soldiers have had a reputation for committing rape in many wars, American GIs have been largely excluded from this stereotype. Historical research has paid very little attention to this dark side of the liberation of Europe, which was long treated as a taboo subject in both the United States and France.

American propaganda did not sell the war to soldiers as a struggle for freedom, writes Roberts, but as a "sexual adventure." France was "a tremendous brothel," the magazine Life fantasized at the time, "inhabited by 40,000,000 hedonists who spend all their time eating, drinking (and) making love." The Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the US armed forces, taught soldiers German phrases like: "Waffen niederlegen!" ("Throw down your arms!"). But the French phrases it recommended to soldiers were different: "You have charming eyes," "I am not married" and "Are your parents at home?"

After their victory, the soldiers felt it was time for a reward. 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. The liberation of France was sold to the American public as a love affair between US soldiers and grateful French women.

On the other hand, following their defeat by the Germans, many French perceived the Americans' uninhibited activities in their own country as yet another humiliation. Although the French were officially among the victorious powers, the Americans were now in charge.

'Scenes Contrary to Decency'

The subject of sex played a central role in the relationship between the French and their liberators. Prostitution was the source of constant strife between US military officials and local authorities.

Some of the most dramatic reports came from the port city of Le Havre, which was overrun by soldiers headed home in the summer of 1945. In a letter to a Colonel Weed, the US regional commander, then Mayor Pierre Voisin complained that his citizens couldn't even go for a walk in the park or visit the cemetery without encountering GIs having sex in public with prostitutes.

"Scenes contrary to decency" were unfolding in his city day and night, Voisin wrote. It was "not only scandalous but intolerable" that "youthful eyes are exposed to such public spectacles." The mayor suggested that the Americans set up a brothel outside the city so that the sexual activity would be discrete and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases could be combated by medical personnel.

But the Americans could not operate brothels because they feared that stories about the soldiers' promiscuity would then make their way back to their wives at home. Besides, writes Roberts, many American military officials did not take the complaints seriously owing to their belief that it was normal for the French to have sex in public.

But the citizens of Le Havre wrote letters of protest to their mayor, and not just regarding prostitution. We are "attacked, robbed, run over both on the street and in our houses," wrote one citizen in October 1945. "This is a regime of terror, imposed by bandits in uniform."

'The Swagger of Conquerors'




There were similar accounts from all over the country, with police reports listing holdups, theft and rapes. In Brittany, drunk soldiers destroyed bars when they ran out of cognac. Sexual assaults were commonplace in Marseilles. In Rouen, a soldier forced his way into a house, held up his weapon and demanded sex.
The military authorities generally took the complaints about rape seriously. However, the soldiers who were convicted were almost exclusively African-American, some of them apparently on the basis of false accusations, because racism was also deeply entrenched in French society.

A café owner from Le Havre expressed the deep French disillusionment over the Americans' behavior when he said: "We expected friends who would not make us ashamed of our defeat. Instead, there came incomprehension, arrogance, incredibly bad manners and the swagger of conquerors."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

New Book Reveals Dark Side of American Soldiers in Liberated France - SPIEGEL ONLINE

this is the first time i have heard of that it looks like americans practiced bringing democracy long before iraq and libya

 

[NP-complete]

D-Day and subsequent allied fighting in western Europe has got nothing to do with defeating Nazis and freeing Europe from them. Nazis were already defeated by that time. Soviets defeated them and they were poised to take the whole of Europe from Nazis. Allied conquest of Europe that started on D-day was about saving as much of Europe as they could from Soviet Union and Communism. Capitalists had to get some piece of the pie before communists took it all.

 

[Al Bhatti]

June 4, 2014

Then and now: Haunting D-Day landings pictures in Normandy
Images show stark contrast between Normandy tourist beaches now and how they looked during invasion

On June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day - an operation that turned the tide of the Second World War against the Nazis, marking the beginning of the end of the conflict.

Today, as many around the world prepare to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the landings, pictures of Normandy's now-touristy beaches stand in stark contrast to images taken around the time of the invasion. But while the landscape has changed, the memory of the momentous event lives on. Here we present a series of pictures taken during the invasion and how they appear today.

THEN: U.S. reinforcements land on Omaha beach during the Normandy D-Day landings near Vierville sur Mer, France, on June 6, 1944 in this photo from the US National Archives. Reuters

NOW: Young people enjoy the sunshine on the former D-Day landing zone of Omaha beach near Vierville sur Mer, France, August 23, 2013. Reuters

THEN: A Cromwell tank leads a British Army column from the 4th County of London Yeomanry, 7th Armoured Division, inland from Gold Beach after landing on D-Day in Ver-sur-Mer, France, on June 6, 1944 in this photo from the National Archives of Canada. Reuters

NOW: A couple walk inland from the former D-Day landing zone of Gold Beach where British forces came ashore in 1944, in Ver-sur-Mer, France August 23, 2013. Reuters

THEN: A crashed U.S. fighter plane is seen on the waterfront some time after Canadian forces came ashore on a Juno Beach D-Day landing zone in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France, in June 1944 in this photo from the National Archives of Canada. Reuters

NOW: Tourists enjoy the sunshine on the former Juno Beach D-Day landing zone, where Canadian forces came ashore, in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France, August 23, 2013. British and Canadian troops battled reinforced German troops holding the area around Caen for about two months following the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944. Reuters

THEN: U.S. Army paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division drive a captured German Kubelwagen on D-Day at the junction of Rue Holgate and RN13 in Carentan, France, June 6, 1944 in this photo from the US National Archives. Reuters

NOW: Shoppers walk along the rebuilt Rue Saint-Pierre, which was destroyed following the D-Day landings, in Caen August 23, 2013. British and Canadian troops battled reinforced German troops holding the area around Caen for about two months following the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944. Reuters

THEN: U.S. Army troops congregate around a signal post used by engineers on the site of a captured German bunker overlooking Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings near Saint Laurent sur Mer June 7, 1944, in this photo from the US National Archives. Reuters

NOW: Tourists walk past a former German bunker overlooking the D-Day landing zone on Omaha Beach near Saint Laurent sur Mer, France, August 24, 2013. Reuters

 

[Al Bhatti]

THEN: U.S. Army troops make a battle plan in a farmyard amid cattle, which were killed by artillery bursts, near the D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de Varreville, France, on June 6, 1944 in this photo from the US National Archives. Reuters

NOW: Farmer Raymond Bertot, who was 19 when allied troops came ashore in 1944, poses on his property near the former D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de Varreville, France, August 21, 2013. Reuters

THEN: German prisoners-of-war march along Juno Beach landing area to a ship taking them to England, after they were captured by Canadian troops at Bernieres Sur Mer, France on June 6, 1944 in this photo from the National Archives of Canada. Reuters

NOW: A tourist sunbathes on a former Juno Beach landing area where Canadian troops came ashore on D-Day at Bernieres Sur Mer, France, August 23, 2013. Reuters

Then and now: Haunting D-Day landings pictures in Normandy | GulfNews.com

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

And we modern day Pakistanis gained what from fighting this war for the British?? The Brits left us with nothing, no factories, 1 or 2 universities, barely anything to survive on. They left the subcontinent robbed, disorganized, and chaotic and because of them today we don't have whole of Kashmir. They only considered us cannon fodder, colonial servants. WW2 wasn't our war.

Should have rather fought against them..

 

[Desertfalcon]

Anyhow, yes, i must be pathetic because i haven't raped and pillaged nations in the name of freedom and democracy:

No, just one more of an endless list of little whinny bitches, who are internet "heroes" who whine like little titty-babies, while hiding behind the democracy and security of a NATO country. Yes, I'm more than familiar with your pathetic type.

 

[e3nad3alek]

And the Kuwaiti people and goats got raped by Iraqis. HAHAHAHAHA !!!

soon, American people and goats will get raped by china and russia

 

[livingdead]

I am happy that hitler was defeated, brits were fighting alone for 2 years without any allies (neither russia nor US... , most of europe was under occupation of germans) but its also true that they used us as cannon fodder, they did not even bother to get our consent.
but then lots of us were poor and had nothing better to do and there was never any need of conscription in India.

 

[Al Bhatti]

soon, American people and goats will get raped by china and russia

Are you Kuwaiti? Your avatar if i am not mistaken is of Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah

 

[Koovie]

WW2 wasn't our war.

There was a reason why its called World War 2.

Without the British, the Japanese would have steamrolled into the subcontinent.

Hitler and the Axis winning the war would have been the worst case scenario for all of mankind.

 

[waz]

Come on bro, that is revisionism - we all know that Hitler held non-whites in contempt, the thing is South Asia would have probably become part of the Japanese Empire, and I don't need to remind you - what would have happened to us.

There would be no "us" bro.....

 

[Rafi]

There would be no "us" bro.....

Exactly....well said. .

 

[e3nad3alek]

Are you Kuwaiti? Your avatar if i am not mistaken is of Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah

Yes

 

[Desert Fox]

There was a reason why its called World War 2.

Without the British, the Japanese would have steamrolled into the subcontinent.

The Japanese couldn't even swallow China, and you're saying they would have "steamrolled into the subcontinent"?? Invading india would have taken away a big portions of the Japanese material resources and manpower which they direly needed elsewhere.

India was of no major significance to the Japanese militarily, except that it was a British dominion and for that the Japanese were inciting revolts to take care of the British in india. Most of Japans resources were coming from Manchuria and Indo-China. So india was of no significance to the Japanese.