| OCR Text |
Show 766 The National Geographic Magazine I*. S. Army Signal Corps. Official Equally Destitute, German Masters and Russian Slaves Meet in Church, Learn AMG Rules To the Supreme Command, homeless Germans are "refugees"; their kidnaped serfs are "displaced persons," or "DP's" (page 757). General Eisenhower promised Germans freedom of worship, but not for undercover purposes. He abolished all "cruel, oppressive, and discriminatory" Nazi laws (page 760). behind the German lines. In Africa a British brigadier once negotiated the surrender of an Italian garrison over a civilian telephone which ran through no-man's land! The job of military government in Germany is just begun when a skeleton municipal administration is established. There are immediate problems also in terminating German armament production, regulating the relations of troops and civilians, and so laying the groundwork for the long-range occupation and control of Germany. Nonfraternization Hard to Enforce Military authorities find that factories have been scattered all over Germany to escape the bombing and, what is even more exasperating, have been given code names by the Germans to make their identification difficult. Thus Joseph Schmidt & Sons of Essen may now be located in Stuttgart and known only by a number. Contacts between Allied troops and Germans are governed by the stern rule of "non-fraternization." But our GI's and the British Tommies are hard to curb when hungry-looking children pester them for food and sweets. Many adults make an impressive story out of their "real anti-Nazi feeling." Problem of the military is to see that all friendly advances by the Germans are repulsed. One platoon commander tells this story: He and a group of his men knocked on the door of a brewery and demanded, "Open up!" After some minutes a fat German face appeared, smiling. "Oh! You come to liberate us I" "Like hell," the lieutenant replied. "We're here for a case of beer!" If he paid for the beer, the lieutenant's attitude was in full accord with Allied policy. So far, then, military government in Germany is a catch-as-catch-can affair at the |
