The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

Author:Robert M. Edsel [Edsel, Robert M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Arts & Photography, History & Criticism, History, Military, World War II, Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government, International & World Politics, European, Public Affairs & Policy, Cultural Policy, Social Sciences, Museum Studies & Museology, Art, Art History, Schools; Periods & Styles, HIS027100
ISBN: 0099567946
Amazon: B002LHRLNE
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2009-09-02T16:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER 27

George Stout with His Maps

Verdun, France

March 6, 1945

Monuments Man George Stout looked at the battered packages, one stamped “Received in Defective Condition” by the army postmaster. He picked up the first one and turned it over. There was an ominous rattle, as if something had broken in transit. The writing on the shipping label was definitely his wife Margie’s, but otherwise the package carried no hint of home. The postmark read early December 1944; it was now March 6, 1945. George Stout was pretty sure he had finally received his Christmas presents. They made him think again how much had changed in three months.

The Bulge, for one thing. And the Western Allied advance. And the bitterly cold winter. And of course his transfer to U.S. Twelfth Army Group, the command group for the bulk of the American army. The transfer had necessitated his leaving the combat zone for France, but at least it provided a warm bed. Not that warm, actually—he cursed his “stiff conscience” all winter because he had balked at picking up a quilted bedroll abandoned by the Germans last fall 1 —but it was far better than the procession of trenches and foxholes the army had used to hopscotch its way to Germany. Back in France, he had even been getting real eggs for breakfast and a little captured wine with dinner. The Twelfth Army Group assignment also offered a desk, a small office, and authority over four armies numbering 1.3 million men—of which exactly nine were frontline MFAA personnel.

It might have been a promotion, but to George Stout the posting felt like his worst nightmare: middle management. France had been all paperwork, meetings, passing messages back and forth from SHAEF to the men at the front. “MFAA administration posts,” read a typical diary entry, “vetting, selection, qualifications, pay, tenure, accountability to authority; problem of centralization of museum administration; procedure in microfilming any MFA&A documents in field; information required on MFA&A and other civilian personnel; information on repositories in Germany.” 2

He felt much better since being back at the advanced headquarters at Verdun, France, near the German border and the combat zone. With his move east, the advantages of his position had become clear to him, and he was becoming more and more comfortable with his new role. As the lead MFAA officer, he was no longer limited to the area in front of him. He could travel anywhere in Twelfth Army Group territory—with the proper pass, which could take several days to receive—and as a consequence his officers had begun to call him to important finds. He had recently been in the Amblève Valley of Belgium with Walker Hancock, surveying damage done to the small villages there during the Bulge. At Metz with U.S. Third Army to interrogate prisoners. In Aachen, Germany, to review the state of the damage caused by U.S. First Army’s assault on the city in October 1944. He was drawing the effort together, solidifying it. For the first time, the men



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