The Struggle for Cooperation by Robert L. Fuller

Author:Robert L. Fuller [Fuller, Robert L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War II, Political Science, Public Policy, Military Policy, General
ISBN: 9780813176642
Google: LC53DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2019-02-22T00:44:36+00:00

Conflict: Butin (Booty)

Both the French provisional government and the Allies wanted to stamp out the black markets if they could. That they had different motives did not prevent them from cooperating to achieve the same end. Controversies stirred up by abandoned or captured German property in France initially inspired little cooperation between the French and the US military because their interests collided. Repeated efforts in Paris to come to an agreement to share the booty often broke down upon implementation in the field. SHAEF claimed that all German booty was the property of the Allied armies, regardless of its origin or who had captured it. The issue of who had the right to dispose of goods left behind by departed or surrendered Germans arose early in Normandy, but in June and July 1944 the French were in no position to assert any claims on such goods. German supplies seized by Americans in Cherbourg were reserved for army use unless they could be spared for civilians. Civil affairs officers in Cherbourg developed a good relationship with their French counterparts and generally tried to pry loose captured supplies from the QM Corps for the benefit of French civilians, especially food and clothing. Problems arose during the breakout, when US Army units raced through regions and had no time to develop a rapport with French officials and especially liberation committees that tried to assert their authority. American commanders claimed that goods captured by the FFI from fleeing Germans were rightfully American possessions because the US military was the only recognized legal authority in areas just vacated by the Germans. The French saw it differently. When Patton’s troops raced through Yonne and Aube, they left behind the FFI as the only authority; its members assumed they were in charge of German supply depots guarded by FFI volunteers. Disputes over food and fuel seized by the Americans assumed huge importance for the French government because of the dire circumstances of many of its people. The problem went beyond assertions of French sovereignty by prickly Gaullist officials: cold and hungry French citizens, disappointed at the fruits of liberation, viewed the butin as their sustenance. For the Americans, the problem was mainly a matter of logistics. Friction increased between French and American authorities once de Gaulle’s government had established a sufficient presence in France to contest American seizures of German property. Conflicting policies on how booty was to be claimed caused both parties to put up posters in August outlining conflicting rules. The French were outraged that the Americans’ posted notices directly contradicted French regulations on butin, but Commissioner for Inter-Allied Relations François Coulet recognized that he was powerless to do anything about it, and he ordered that the offending American notices not be molested.25

Food presented by far the biggest irritant in tussles over booty. The French strove to convince the Americans that any food claimed as butin belonged to them. They assumed, no doubt correctly, that almost all food left by the Germans was of French origin and had been sold to the Germans under duress.

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