4 November 1944

Two weeks of work in Civil Affairs have gone by. Is it possible to draw some conclusions? I prefer to doubt it. If I should had to judge the value of our work by what I have seen done so far it would be a devastating sentence. Nothing is being accomplished. A few weeks ago certain localities within the combat zone have been evacuated. People were told to leave their homesteads within a few hours. They were also assured that the evacuations would only be a matter of days. Now they are gone for several weeks already, the weather is getting colder and they have neither food nor warm clothing. The people they are living with do not have enough to eat themselves. Babies have been born since the evacuation, children and adults have fallen ill, etc. What a perfect food(?) for German propaganda. For months and months we have beem going through all kinds of perfectly stupid training like [/ ?] drill, military courtesy and the like instead of studying a serious problem as the evacuation of entire region presents. The responsible authorities must not have the least idea of the complexity of such an event. They desire certain [?] and order subordinates to carry them out. But they do not visualize the true picture of the situation. To them it is just a transfer of something from one place to another. That there are human beings involved does not enter their minds. Yet, these people show amazing understanding for the necessities of war. (Or maybe they just do not dare to stand up for themselves against uniforms.) Their requests are modest and could easily be granted. Go back to their homes for an hour or two at the most to fetch warm clothing for themselves and their little ones. Of course it seems a burden if a light one for our war machine. But we should pay the price considering that it was our blundering that put these people in this precarious position. So far however all the requests have to be refused. I have to be the stern bad news man whose heart is bleeding while he has to refuse the demands of anxious mothers, old people and just anybody who would like the make the best of a desperate situation. Something is going to happen if no remedy is found. What a lack of [?] the "liberator" in the role ?less ruler . The incompetence of the responsible [?] forces the benevolent American troops into the position of a tyrant. One needs superhuman strength to continue respecting men who force a person to freeze while this person has plenty of clothing in the vicinity. It is bad enough that people should go hungry and cold, but it is worse that they should at the same time lose their confidence in the United States as the understanding and philanthropic nation. --

The work is in general very fascinating. Part of it is of course more routine. But once in a while a humorous note is introduced. A girl whose husband is serving in the German army tried to draw his pay through the Belgian authorities. -- Another woman wants her little boy examined by a doctor because he has twice been operated on his sex organ. She does not want him his [?fear ?] as she explained. -- An old man (over 80) demonstrates how he argued with an American soldier to prove him that still is a young fellow at heart.

11 November

There is nothing like watching people who come to an awe-inspiriing office like that of American Civil Affairs. Far away, even farther than Liege or Bruxelles, there is this country America which has sent innumerable men to Europe to do away with the [?]. Therefore one has to be grateful to the Americans. At times one must even close one or both eyes to certain liberties which single [soldiers?] take. Well, nobody is perfect and it is still so much better than the the time of the [?]. But the Americans have also decreed some restrictions, nothing bad, mind you, however they inconvenience Georges (?) and Pierre, Marie and Louise etc. So one has to go to Civil Affairs to comply with regulations or to get a release from one restriction or another. But how approach the soldiers there. Politely, certainly one is always polite. With deference? Some think that is a recommendation. Others believe, a firm if not slightly fresh attitude commands more respect. Then the door opens and one enters the room. [There] is a soldier sitting behind a big desk, busily writing into a big book. Has he hseen me? Both wait until he addresses me. So the applicant walks in a quarter of a circle and waits patiently in the corner of the room. Of course there is always the full blooded tempermental young girl who

26 November

There is still this problem of the evacuated people. Weeks have gone by since they had to leave their homesteads, although they had been told it would be for a few days only. In the meantime, their houses decay, their crops rot in the fields, the cattle which had been left in the fields is straying off or nears starvation. Snow has fallen in the meantime and the situation becomes graver every day. Now the Red Cross has [made?] arrangements to bring winter clothing from the evacuated villages to the people. At least this will contribute to ease their suffering. But still the fact remains that the evacuation has caused ill feeling against us, partly also because of the misbehavior of some troops who take things from homes without much thought. One can further expect that the problems of rotting crops and stray cattle will result in a terrible starvation [persist?] by next spring. Lack of fodder forces the farmers to slaughter their cattle. It is of course to a certain extent the fault of the Belgian government which does not provide adequately for this region.

The prices of all commodities are rising beyond control. In spite of all prohibitions troops are [corrupting?] with the local population in the buying of various goods. Certain articles (fruits, potatos, leather?) are extremely scarce and much sought for by everybody. There is no way to tell how this is going to end.

Notes:

These few pages from a notebook are the only diary entries I have found. Something else I had never seen. I have found one detailed military history of Civil Affairs on the web; see in particular the chapter on Belgium. There is also a volume on the army occupation of Germany. I don't see specific mention of Dad's detachment in either of them.

These entries are while the detachment was at Warmes, its longest stay in one place.