Free The Bitter Road to Freedom: The Human Cost of Allied Victory in World War II Europe by William I. Hitchcock Page B

roles and segregated them from whites. This atmosphere of racial tension and hostility that emanated from both American and French authorities became a common point of understanding for those officials charged with creating “order” in Normandy. This mutually reinforc- ing view of an appropriate racial order had grave con- sequences when local French and American authorities addressed questions of law, order, and punishment.

    U.S. Army soldiers, black and white, who were in rear support units, and far from the imminent danger of the battle lines, tended to misbehave in ways that ranged from the predictable—carousing, drunkenness, shout-
    ing at women, and so on—to the brutal and revolt- ing, including robbery, sexual assault, gang rapes, and murder. However, African-American troops were more frequently punished for these acts than whites. Evidence from U.S. Army records shows conclusively that although blacks were a small statistical minority of U.S. troops in the European Theater—less than 10 percent—they were targeted, by French and American authorities alike, as the scapegoats for widespread American misbehavior and sexual violence. Black American soldiers were charged and convicted and punished for crimes against French people in numbers vastly disproportionate to their statistical presence in the American Army. White soldiers, by contrast, were far less likely to be the subject of official scrutiny and punishment.

    The monthly French police reports that local authori- ties compiled invariably described official French-Al- lied relations as “correct and cordial.” Yet exceptions to such cordiality always, in local police reports, in- volved alleged misbehavior of black troops. Does this mean that white soldiers behaved well while black sol- diers did not? No—the Army’s own records show plain- ly that white soldiers repeatedly were brought up on charges of all kinds. Rather, local French sources show that the comportment of black soldiers was monitored
    by the French police far more than the comportment of whites.

    A local French police report from Trouville, near the Deauville logistics headquarters, said “the proprietors of the cafés and restaurants have been informed not to serve alcohol and food to American soldiers and especially to soldiers of the Negro race [race nègre].” A police report by the departmental police command noted that “the attitude of the allied military is correct except as concerns the black Americans, who seem to need greater supervision.” In Vire, through which the Red Ball Express ran, and where a large contingent of black troops was based, one police report named vari- ous incidents involving black soldiers, and concluded by saying “there is no longer a unit of Military Police in Vire, and it would be desirable, if the blacks continue to be stationed here in the area, that MPs be placed here as a means of dealing with such situations.” An- other regional overview of Calvados declared wryly in March 1945 that “the comportment of the black Ameri- can soldiers has improved—we note only one rape, in Breuil-en-Bessin; the victim was 82 years old.” But in Mézidon, according to another report, “black Ameri- can soldiers have become the scourge of the region. They get drunk and run after the women who no longer dare to set foot outside after nightfall.” And the town
    of Vire remained a constant trouble spot, according to police: “ The people of Vire continue to complain about the actions of colored American troops stationed in the vicinity.” 58

    The emphasis by French authorities upon race when discussing public disorder was not limited to African- American soldiers. From April 1945 on through the summer, police reports, while emphasizing the contin- ued cordiality between Allied and French authorities, reported extensive complaints about the behavior of French North African soldiers in Calvados. “ The French units stationed in the region now number at