In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHAPTER Gott Strafe 7England—und America1 Introductory—First Impressions—von Steuben—Ambassador Gerard—Hate—The Lusitania—Post War Attitude—Greeted with Flags—Servility—What Are We Fighting For? Introductory It is not unusual for an American to form opinions of a foreign people after a short visit to their country, and to make himself ridiculous by parading these opinions in public print. No one cares what I think about the Germans or what the Germans think about me. As a matter of fact, they do not know of my existence. But a hundred million Americans had made war on Germany . American soldiers had delighted to put their bayonets through German stomachs without knowing exactly why they did so. So it was inevitable that when the Armistice was signed, these soldiers should have taken advantage of the respite to size up the people with whom they might have to renew the bayonet jabbing process. Most of us had no idea whatever, either as to Germany or as to the German people, at least no idea beyond the realm of imagination. Here was an opportunity to look into a Boche and see what made his wheels go round. The opportunity may have been slight and the conclusions all wrong, but such as it was, our estimate of the Boche, made at this time, had an important bearing upon the history of the World War. It had a tendency to confirm or to refute our preconceived notion as to what we were fighting for. It was the basis of our action while exercising military control over German people. It would have materially affected our attitude towards the Germans, had hostilities been renewed. And more important still, it will affect the future relations between America and Germany. The Germans realized this more than we did, and during the period of occupation, they continued to spread their propaganda more assiduously than they had at any other time during the war. Gott Strafe England—und America 59 In this chapter and others that follow, I shall not attempt to say what all Americans thought about all Germans. I shall disclose only my own opinions , based upon my very limited experience as the military commander of a Rhenish Province. These opinions formed the basis of my action and were recorded in my diary at the time. A memoir of the period would be incomplete without this information.2 First Impressions Upon crossing the frontier of Germany, the first thing to strike our attention, as might be expected, was the attitude of the German people toward American soldiers. I have already made some mention of our reception at Bitburg, Hillesheim, and Bassenheim, but now that we were settled down for the long winter days at Höhr-Grenzhausen, we had more time to think about it, and I wrote a great deal upon the subject in my diary[.]* My prewar contacts with Germans had been slight and my knowledge nil. I had met Prince Henry of Prussia, when he visited America about 1903;3 I knew a German military attaché in Washington; and I was shipmates with a German naval officer from the Emden, who had been interned at Guam and sent to America upon an army transport.4 All of these impressions were favorable. Von Steuben I sat on the speaker’s platform near President Taft at the unveiling of von Steuben’s statue in Farragut Square, and since that time, [I] have paused many times to read the inscription which credits him with having “instilled the principles of military discipline in the hearts of our untrained citizen soldiers.”5 I was in the Philippine Islands when the World War started, so I did not react very strongly to the stories of German atrocities during the early days. The German soldiers I had seen in the American army were drill sergeants. The French were cooks or barbers. Ambassador Gerard I got my first real information from Mr. James W. Gerard, who had recently returned from a four year tour as ambassador to Germany. Mr. Gerard visited Fort Adams at Newport, R.I., in July 1917 while we were there being mobilized. He talked to me about the situation in Germany and made an address to members of my command. I was very unfavorably impressed. I thought him prejudiced against the Germans, whom I considered an honorable enemy, and I thought that a public expression of such views was undiplomatic , and not in keeping with his...

Share