History ETDs

Publication Date

5-23-1966

Abstract

Not long ago, a professor of history at a major American university published an article deploring the lack of interest in military history in America and the general tendency among historians and history students to avoid military subjects as if they wore a plague. "Military history,'' the professor wrote, " ...comprises the entire posture of a nation or nations for purposes of achieving national policy by physical force, or the threat of it. Military history, in other words, is not confined to fighting… (In addition to their causes), there is need for great stress upon the consequences of wars.... Military affairs, past and present, penetrate into every fiber of American life." The words are perhaps not original, but they are undeniably true. In the present age of half-wars and the threat of thermonuclear warfare it is appropriate to study the "consequences of wars" in our higher institutions of learning, a subject which, in its military aspects, has been largely neglected. Since the end of the Second World War; numerous volumes have been published about postwar subjects: the foreign policy of the United States; the political and economic postwar reconstruction of Europe; the "German problem;" the menace of International Communism; and similar matters. However, relatively little has been published about the military aspects of the American occupation of Germany, the problem which faced the U.S. Army of Occupation, the types of units assigned, their missions, and the many thousands of American citizen soldiers involved. This thesis represents an attempt to stress one phase of America's military occupation of Germany during the early crucial postwar years. It relates the history of the U.S. Constabulary in Germany. I have tried to describe objectively the conditions under which this unique military organization was established, the reasons for establishing it, and the problems which it encountered in carrying out its mission of restoring law and order in the war-torn U.S. Zone of Occupation. In relating the Constabulary's history, I have not only used such reference materials as were available, but I have drawn on my personal observation and experience. I am a retired U.S. Army officer, whose active service includes fourteen years of wartime and postwar military duty in Western and Central Europe. With the exception of two years (1943-1945) of combat duty with the Army Corps of Engineers, the remaining period, extending intermittently from 1945-1963, was spent in alternating positions of commander and staff officer in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). As an intelligence officer, I travelled constantly into all areas of Germany, including the divided city of Berlin and the Soviet-occupied Zone, and I was in daily official contact with individuals representing almost every segment of German national life. In the preparation of this thesis, I have been assisted immeasurably by several persons. To Dr. Gunther E. Rothenberg, Associate Professor of History, University of New Mexico, I extend appreciation for making the original suggestion leading to the writing of this thesis. Major General Ernest N. Harmon, U.S. Army (Retired), the organizer and first commander of the Constabulary, kindly made available a wealth of unpublished materials, without which a detailed account of the Constabulary's early operations could not have been possible. For assistance in procuring materials from German sources, I wish to thank my acquaintances of long standing, General a.D. Kurt Voigt, Generalleutnant a.D. Anton Grasser, Oberst Dr. Friedrich C. von Rinow and Oberregierungsrat Maximilian Binder. Major General David W. Gray, U.S. Army Continental Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, and Mr. Wilbur J. Nigh, World War II Records Branch, National Archives, U.S. Government, contributed valuable technical advice. I wish also to acknowledge the help of my wife, Sarah, for facts and ideas based upon her several years of experience as a Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State, in postwar Germany.

Level of Degree

Masters

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Gunther Eric Rothenberg

Second Committee Member

Frank William Iklé

Third Committee Member

William Miner Dabney

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Download

Included in

History Commons

Share

COinS