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FOREWORD
During the occupation of Germany, combat units will police
large areas of that country. It is possible that these occupation
forces will meet organized resistance and sabotage by individuals
or groups of die-hard Nazis. The facts in this booklet were compiled
by the Provost Marshal of the Ninth U. S. Army as a guide for
troops in Germany. Nothing here was "dreamed up" by
someone behind a desk.
This booklet is a summary of the experiences of French, Dutch
and Belgian underground workers now serving with the American
armies. These men resisted German occupation in their countries.
They know the tricks ... and the answers. That's why they are
alive to pass this information on to you. Their advice will keep
you healthy during the occupation of Germany. Listen to them
and remember what they say.
12TH ARMY GROUP
[Commanded by Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley with operational
control over the U.S. First & Third Armies & other elements]
HEROES
The German people may appear to be friendly and docile as
you move into Germany. Are they? We've occupied Aachen for several
months. Twice, at night, Germans have strung wires across the
main road through Aachen to tear the head off some jeep driver.
Two months after we moved into one little German village and
posted proclamations directing Germans to turn in all arms, we
made a house to house search and found more than 20 assorted
firearms.
Would you be friendly to a foreign army that occupied your
home town and gave you orders ? If some friend of yours back
home shot one of those men, wouldn't he be a hero to you and
the whole community?
WOMEN
Your attitude toward women is wrong -- in Germany. You'll
see a lot of good-looking babes on the make there. German women
have been trained to seduce you. Is it worth a knife in the back
? In Holland, girls belonging to the resistance made dates with
German soldiers. Just after dark they walked their dates along
a canal or river. At certain places, Dutchmen waited. Then, a
wallop with a sock full of sand from behind, and another unconscious
German soldier was shoved into a canal to drown.
One Dutchman now serving with the Ninth Army teamed with his
sister to drown 15 Germans in canals during the German occupation
of Holland. Altogether hundreds of German soldiers were "liquidated"
this way. A French resistor says: "From my experience during
five years of occupation, I know that German women are often
used as underground workers, and sometimes they are slyer and
more fanatic than men."
DON'T BELIEVE IT
Don't believe there are any "good" Germans in Germany.
Of course you know good Germans back home. They had guts enough
and sense enough to break away from Germany long ago because
they couldn't go along with German militarism and intolerance.
Don't believe that it was only the Nazi government that brought
on this war. Any people have the kind of government they want
and deserve. Only a few people bucked the Nazis. You won't meet
them; the Nazis purged them long ago.
Most prisoners and conquered German civilians deny being Nazis.
They are all "good" Germans. After the war you won't
find any German -- man, woman or child -- who will admit to ever
having been a Nazi. One Belgian major, wounded twice in two wars
with Germany, knows Germans better than most of us ever will.
He was stationed in Germany in the Belgian Army of Occupation
from 1918 to 1929. He says: "A German is, by nature, a liar."
CHILDREN
Toward children, you're wrong again. You've generously given
them chewing gum and candy all across Europe. Don't do it now.
All kids aren't friendly and innocent. Yell "Achtung"
(attention) at a bunch of these kids and watch them snap-to.
That's how they're trained. For what? You guess. A kid can carry
messages. A kid can shoot you just as dead as a grown man. Some
German kids have been trained for underground work, espionage
and sabotage.
In January 1945, a known group of five boys between the ages
of 12 to 16 were behind our lines attempting to cut telephone
lines. They had been trained for that job -- and others -- in
a school of sabotage for boys. The idea was that soft-hearted
Americans who like children so much wouldn't suspect kids of
sabotage. You wouldn't suspect these five -- just talking to
them.
CARELESSNESS
Military Police spend a large part of their time collecting
from civilians the clothing and equipment soldiers leave behind,
give away or trade for a night with a woman or a few drinks.
Here's what one Belgian said after searching a German town: "It
is very easy to provide oneself with American weapons, uniforms
and equipment just by taking those articles left behind in billets.
It is certain that we (Belgian resisters), in the same situation
as the Germans, would soon provide ourselves with large quantities
of weapons and ammunition." Such carelessness in occupied
Germany may cost many American lives.
Allied resisters offer these additional suggestions for staying
healthy in Germany: "Never go out alone at night; take a
buddy or two along." "Stay away from dangerous areas
-- rivers, canals, etc." "At night, walk in the middle
of the street." "Don't forget to black-out billets
and offices; your shadow may make you a poor insurance risk."
CONCEALED WEAPONS
A concealed weapon is usually thought of as a gun or a knife,
but a rock tied in a handkerchief or a few ounces of sand in
the toe of a sock will do the business just as well. There are
lots of ways of killing a man. Resistance fighters in France,
Belgium and Holland give these hints : "In general, all
underground operations were hidden under sentiments of respect,
morality, charity and religion." "Old women so crippled
they walked with two canes carried weapons."
"Sometimes men with wooden legs carried weapons in the
artificial leg." "Hump-backed persons concealed weapons
under their humps." "Weapon dumps were established
in graves and tombs." "Watch when the dead are placed
in their coffins and when the coffins are buried." "Do
not hesitate to search the beds of sick people." Our Allies
are telling you the inside dope on how resisters work. These
are the things they did.
CONCEALED MESSAGES
Here are some of the ways resisters carried messages in France,
Belgium and Holland during the German occupation. Children carried
messages in their school books, book bags or clothing. Women
carried them in their underwear or other clothing, in special
belts, in market baskets. Men carried them in their socks, hats,
the cuffs or seams of their clothing, in newspapers or magazines,
in the bindings of books, in cigarettes, in bicycle pumps or
tires or the tube support of a bicycle saddle.
One French resistance group delivered all its messages by
hiding them under the blankets that covered a baby in his baby
carriage. There are no rules. Every messenger will think of a
different hiding place. Where would you hide a message?
SEARCHING INDIVIDUALS
When searching people have them stand out from a wall or tree,
legs apart, hands over head supporting them in a backward leaning
position against the wall. They can't move from that position
without falling. A slight kick will knock them down. Your buddy
should stand a few feet away to cover you. Don't open fountain
pens, cigarette cases, spectacle cases or other containers found
on a suspected person. Such articles may be small grenades. Make
the person being searched open them while you stand aside. Many
Nazi fanatics wouldn't hesitate to blow themselves up if they
thought an Allied soldier would die with them.
The Belgians say Germans did not search women and that it
was a mistake. Resistance groups used women to carry messages,
guns and explosives. You may find a weapon by making women pull
their dresses tight against their bodies here and there, but
it's much better if another woman does the searching -- and does
it thoroughly in a private room.
A COUPLE OF TRICKS
Here's how two Allied resisters fooled the Germans. A Dutchman:
"I had an important message to carry, so I placed it inside
my daily newspaper and carried the paper naturally in my hand.
I was stopped and searched. I raised my hands over my head, still
holding the newspaper in one hand. The stupid Germans didn't
pay any attention to the paper. I delivered the message."
A Belgian: "One evening in winter, I was carrying a pistol
in each pocket of my overcoat. My hands were in my pockets. When
stopped for a search, without waiting for a command, I raised
both hands over my head, a pistol in each hand. The Germans searched
my coat for weapons, but didn't pay any attention to my hands
overhead." A girl, now a Dutch WAC, said her closest call
came one day when a German sentry found four pistols on the luggage
rack of her bicycle. Asked how she got away, she said simply,
"I had one more pistol he didn't find." It's your life
soldier.
SEARCHING VEHICLES
If resistance is organized, if we encounter organized sabotage
or guerilla warfare, there will be considerable transportation
of arms and explosives. When searching for such things, make
drivers of all farm wagons completely unload their carts, no
matter what the load is. The Belgians say that Germans failed
to do this. They paid for their failure.
Passengers of vehicles should be required to dismount. They
should be kept apart and not allowed to speak until they have
been searched. Finally the vehicle should be searched. Allied
resistors advise you to make your search as thorough as you can.
Look and probe into tank carts. Search fire department vehicles.
Search hearses and ambulances. Look into milk cans and the gas
generators of converted automobiles, Don't skip anything.
CHECK POINTS
Check points are set up in towns to control dismounted travel
by checking the identifications of every German that passes.
Allied resistors warn us not to establish our check points always
in the same places or at the same hour of the day. Germans will
learn their locations and avoid them. Belgian resistors suggest
that additional men should be concealed on the approaches at
some distance from the check point to pick up anyone who turns
back when he sees what is going on. Why won't he risk a check
?
The Belgians say they had "guards" precede them
when they were on dangerous missions or traveling without proper
papers. When the guard ran into a check point, he (or she) turned
back to warn them. French, Dutch and Belgians all agree that
it's tough to detect forged identity papers, travel permits,
etc. They forged lots of them during the German occupation of
their countries. Generally, they say a forged pass is rather
new and clean looking, or the color of ink used on it may be
slightly different. Compare it with others. Ask the German to
give you the data on the card. Suspect him if he hesitates. He
may have memorized the false data.
ROAD BLOCK
Road blocks to check vehicular traffic should be moved frequently
for the same reasons as check points. Here's the way Belgian
resistors ran through German road blocks: Armed men lay on each
front fender of the car. Others rode inside. At night, the car
was driven quietly and without lights to within 50 yards of the
road block. Then suddenly, the lights were turned on, blinding
the sentries, and everyone began shooting. The car sped through
the road block.
To prevent that sort of thing, the Belgians say at least six
men are needed to stop and search automobiles and passengers.
The six men should be placed in pairs along the road over a total
distance of 75 yards. The middle pair does the searching; the
other pairs cover them. Barricades on each side of the block
point should he built and closed at dark to prevent surprise.
HOW TO KILL A SENTRY
Most of you will be on guard duty in Germany at some time.
Double sentries should be posted, never single guards. Here's
why: (a) Two resisters work together. One creates an unusual
noise, perhaps just by throwing a stone, to attract the guard's
attention in one direction. The other attacks from behind with
a knife. (b) A couple of good-looking girls come close to the
sentry to flirt. One flirts -- the other knifes him. (c) A man,
pretending to be drunk, approaches a sentry and talks to him.
The sentry may laugh at him and try to send him on his way. When
the sentry relaxes, the "drunk" will find his opportunity.
One less American soldier.
There are other ways, too, that resisters may work. A parcel
or traveling bag set down near a sentry may blow up. That has
happened. The job of the second sentry is to cover his buddy,
watch for the knife behind his back. Both should be sure to know
-- and follow -- the second General Order about being alert.
HOW TO GUARD AND STAY ALIVE
Our Dutch, French and Belgian allies learned how a guard should
work. They learned from the outside, but they learned well. It
was their lives at stake. Here's their advice to you. It may
mean your life, too. Sentry posts, the time the guard is changed
and the location of the guardroom should be changed frequently.
Avoid routine in everything. If a German underground fighter
knows just what you are going to do next, his job is easy. Whenever
possible windows should be screened and wire constructed around
buildings at such a distance that grenades or bombs can't be
tossed in.
At night the rear of all buildings should be strongly guarded.
Double sentries should be posted, one with the sole duty of protecting
the other. Guards should be posted under bridges and the surrounding
area thoroughly patrolled within a radius of a mile. Waterworks,
banks, power stations, factories and telephone centrals should
be especially well-guarded. Most vulnerable spots are generators,
transformers, switchboards and the places where cables enter
the building.
A CHARACTER STUDY
The Belgian officer who lived 11 years in Germany as a member
of the Belgian Army of Occupation says this about Germans: "The
German mentality generally is not known to American soldiers.
Before the war Americans had only commercial relations with Germans.
The Germans were dependable businessmen. Americans fought against
German troops and found them courageous soldiers. They will meet
the real German when they occupy his country. "A German
is a liar. He doesn't know the truth; Nazi propaganda has seen
to that. Individually he is peaceful enough, but collectively,
Germans may become cruel.
The German is very much a patriot and will not stop at murder
if he thinks the Reich's greatness depends on it." A Dutch
resister warns: "Never trust a German. Every German can
be an underground worker who is your friend by day and your enemy
by night. Women will try to get information from you by every
means they have. When you are suspicious, don't show it; try
to get the names of the Germans involved, then start counter-measures.
It is most important that you do not trust anybody in occupied
Germany. Friendships can be very dangerous."
YOUR FUTURE
Here's what a Belgian officer who resisted the German occupation
in his country says we may expect in Germany. He knows how he
felt in 1940 when Belgium had been overrun and the Belgian army
disbanded. "When occupying enemy territory after the collapse,
one must count on free survivors of the German Army making all
sorts of attacks on Allied soldiers. Surviving German soldiers
will try to go back home. They will be bitter, angry, and many
of them will still have arms. Individually they will not accept
their defeat, but will look forward to doing evil."
Another Belgian resister warns: "If a German underground
movement breaks out, it will be merciless. It will be conducted
by S.S. and Gestapo agents who don't flinch at murder. They will
have operatives everywhere. Every German man, woman and child
must be suspected. Punishment must be quick and severe. This
is not the same thing as brutality. Allied forces must show their
strength but must use it only when necessary."
[End]
[From final page: Printed by Imprimerie Nationale
- J550223. Booklet designation: 5-45/309 M/77739.]
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