29 SEPTEMBER 1944, Page 10

MARGINAL COMMENT

By HAROLD NICOLSON

ONopening The Times newspaper last Saturday, my eye fell upon a letter from a retired Squadron-Leader, in which he deplored the " incalculable harm " being done to the " prestige" of the United States armies in Europe. Having followed with some care the operations of the American forces since the battle of Avranches, I had derived the impression that their repute had in- creased considerably within the last three months. It was with startled anxiety, therefore, that I read this statement, expecting it to be followed by disclosures regarding atrocities committed by the United States troops in the regions of Aachen or Trier. At the very least, I expected to read again those imputations, so welcome to the viper voice of Lord Haw Haw of Hamburg, that American com- mercial travellers are flooding Paris, Lyons and Brussels in the dis- guise of Red Cross officers. But not at all. It was not of cruelty or dollar imperialism that the Squadron Leader accused the United States armies. It was of treating the civilian population of Ger- many with the same kindliness as they had shown to the civilian population of France and Belgium. I am prepared to believe that undue fraternisation between the occupying armies and the German civilian population may be most undesirable, in that it will raise administrative and security problems of a complicated" nature. I am aware also that most of the German civilians have been willing, and only some of them unwilling, accomplices of the Nazi conspiracy. But nothing will make me believe that if the ordinary G.I. or Tommy behaves decently, or even kindly, to the civilians in occupied Germany, any harm, whether calculable or incalculable, will be caused to the prestige either of the United States or the British armies. That such a theory should be advanced suggests that even sensible people in this matter are subject to considerable confusion of thought and feeling.