Yanks and Limeys: WW2 soldiers reveal relationship

AT HOME, on the battlefield and in the corridors of power the Second World War alliance between Britain and the United States was groundbreaking.

British women dancing with American soldiersGETTY

Many British girls had relationships with GIs

But like any relationship it was fraught with difficulties.

The shared road to Berlin was a bumpy one. President Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill enjoyed a close relationship.

They had known each other since the late 1930s when Churchill was First Sea Lord at the Admiralty. By furnishing the Allies with supplies Roosevelt defied a large section of his own population that was opposed to any involvement in the war beyond protecting their own territory.

But by the time of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Americans were already offering significant assistance. When the Japanese strike came Churchill and his entourage defied heavy seas and immediately set sail for Washington.

He arrived three days before Christmas and, while staying in the White House and in concert with his military chiefs, established an unprecedented system of cooperation and joint decision-making that would eventually win the war.

The first sight of Britain for most GIs was a shock. As they disembarked – in almost a third of cases from either the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth ocean liner – in Glasgow, Bristol or Liverpool they were greeted by the sight of a country at war.

They were amazed by the bomb damage, threadbare clothes and the small, dirty trains on which they were whisked away to their camps.

The first American troops arrived here in 1942 and by the following summer, with the establishment of safer shipping lanes across the Atlantic, they were flooding in.

As they did so British Army morale was low. Too many campaigns from North Africa to the Far East had ended in defeat and setback while the more glamorous RAF had fought and won the Battle of Britain and the Royal Navy caught the public imagination with their hunt for the German battleship Bismarck.

Soldiers in Britain were underpaid and poorly kitted out. They were forced to wear their sack-like battledress and hobnail boots at all times.

By contrast American soldiers were well paid, wore smart modern uniforms, enjoyed a quantity and quality of food unknown to their hosts and had unfettered access to goods and equipment.

To the grumpy British troops the flash GIs were “overpaid, oversexed and over here”.

As early as July 1942 reports on morale warned of “trouble brewing” due to “the lavish way in which the Americans fling their money about”.

The GIs earned a reputation for being brash, many of them taunting British troops with references to defeats. There was also resentment over the Americans’ success with the opposite sex.

They wore shirts and ties, had foreign accents and could afford to hand out nylons and good-quality cigarettes.

General Eisenhower smilingGETTY

General Eisenhower built up a lot of tension between himself and Montgomery

As one soldier put it: “What chance has a poor Tommy with a couple of bob jingling in his pocket?”

This caused huge worry for the men at the front.

The prospect of their wives and girlfriends being unfaithful was a constant worry and they lived in genuine fear of receiving a dreaded Dear John letter.

By October 1942 nearly 2,000 men fighting in the Middle East had divorce cases under way.

One padre even claimed: “The most efficient fifth column work done out here is carried out by the women of England.”

The GIs didn’t always like being in England either.

They complained about the food, the weather, the towns, a lack of ambition and a country that they viewed as oldfashioned.

Senior figures complained that the British habit of muddling through meant serious problems were not properly addressed.

American and British soldiers dancingGETTY

American and British soldiers dancing with some German girls

They also resented British officers’ politeness, which they saw as a distraction from honest discussion, and thought the tank crews’ habit of using any spare moment to brew tea risked slowing them down.

US officers marvelled at the batmen who looked after their British equivalents and were infuriated with their refusal to “talk shop”.

However the differences were not insurmountable. Many Americans greatly enjoyed the hospitality of the British as they were taken in by families and treated to Sunday dinner.

Most GIs did their best to build bridges and the Americans were often keen to put their wealth to good use by buying everybody drinks.

When the British and Americans worked together the relationship dramatically improved. The authorities realised this and in autumn 1943 a scheme was introduced where American and British troops spent time embedded in each other’s units.

One American engineer had great affection for his new “buddies” while one Tommy described the Americans he worked with as “a very nice set of fellows indeed”.

The scheme was inspired by the experience of the armies in North Africa. It was the first place where the two armies fought together and initial suspicion and rivalry quickly gave way to respect once the Yanks had been blooded in combat.

One American soldier summed it up: “When I was back in England I didn’t have such a good impression of the English but when you fight with them and next to them they are really all right.”

Following D-Day most of the problems were of the senior officers’ making.

In particular Montgomery, commander of the land forces, frequently disagreed with Eisenhower who, as the Allied Supreme Commander, was his commanding officer.

Monty frequently caused tension as he tried to shore up his position as the leader of the ground troops. It was only the threat of an “it’s him or me” ultimatum by Eisenhower that persuaded the victor of El Alamein to step back.

As the German surrender grew closer thoughts turned to glory. Newspapers, generals and soldiers on both sides were sensitive about where the credit for victory was apportioned.

Monty, freshly promoted to Field Marshal, and Churchill did their best to smooth ruffled American feathers by paying tribute to their heroism.

There were high hopes that this alliance of two of the world’s great military powers would continue on the same terms. It was not to be.

Such centralised control would have been difficult to maintain without the pressures of war. In future the latter would be very much the junior partner in the special relationship.

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