das Quagmire

Instapundit has more on America's failed post-war occupation of Germany. I'm going to write a follow up one of these days - maybe even a series. "Real Voices From On-The-Scene" -type stuff to counter all the negative press...

(Y'all know I'm in Germany, right?)

In the meantime here's a few quick observations:

Transportation

...However, it was imperative to get the railroads running again in order to supply food for the approximately 20,000,000 persons for whom our Army was responsible for this winter, including our own soldiers, displaced persons and German prisoners and civilians. American engineers assigned to this job scoured our zone for trained German workers, while our counterintelligence officers were scouring the countryside arresting ex-Nazis.

In Berlin I heard an argument between two American officers. One cried despairingly, “How can I keep this railroad operating if you take away all my skilled workers?”

The other replied, “Don’t think you are the only one with problems. Where am I going to find enough jails to accommodate all these fellows we are arresting?” . . .

The trains are running okay now. No complaints on that.

Energy

...“Just what I expected!” angrily exclaimed the official from Washington. “I told President Truman that the Army doesn’t understand coal mining. I told him he would have to send civilian specialists to manage this coal business in Germany.”

The official was exasperated. Here he was, inspecting the fuel situation in Europe, and what did he find? He found that although winter was already here, the rich German coal fields still were not producing much, and the United States would have to ship our own coal to Europe to make up the deficiency...

The boats must have been too slow, because the coal thing has been a miserable failure. They've had to resort to other methods. You launch a dead cat into the air here and there's a good chance it will land on a nuclear power plant. At least, they say they're for generating power...

Food

...The mayor of this suburb came to our Berlin headquarters to plead for help, declaring there were 1000 women and children in his little town, and all the food reserves had been exhausted.

“But why do you come to us?” inquired Col. Howley. “Your town is in the Russian zone.”

“The Russians say they cannot do anything for us,” replied the mayor...

No more Russian zone. Some Russians are here doing menial labor, but they have to compete with middle-easterners and all the other eastern Europeans for these jobs.

Long-term stategic planning

Here in Germany there is no indication that Washington politicians have any clear conception of the precise purposes and probable duration of our German occupation. Our administrative machinery here is building up in a hit-or-miss fashion, and the men to run the machine are being recruited hastily and haphazardly, with almost no evidence of a coherent long range plan. Nevertheless, the chances are very great that this American bureaucracy in the heart of Europe will survive for at least a generation---and perhaps more. We have caught a bear by the tail in Germany, and it will not be easy to let loose without endangering the peace of Europe, which involves our own peace as well.

Hmmm... I'll have to check on that one...

But I'm sure you can see that this stuff works itself out in the long run...

(By the way, this Instapundit guy is doing great stuff. I think he could really catch on!)