The Limits of Communication

Abstract

During their torturous march across Europe, America’s combat soldiers initially obtained merely a series of superficial impressions of different countries and peoples. Nevertheless, there were a number of circumstances in which the frontline soldiers were able to get to know the European people better through close personal encounters. These encounters, however, remained very restricted in scope. To begin with, the language barrier most often precluded any thorough understanding of the people and their situation. Developing a well-informed picture of European society was also not likely when combat soldiers tended to seek contact with civilians mainly to satisfy the most basic needs such as food, alcohol, and sex. Moreover, the GIs were destined to get acquainted with only limited segments of the population. Since most of Europe’s able-bodied men had disappeared as soldiers, resistance fighters, forced laborers, or prisoners, the Americans encountered disproportionate numbers of the Old World’s weak and aged, its children, and its women.