In the spring of 1945, British and American forces fought their way into the heart of western Germany. Although the first German city to fall to American forces, Aachen, had been captured in October 1944, the invasion of the Third Reich began in earnest in March 1945 when the western Allies crossed the Rhine River. By the time the Nazi government unconditionally surrendered on May 8, British, French, Soviet, and American forces controlled virtually all of Germany.
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In the seven months that American GIs fought on German soil, they formed their initial impressions of Germany, a country most soldiers previously knew only through wartime propaganda and interactions with captured German soldiers. The Germany that American soldiers saw in the spring of 1945 provoked strong reactions among their ranks and surprised them in a number of ways. The most frequently repeated observations among American soldiers were the material wealth of the country, the friendliness of civilians, and the curious absence of Nazis.
The first thing that many American GIs noticed about Germany was its beauty. The majority of German cities, crossroads, and bridges had been destroyed by Allied bombing raids, but the bulk of Germany’s rural areas and suburbs had escaped relatively unscathed. Nineteen year old Private Richard Kingsbury of the 94th Infantry Division remembered how in southern Germany, “The frequent hills were covered with aromatic pine forests so thick with trees that they were dark and cool despite the brightest sunshine. Clear bubbling streams ran down the hills into wide lovely valleys, all intensively cultivated. The quaint little towns looked like illustrations from Grimm’s fairy tales.” Soldiers entering German houses found them richly appointed with modern furniture, paintings, china, and furs. German civilians appeared well-fed and clothed, a fact that drew frequent comments from GIs who had observed the hardships the war wrought on the populations of France and England.