History - War at a Glance

Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over Here By January 1944 almost a million American GIs are crammed into southern and southeastern England. The arrival of so many Americans constitutes a preliminary, and generally peaceful, invasion in itself. It is a cross-cultural learning experience for the Americans and the English alike. American cigarettes, chewing gum, chocolate bars, nylon stockings, music, and slang elicit a generally enthusiastic English response, but the standard of living enjoyed by GIs far from home astounds some and irritates others among their hosts. And the popularity of the GIs - and their cornucopia of supplies - among the female population causes some Britons to characterize their American allies as “Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over Here.” By June nearly 3 million Allied troops are gathered in England under Eisenhower’s command. In the months before the invasion they conduct training exercises that focus on the difficulties of amphibious landing operations, but the training virtually ignores the difficulties awaiting those who survive the assault on the beach. Despite a general Allied understanding of the nature of the Norman hedgerow country, the Allied troops learn little about infiltration of the dense bocage, an art the Germans have mastered. The training for the advance inland relies on textbook tactics, notably the open order advance, two companies forward. It works well enough in preliminary maneuvers on the moors of southern England, but it is a recipe for disaster in the bocage, reminiscent of the orderly British ranks marching into the guns of Andrew Jackson’s irregulars near New Orleans in 1815. See Next Invasion: The Beaches and Beyond “The Damndest Country I’ve Seen” Operation Cobra: Breaking out of the Bocage Patton Unleashed Trapped in the Pocket Racing Toward the Rhine