Military Government of Occupied Territory

Report Outline
Multiple Problems of Miltary Occupation
American Experience with Military Government
Allied Military Government in World War Ii

Multiple Problems of Miltary Occupation

Occupation of European nations promises soon to be a major activity of the armed forces of Great Britain and the United States. Allied commanders have already set up military governments in Sicily and southern Italy; a year ago they had the task of providing a transitional administration of civil affairs for North Africa. As British and American armies move toward Hitler's “heartland,” the need of secure communication lines behind the front, and the obligation of victorious forces to restore and maintain order in captured territory, will require the establishment of military governments in all the liberated areas.

German forces still occupy a large part of the continent of Europe; Japanese forces are in control of considerable territory on the continent of Asia, and many islands of the Pacific. The nature of the Allied occupation of areas freed of Axis domination will be determined to some extent by the condition in which such areas are left by the defeated armies. Axis occupation, when overthrown, is expected to leave behind it problems of disorder and economic maladjustment unique in the experience of the modern world. The magnitude of Allied Military Government's contemplated operations is likewise without precedent in history.

Allied Arrangements for Military Government

Responsibility for the maintenance of military government in areas occupied by American and British troops rests with the President, as Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States, and with the British Prime Minister. This responsibility of the two heads of state is delegated, through members of their cabinets, to military area commanders in the field, working with the civil affairs staffs attached to their headquarters. What is known as “Allied Military Government,” or A. M. G., is best described, for the present at least, as a working arrangement between the United Kingdom and the United States, with Canadian participation; it has not yet attained the status of a clearly defined administrative organization for all occupied territory.