Marc Holzheimer

The American Occupation of the Rhineland, 1918-1923 is cogent and thorough, though relatively short. It covers history that author Marc Holzheimer describes as “almost forgotten” (1). A native of Koblenz, Germany, with a masters in history from the University of Mainz, Holzheimer conducted research at the U.S. National Archives and the Library of Congress, as well as in German archives, striving to make his “own contribution to the history of my home on Rhine and Mosel as well as to German-American history” on the 100th anniversary of the occupation. “So, please enjoy reading this book!”(2) Holzheimer published the book in German and then translated it into English himself. The quirkiness of the translation can be refreshing. My favorite example: in Chapter 16, “Doughboys and Fräuleins,” Holzheimer writes, “Many doughboys . . . were well nourished and good in shape, too” (153).

Holzheimer describes himself as a self-employed “free historian” who is also involved in tourism (214). And his book is a bit of a travelogue, with descriptions of the landmarks of Koblenz and nearby Rhineland attractions. There are 180 black-and-white photographs related to the occupation: troops on maneuvers, encountering civilians, and playing sports including baseball and American football; officers meeting with their Allied and German counterparts, German children, and the towns, villages, public buildings and castles of the American zone of occupation, plus eight color maps and 12 color photographs of the 21st century Rhineland. The photographs may be the book’s most outstanding feature. Although some are dark, many are clear enough for the people in them to be recognizable: a boon for genealogy buffs. To the best of Holzheimer’s knowledge and belief, none of the photos are copyrighted. True to the historian’s craft, he provides a thorough bibliography and 369 footnotes.

The American Occupation of the Rhineland, 1918-1923 is privately printed. One “good” used copy was available on Amazon as of March 18, 2022. The copy I read was on interlibrary loan from the First Division Museum’s McCormick Research Center in Wheaton, Illinois. Herr Holzheimer told me the book is currently not for sale, but soon will be. “I just want to go over it another time to see if I did not make any mistakes."

Just three weeks after the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the U.S. Third Army, with eight Army divisions and a brigade of Marines, crossed the German border through the Mosel valley, ready for combat should German forces resume resistance. By early 1919, American forces in the Rhineland numbered 250,000 (15). Their mission was to prevent German elements from resuming the war, take control of German war materiel, and ensure order in the occupied zone, including bridgeheads east of the Rhine. The Marines were assigned to patrol the rivers. Soon, however, the United States began rapid withdrawal of the two-million-man American Expeditionary Force from Western Europe. Reduction of the American occupation force in Germany began as well. By the end of 1919 it was down to 19,000.

Holzheimer describes the relative open-mindedness and fairness that animated American officers administering the occupation, particularly Major General Henry Tureman Allen (1859-1930), who commanded the American forces in the Rhineland from July 1919 until their withdrawal in 1923. General Allen strongly supported U.S. charitable organizations that provided meals and clothing to German civilians, particularly children (76). In general, the American authorities tried not to interfere in German domestic politics. They allowed the first democratic elections in the Weimar Republic to take place in the U.S. zone in 1919 without restrictions (163).

The United States was not invested in a lengthy occupation, whereas the French were determined to maintain large forces in the Rhineland, strip Germany of economic resources and perhaps gain permanent control of the territory (181, 182). General Allen warned that ’’the aggressive French policy towards Germany would be fatal for a permanent peace” (75). In 1922, French ambitions in the Rhineland increased. German Chancellor Joseph Wirth told General Allen his government “explicitly supported a continued presence of the Americans on the Rhine” (183). By then only 1,200 remained (181).

As Germany fell behind in reparations payments, France threatened to seize the Ruhr industrial area and extract reparations in kind: coal, steel, and factories. U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes warned the French ambassador that if French troops entered the Ruhr, the United States would cease its participation in the occupation (183). And so it was: the French invaded the Ruhr, the Germans put up passive resistance, and on January 24, 1923, the American Forces departed the Rhineland for the journey back to the United States (184).

Two decades later, in World War II, American and British bombers obliterated many of the old landmarks of the Rhineland (194). On March 7, 1945, advancing U.S. forces seized the bridge at Remagen, north of Koblenz (195). The officer in charge of that operation was Karl Heinrich Timmermann, an “Amerikanerkind” born in 1922 to an American soldier and a German woman. In late March, after heavy fighting, U.S. forces secured Koblenz on both sides of the Rhine.

In a final chapter, “Modern Rhineland-Palatinate,” Holzheimer sketches the post-World War II occupation, the Marshall Plan, the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cold War and German reunification. One of the old black and white photos (201) shows then-Colonel George C. Marshall consulting with General Allen. “It is very likely,” Holzheimer claims, that Marshall’s familiarity with the post-World War I occupation and his experience with the Germans in the Rhineland strongly influenced the development of the Marshall Plan” (197).… (meer)