occupation

occupation. Despite dictionary definitions, ‘occupation’ is a term which in the context of war is usually employed selectively and subjectively, that is, for military operations that are not approved. Hence, in Allied literature, operations conducted by the western Allies or by the USSR are generally described as ‘liberations’, whilst similar operations conducted by Axis forces are described as ‘occupation’ or ‘invasion’. In contemporary Axis literature, the roles of ‘liberator’ and ‘occupier’ were exactly reversed.

Reality was rather more complicated. Operations by the Allied armies were not always welcome to the local population; and operations by the Axis Powers were not uniformly resented.

In two key instances, however, the Allied powers dropped all pretence of ‘liberating’ the countries which their armies entered. The Allied policy of unconditional surrender ensured that Germany and Japan were to be occupied by Allied forces regardless of the wishes of the populations concerned. In these two cases, the term ‘Allied Occupation’ was both conventional and correct.

Norman Davies