Love Sex and War 1939-1945

Review: 'One of the old saying is that there are no atheists in foxholes. It may be a fun exercise to find what the actual numbers are for prayer under fire. I have long suspected that there is a reverse of the medal. How many of these life and death converts are first in line for carnal pleasure, first chance away from the front line? Historian John Costello’s Love, Sex and War makes it clear that during World War II some of the longest lines for the fresh off the line troops for all of the major World War II soldiery was the one that ended at the local bordello.

In terms of research and tone, Costello’s book is fairly conventional history. It is amply researched and cast for a general audience rather than the specialist historian. For the benefit of the less than up to date reader, Costello does site the claim originally made by S.L.A. “Slam” Marshall that most of the American front line soldiers hesitated, or never fired their weapon in combat. This claim is no longer accepted.

At its best this book reports the studies and findings about the changes in many aspects of society that started or accelerated under the pressure of World War II. His investigations take the reader into the civilian and the uniform world in America and England, but also Germany, Japan and Russia with some info about Australia and Paris, if not all of occupied France. That is the major combatants get the majority of the coverage with very little said about most of the invaded countries. For example there is very little about the so called “Comfort Girls”, that is the Imperial Japanese Army’s forced prostitution levied on the women of occupied countries.

Every World War II Army faced the fact that the troop were going to find or make opportunities for sex. All of them had to develop policies that balances national morality against the spread of venereal diseases from illegal or under regulated prostitution. Here again Costello may have been missing some information or lacking good numbers on the prevalence of the problem. He has little to say about, for example female Russian soldiers and forced sexual contact. Recent events make it clear that American male soldiers are not always protective of females in uniform.

At their respective home fronts, Costello is blunt about the rarely discussed reality that healthy women denied access to their husbands could and did “Sit under the Apple Tree”. With, if not anyone else, certainly with someone else. Also clear was that women in many of the destroyed an defeated countries quickly learned that a they could always trade what was uniquely theirs for the foodstuffs and related means of survival by means of what was then called, and rarely approved of fraternization. From the point of view of the occupying forces this trade was not entirely one sided as for them there very little in end of the war occupation to relieve their boredom, isolation and homesickness.

Costello. Love, Sex and War is not just about cohabitation. He investigates several sides of the issues faced by would be Rosie the Riveters. Even where and when companies realized that they could not make war time production schedules without women, unions were slow to make them feel welcome. Deliberate efforts were made by management and unions to keep the women from the higher paying jobs. Likewise there were women who were hesitant and resistant to take on jobs either in production or in uniform. In England the need for farm workers was such that there would ultimately be a draft for women requiring them to choose between factories, farm or uniform. Germany was almost uniquely slow to mobilize women for uniformed or factory service. Costello implies that this failure was a contributor to Germany’s failure to maintain early industrial advantages over its enemies.

Speaking of women in Uniform, Costello makes several assertions that among the women, there was a relatively open attitude toward those females who preferred their own sex. Regarding male homosexual activity in uniform, the author seems to believe that some early version of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ was operative. In both situation there were exceptions and how convincing these arguments are for the reader to decide.

Love, War and Sex is something of a niche topic in the world of military history. It is worth the read. It can be argued that World War II started or raised the awareness of a number of the Liberation movements, Women’s Racial. LGBT. Conventional wisdom is that these were the product of the Vet Nan war or at least had little real momentum until the 1960s. Costello make a compelling case that stating dates were back in the time of The Best Generation.' - Amazon

Condition: great vintage condition

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