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children and war World War II American European food aid France
World War II: American European Relief Effort -- France
Figure 1.--Here we see French camp for orphans and at risk children children in the afermath of World War II. Most are outfitted in uniform romper suits. They children are getting getting fresh milk. The press caotion read, "UNO Aid to Children: Atthe Montlignon camp near Paris, social worker Simone Gachet supervises the distribution of fresh milk. The 50 children in the camp are either orphans or children whose parents are unable to nprovide them with proper food." The photo was dated November 5, 1948, but much have been taken a few months earlier. UNO mans the United Nations Organization nd probanly refers to UNRRA, but in 1948 this would have mean basically American financed food assistance.
France has some of the richest agricultural land in the world. American food relief to France was important during World War I. France was basically self-suffient in food, bur conscription of farm workers and the flood of refugees had create a food shortage. World War II was different. France fell to the Germans in the first year of the War (June 1940). There was thus, unlike World War I, no way for America to get food aid to the French. Food shortages developed in France during the German occupation because the Germans were seizing so much of French food production and shipping it to the Reich. This did not change until D-Day (June 1940) and the liberation of France (August 1944). It would take some time for the French economy, incluing agriculture, to recover. The situation was not as bad as in the East, but it was bad. The livestock heard had been depleted and even poultry was, if not rare, also badly depleted. Tanks and troops had traversed France from the Normanfy am Mediteranean beaches to the borders of the Reich. Luckily for the French, the Germans were anxious to get back home and the Allied soldiers, unlke the German solkdiers, were well provisioned. Even so many farmers suffered from the passage of the troops. France would be the third most important recipent of Lend Lease aidfter Britain nd the Soviet Union, some $3.2 billion. Most of this was military equipment but included was important amounts of food. Not all the aid was Government food shipments. France would receive the first Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE) packages that played such an important role in saving the Germans from starvation. The begenning of Heifer Interntionl began repopulting Europeam livestock heards.
French Agriculture
France has some of the richest agricultural land in the world. The area is limited comoared to Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and Canada. But prodyctivity on a wll mansged farm is very high.
World War I
American food relief to France was important during World War. France can baically feed itself, unlike Britain and Frabce, but didn not generate a surplus. France was basically self-suffient in food, bur conscription of farm workers and the flood of refugees had create a food shortage.
World War II was different. France fell to the Germans in the first year of the War (June 1940). There was thus. unlike World War I. no way for America to get food aid to the French without benefirring the German war effort. Food shortages developed in France during the German occupation because the Germans were seizing so much of French food production and shipping it to the Reich. Hutler had expected to feed Germanhy from the his conquests in the East, when that did not go to script, it was the economies in the West that woiukd have yo feed the Germabn ewar ecoinomny. bhis did not change until D-Day (June 1940) and the liberation of France (August 1944). It would take some time for the French economy, incluing agriculture, to recover. The situation was not as bad as in the East, but it was bad. The livestock heard had been depleted and even poultry was if not rare, also badly depleted. Tanks and troops had traversed France from the Normandy ad Mediteranean beaches to the borders of the Reich. Luckily for the French, the Germans were anxious to get back home and the Allied soldiers, unlike the German soldiers, were well prvisioned. Even so many farmers suffered from the passage of the troops.
Lend Lease
France would be the third most important recipent of American Lend Lease aid after Britain and the Soviet Union, some $3.2 billion. France was a major Lend Lease recipient, although until after D-Day it went to the Free French forces in Africa and Britain because France was occupied. With lineration the aid could be doirected at France itself. Most of this was military equipment to rebuild the Frenchg Army, but included was important amounts of food.
Private Humanitarian Assistance
Not all the American id was Government food shipments. France would receive the first Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE) packages that played such an important role in saving the Germans from starvation. The beginning of Heifer Internationl began repopulating Europeam livestock heards.
Another humanitarian effort was the Friendship Train. The 1947 American Friendship Train effort collected foodstuffs from American donors and transported then to Europe, mostly to the people of France and Italy. There were stops at train stations across the United Ststes, finally ending in New York City, where the organizers and food received with a ticker tape parade as itv hedad to the New York docks for shipment to Europe. This occured while the United States was preparing the Marshall Plan to reinvigorate the European econony. The Friendship Train provided desperately needed food aid in the aftermath of World War II. Skeptics today set on denegrating America's post-War role call it a 'token gesture of goodwill', but food was delivered to needy families was very real. In the final anaysis, the only way of solving the food problem was to get a capitalist economy working again which would fire up farm production.
Transformation
French agriculure was In manysways transformed following the War. At the time of the 1944 liberation, many French farms looked as they had during the 19th century. Mechanization had to be dicarded because of the kack of fuel. Farm labor was unavilable. And porices other than the black market did not support the cost of production. And there was nothing bin the stores to buy when money earmed. Many farmer were thus basically retreating into sunsistence agriculture, atvleast to the extent bpossible under German regulations. Yet in only a few decades, by the middle of the 1970s, France was despite its relativekly small size the world's second largest exporter of agricultural goods. The French Goverment plsyed a huge role in this transformation. The Government pursued a hughly effective moderization effort aimed at small-scale agricultural industrialization. This began bu establishing controversial land reform organization -- the Société d'aménagement foncier et d'établissement rural (SAFER). The Goverment eventually engaged conserbative peasant farmers, with condiderable resistannce in essentially a war of attrition. Sone farmers weree more inmapcted by this effort than the German occupation. One authors insists that the Goc=vernment has still not taken full responsibility for the social consequences of its modernization effort. [Bivar].
Sources
Bivar, Venus. "Agricultural high modernism and land reform in Postwar France," Agricultural History Vol. 93, No. 4 (Fall 2019), pp. 636-55.
