The Allies' triumphant march into Paris in 1944 was met with cheering crowds of liberated Parisians. After the cheering stopped, American deserters and their French cohorts violently exploited the city with the ruthless efficiency of the Chicago mobs of the 1920s. Well organized, and heavily armed, these GIs-turned-gangsters made huge profits on Paris' thriving black market with their unlimited supplies of cigarettes, gasoline and other commodities. Along with this illicit enterprise came rape, murder, robbery, prostitution and epidemic venereal disease. American military justice worked at controlling the crime wave--handling nearly 8,000 criminal investigations in the year after liberation--but only the end of the war in 1945 put a stop to it. This book details the exploits of these "liberators" and identifies both French and American offenders.

A Bible, an officer's mess kit, a cane arm chair and a blood-stained note... at first glance, these items might not seem to have much in common. But on closer examination they prove to be some of the most interesting artifacts from the Civil War. This volume searches out and details memorabilia in museums spread over 21 states and the District of Columbia. Beginning with an overview of the Civil War, the book provides a state-by-state guide to various museums and historical societies with particular focus on matchless Civil War objects in their collections. Chapters provide the description of each museum and details on how each artifact came to be in that location. A chronological narrative centering on each rare item is then provided, placing the object within the timeline of the war and linking it to a specific event. An appendix contains a guide to battles which are known by various names.

This book is a must for anyone with an interest in missing caches of gold and the financial aspects of military history. In the closing days of World War II, the U.S. Government took into custody 370 tons of gold from Nazi Germany, but the gold, silver, and currency still missing is even greater. The author traces the recovery of more than 500 of these large caches by the Allies and then their mysterious disbursement. Among their finds, the Monetary Men of the U.S. Army uncovered 288 tons of gold, with hordes of silver, diamonds, and precious jewels in a salt mine in Merkers, Germany. They took in Holocaust valuables from Dachau and Buchenwald, Ustasha Croatian Gold, and Italian Fascist gold. An appendix contains a timeline and summaries of all the shipments recovered by the U.S., as well as a financial spreadsheet detailing the 370 tons of gold recovered and its final distribution.

Near the close of World War II, two hell-bent-for-leather American units moved relentlessly toward the village of Berchtesgaden, nestled in the Bavarian Alps. The much-decorated 101st Airborne Division had fought its way from Normandy, Bastogne and through much of Germany, and the illustrious 1269th Engineer Combat Battalion had followed suit, starting south at Marseilles. Both forces would converge on Hitler's hideaway, and awaiting them was a dazzling treasure trove nefariously collected by none other than Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering. The greedy, art-loving Nazi leader had accumulated a vast and dazzling array of paintings, precious jewels, and many other objets d'art - four trainloads' worth. Following the age-old adage of "To the victor belong the spoils," the rendezvousing American soldiers helped themselves to the creme de la creme of the Nazi loot.

During World War II, the Nazis plundered from occupied countries millions of items of incalculable artistic and sentimental value estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Spearheaded by Hermann Goring, Reichsmarschall of the Third Reich, the looting program quickly created the largest private art collection in the world, exceeding the collections amassed by the Metropolitan in New York, the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Tretiaskov Gallery in Moscow. By the end of the war, the Nazis had stolen roughly one-fifth of the entire art treasures of the world. This work explores the history and formation of the Nazi art collection and the methods used by Goring and his party to strip occupied Europe of a large part of its artistic heritage.

Nazi looting has long been recognized as one of the crimes committed by the Third Reich during World War II, a crime which stripped economic wealth and artistic treasures from the populations the Nazis terrorized. This historical text addresses the often-overlooked practice of Allied looting, exploring the ways in which Allied forces engaged in thievery against the Germans. This book follows the journey of the Hungarian Crown Treasure from muddy oil drum in Austria to Fort Knox and back to Austria, and numerous lost treasures are discussed, including Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man, and lost manuscripts, including the earliest known printing by the Gutenberg press.