soc.history.war.world-war-ii

"Haydn" wrote

> I guess pinups and sexy starlettes, and the ubiquitous merry display
> thereof in the press, newsreels, etc. were something quite peculiar to the
> American way of life and mentality. Rather than anything the average
> European fighting man, poorer, less exuberant, and bound to more
> traditional morals was inured to, or allowed.

That might be true for some European nations, but not for all. British
troops had plenty of drink, pinups, brothels and exuberance...

> By contrast, brothels were commonly accepted and the even more sexually
> repressed British made a joke of the Italian "motorized brothels" they
> captured in Libya...

The average British soldier was anything but sexually repressed in WW2, as a
million memoirs will tell you. Military brothels were plentiful and
officially tolerated, if not actually recognised. Montgomery was just one of
several senior officers who wanted to licence the brothels which followed
the British Army across Europe even in 1939