“Hunting brigades” were created in search of beautiful ones. German “Houses of Tolerance” and Japanese “Comfort Stations”. An Unusual Difference
The use of women for certain needs of military personnel – officers and soldiers of active armies – has been known for a long time. As far back as the time of Alexander the Great and the warrior of Ancient Rome, there were known hetaerae who accompanied the army on campaigns.
In the Middle Ages and modern times, marchitants and marchitantes were an integral part of most armies in the world. Some of them were engaged in the supply and supply of the troops. Others gave pleasure to the soldiers.
Modern times are no exception, the issues of satisfying these needs have always been acute for the command of any army. But nowhere and never in the history of mankind has this been turned into a planned and streamlined way of satisfying certain military needs, as it was done in the Reich.
Germany
This problem confronted the leadership of the Wehrmacht and the SS with the German attack on Poland. The army, which was in a state of military aggression against neighboring states, numbering in its ranks millions of young and healthy men (in the first years of the war), demanded a solution to this problem.
However, the leaders of the Nazi Reich approached the solution of the problem not only with German pedantry, but also with an ideological and nationalist coloring. Military “special houses” that followed the moving army were divided into categories, depending on the composition of the contingent.
On September 9, 1939, the Minister of the Interior of Germany, Frick, in order to prevent cases among the military… and veins. He issued an order for the creation of “special houses” for the needs of the Wehrmacht and SS military formations.
Everything was calculated with German precision: the time spent by the servicemen in the institution, the behavior, the “throughput” of the girls, even the uniform.
For example, pilots, the lady had to meet decently dressed (carelessness was strictly creeping in. In the ground forces, girls could meet officers already lying in readiness.
The “special houses” themselves were also divided, as they say, by ranking. Officers, sergeants, non-commissioned officers and soldiers. In soldiers’ quarters, for example, bed linen was allowed to be changed after every tenth client. That is, the social differences of the clientele also affected the position of those who served them.
Initially, for officers, sergeant-majors and non-commissioned officers, only German women and representatives of related European nations were recruited to the houses of tolerance: Swedes, Dutch, Belgians, French, Danes, Finns, etc. However, with the further development of military operations, especially after the attack on the USSR by Germany, it was allowed to use representatives of the local population in field and rear houses located in the occupied lands: the Baltic States, Belarusians, Russians, etc.
It was forbidden to work for representatives of “inferior races”: Jewish and Gypsy women.
In the countries of Western Europe, the Germans increased the staff of such houses and created their field branches.
All students had to report to a special department and undergo periodic medical examinations. Illegal occupation was punishable.
Occupying any village, village or district center, the soldiers “did not deny themselves anything.”
From the memoirs of the German artilleryman Wilhelm Lippich:
“In our regiment, there were soldiers who took advantage of the hunger of local young women to meet their needs. With a loaf of bread, they went to the rear 2-3 kilometers from the front line, where they got what they wanted.”
Some of the women had connections with members of the underground and partisans, and supplied them with various information that they managed to “extract” from their clients. Registered “priestesses” had norms that they had to fulfill. For example, the soldier’s office was supposed to serve 600 customers per month. But that’s in the Wehrmacht. In the Luftwaffe, the number of customers was reduced to 60, and the officers serving the pilots could only receive 20 clients per month.
German soldiers were entitled to 5 visits per month. More days, had to be earned. Such soldiers and sergeants were given a special, incentive coupon, in which the number of preferential visits was noted.
Field houses were moved after the military units to which they were attached. For this purpose, buses for women and trucks were used to transport property.
All the brothels in Germany were, as they say, “under the hood” of the offices of Müller and Schellenberg. Many women were recruited by the SD and the Gestapo. In addition, wiretapping could be carried out periodically in stationary houses. In this way, unreliable servicemen and overly talkative bosses were identified.
Thus we are dealing with a gigantic “factory” where this business has been put on stream in order to meet the needs of the soldiers of Hitler’s army and the Waffen-SS. In terms of the level and discipline of this process, the Hungarians in Europe could only be remotely equated with the Germans. In the other armies of the German bloc, not a single army has achieved such a level and scope, the organization of the provision of such services.
Japan
In Asia, however, there was also Germany’s ally, Japan. The Japanese are sometimes referred to as Asian Germans. And it’s no coincidence. During WWII, the Japanese Army also had a well-organized service for soldiers and officers of the Mikado Army.
Here, too, “mass production” was established for the needs of the military. In the beginning, the Japanese also planned to make do with Japanese women. But, they quickly gave up on this idea. For the huge Japanese army, there were clearly not enough Japanese women. And they did not go to such service very willingly.
At that time, the Japanese army authorities paid attention to local women, and houses began to be filled with Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. At military units, special “hunting brigades” were formed, the task of which was to look for pretty women and girls in villages and hamlets, in order to buy them from relatives. And if it was not possible to redeem it, then the girl could simply be stolen.
Such houses in the Japanese army were called quite romantically: “Consolation Stations”. But the consolations in them were one-sided, designed only for Japanese soldiers.
In the Kwantung Army alone, located on the territory of China, there were more than three hundred such “stations”.
The women, who, by the will of the Japanese occupiers, were assigned to the category of service persons, lived in very difficult conditions. They had to serve 50-60 customers a day.
The women of the Japanese military “stations” were in the position of slaves.
Interestingly, the Asian “flavor” – for the soldiers of the Japanese army, visiting the “stations” (if it was not as an encouragement) was more expensive than for officers and sergeants (the Germans have just the opposite – an unusual difference).
Apparently, this was due to the Asian tradition – the lower classes had to pay more for pleasures. Whoever is higher on the social ladder has more privileges.
Thus, we are dealing with an organized, massive, crime, consisting in the forcible coercion, or bringing to such a forced choice, the population of the occupied countries. The fascist states exploited not only the resources and labor of the citizens of the states they occupied. But, they also mercilessly exploited the women of the local peoples who lived on the occupied lands.