Editing Stuttgart (section)

===French-American tensions===

The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Stuttgart in April 1945. Although the attack on the city was to be conducted by the [[100th Infantry Division (United States)|US Seventh Army's 100th Infantry Division]], French leader [[Charles de Gaulle]] found this to be unacceptable, as he felt the capture of the region by [[Free French forces]] would increase French influence in post-war decisions. Independently, he directed [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny|General de Lattre]] to order the [[5th Armored Division (France)|French 5th Armored Division]], [[2nd Moroccan Infantry Division (France)|2nd Moroccan Infantry Division]] and [[3rd Algerian Infantry Division]] to begin their drive to Stuttgart on 18 April 1945. Two days later, the French forces coordinated with the US Seventh Army and VI Corps heavy artillery, who began a barrage of the city. The French 5th Armored Division then captured Stuttgart on 21 April 1945, encountering little resistance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stanton |first=Shelby L. |title=World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division 1939–1946 |year=2006 |edition=Revised |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0811701570}}</ref> The city fared poorly under their direction; French troops forcefully quartered their troops in what housing remained in the city, rapes were frequent (there were at least 1,389 recorded incidents of rape of civilians by French soldiers),<ref>{{cite news |last=Faltin |first=Thomas |title=Die offizielle Statistik zählt 1389 Vergewaltigungen |url=https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.ende-des-zweiten-weltkriegs-in-stuttgart-drei-furchtbare-tage-im-april-page1.4db91355-7a93-4448-9b33-25c436205124.html |work=Stuttgarter-Zeitung |date=18 April 2015 |access-date=14 October 2018 |language=de |archive-date=13 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013200239/https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.ende-des-zweiten-weltkriegs-in-stuttgart-drei-furchtbare-tage-im-april-page1.4db91355-7a93-4448-9b33-25c436205124.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bruhns |first=Annette |title=Der Krieg gegen die Frauen |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-39863532.html |date=30 March 2005 |access-date=14 October 2018 |work=Der Spiegel |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag |language=de |archive-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201084442/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-39863532.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the city's surviving populace were poorly rationed.{{efn|"When French troops occupied Stuttgart – which was meant to form part of the American Zone as the capital of Württemberg – the Americans ordered them to leave. De Gaulle refused, saying he would stay put until the zones were finalized&nbsp;... The American solution was to offer them some bits of Baden and Württemberg while keeping the lion's share for themselves&nbsp;... French soldiers' behaviour in Stuttgart, where some 3,000 women and 8 men were raped, was thought to have added to American fury at their overstepping their lines."{{sfn|MacDonogh|2009}}}} The circumstances of what later became known as "The Stuttgart Crisis" provoked political repercussions that reached even the [[White House]]. [[President of the United States|President]] [[Harry S. Truman]] was unable to get De Gaulle to withdraw troops from Stuttgart until after the final boundaries of the zones of occupation were established.<ref>{{cite book |last=Willis |first=Frank Roy |title=France, Germany and the New Europe, 1945–1967 |url=https://archive.org/details/francegermany00will |url-access=registration |year=1968 |publisher=Stanford University Press}}</ref> The French army remained in the city until they finally relented to American demands on 8 July 1945 and withdrew. Stuttgart then became capital of [[Württemberg-Baden]], one of the three areas of Allied occupation in Baden-Württemberg, from 1945 until 1952.