Robert Peters <[log in to unmask]> asks a leading question:

>(And how many of the enthusiastic soldiers had been sent to this concerts?
>How many would have preferred Judy Garland and Bob Hope?)

The answer isn't quite that predictable.  The U.S.  Army actually ran a
symphony orchestra in Germany after the war.  If memory serves, it was
sustained well into the fifties.  GIs learned that attending concerts was
an effective way of impress, and thereby softening up, their Frauleins.
And never mind that liquor was quicker.

Denis Fodor