On Band of Brothers, they show American troops in Germany stealing valuables from Germans and sending them home. I believe one officer said he had no problem with it.
Was this widespread or did it depend on if the officers in a group were OK with it?
In each & every war, it is widespread.
You might find the following MA thesis interesting, as it’s on American troops’ souvenir hunting, looting of civilian populations, and SHAEF’s attempt to knock it off. In my brief scan of it, I couldn’t find any data for frequency of looting acts or prevalence within units: just lots of anecdata.
Anyway, the best part of this sort of thing are the references and bibliography. See also, the thesis author’s review of a 2011 book, Allied Looting in World War II: Thefts of Art, Manuscripts, Stamps and Jewelry in Europe, by Kenneth D. Alford.
Of course, any of this pales in comparison to the wholesale rapine, looting, and general vengeance the Red Army visited upon East Prussia, Pomerania. Basically everything east of the Elbe. Antony Beevor’s, Berlin: The Downfall 1945 (alternate title The Fall of Berlin 1945) is supposed to go into much more detail.
But the thesis and 2011 book might be of use for your question.
My Dad, who was junior officer in the British army, had a set of rather fine wine glasses that he said came from the home of a German admiral. (It occurs to me now to wonder how he manged to get them home in once piece. Perhaps he got some quasi-official help with the packing and shipping.)
The view of those on the front was if they didn’t ‘liberate’ watches, wedding rings etc then some rear-echeloner who came along later would so why not?
On the Soviet side frontoviki were given a lot of freedom, officers were always allocated the juiciest loot. Often though the plenty that they found prompted wrath rather than envy, so they would smash up fancy furniture rather than loot it. There’s a tale in I think Beevor’s book about a Red Army soldier coming home to see his family wearing German clothes he had looted and sent back months before.
This photo of a Red Army soldier attempting to ‘liberate’ a bike from a German woman is looting caught on camera. The woman who tempted the wrath of the Soviet army by trying to hold on to her property is either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish, given that murder and rape of the population were rife.
