The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II (47 page)

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The
épuration
(purification) of collaborators also saw young women accused of having had sexual relations with German soldiers suffer ritual humiliation. An accusation was enough to establish guilt in the eyes of the mob.

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Steve Weiss in Paris on Armistice Day, 11 November 1945.

And receiving the Croix de Guerre from Commander François Binoche—to Weiss the father figure who fought in the
maquis
under the nom de guerre “Auger”—in Paris, July 1946.

The certificate appointing Steve Weiss an officer of the Légion d’Honneur.

Weiss wearing some of his awards, which include the Bronze Star, three U.S. battle stars, the Second World War Victory Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and Good Conduct Medal, two Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance and the Croix du Combatant.

Alfred Whitehead of 4th Platoon, Company D, 63rd Infantry Training Battalion, Camp Wolters, Texas. Whitehead is in the third row, seventh from left, and his friend “Timmiehaw,” who was killed by a “Bouncing Betty” mine, is second from left in the same row.

According to Whitehead’s autobiography,
Diary of a Soldier
, this is Omaha Beach, D-Day, 6 June 1944. Whitehead identifies himself as the third soldier from the right, at the front of the landing craft.

A U.S. MP with two Italian black marketeers caught selling American cigarettes in Naples, November 1944.

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American deserters like Whitehead were not the only black-market dealers. Here, a British sailor does business in London’s Cutler Street, which came to be known as “Loot Alley.”

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In April 1944, Whitehead heard an address given by General George S. Patton—“Old Blood and Guts” (which for some U.S. soldiers meant “Our blood, his guts”). Patton was in favor of shooting deserters and slapped a shell-shocked soldier in Sicily.

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General Bernard Law Montgomery, under whom John Bain fought as part of the British 8th Army, differed in style from Patton, if less so in content: “There will be no more belly-aching and no more retreats.”

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