The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II (57 page)

“Overseas most combat”
Arnold M. Rose, “The Social Psychology of Desertion from Combat,”
American Sociological Review
, Vol. 16, No. 5, October 1951, p. 616.

“Most mess sergeants”
WD/Second Draft, p. 99.

By this time
“High Officer Reveals: 12,000 Yanks AWOL in Europe, Half of Them in Black Market,”
Washington Post
, 26 January 1945, p. 1. In 1944, military censors did not approve stories on deserters in France or Italy, and many reporters did not file stories out of self-censorship.

“Our venture was”
WD/Second Draft, p. 99.

Physicians in the European
The General Board, European Theater, “Combat Exhaustion,” U.S. Army, Office of the Chief Clerk, Military History, General References Branch, File: R704/11, Study No. 91, 1945, p. 1

“My mother and”
Steve Weiss, interview with the author, Paris, 17 July 2010.

“Fair play was”
WD/Second Draft, p. 100.

“If one day”
Steve Weiss, interview with the author, Paris, 17 July 2010.

“I was so depressed”
Ibid.

“ordered him to return”
Affidavit of First Lieutenant Herman L. Tepp, in Turek, Frank J., CM297854, Court Martial File, Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

Captain Richard J. Thomson
“Receipt for Deserter and A.W.O.L., Statement of Police Officer or Person Returning Subject to Military Custody,” signed by Richard J. Thomson, Captain, Infantry, 67th Military Police Company, 30 October 1944. File: Private Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

The MPs gave
WD/Second Draft, p. 101.

TWENTY-SIX

“inaptness or undesirable”
A Manual for Courts-Martial
, U.S. Army, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1 April 1928, p. 63.

The 442nd did
“ARMY & NAVY—Medals: Record,”
Time
, 21 August 1944.
Time
reported that the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Infantry Regiment had earned “nine Distinguished Service Crosses, 44 Silver Stars, 31 Bronze Stars, three Legion of Merit Medals. . . . Of the 100th Battalion’s 1,300 men (including 500 reserves), 1,000 had been wounded in action. . . . Most remarkable record of all: since the 100th had been organized it had not had a single case of desertion or absence without leave.”

Ford declared that
Major Walter L. Ford, “N.P. Form No. 5, Psychiatric Report in Disciplinary Cases,” 2 November 1944, two pages, Weiss Court-Martial File, Private Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

“was suffering from”
Major Walter L. Ford, “Psychiatric Report in Disciplinary Case,” 3 November 1944, Turek, Frank J., CM297854, Court Martial File, Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

“In that Private”
Turek, Frank J., CM297854, Court Martial File, Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

“Well Sir, we”
Turek Court-Martial Transcript, p. 9.

“It was so dark”
Ibid.

“Major Wilson had”
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, Albert C. Homcy versus Stanley R. Resor, Secretary of the Army, 455 F.2d 1345, opinion by Circuit Judge George MacKinnon, http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F2/455/1345/168414/.

“The accused was”
Article of War 75: “Misbehavior before the enemy. Any officer or soldier who, before the enemy, misbehaves himself, runs away, or shamefully abandons or delivers up or by any misconduct, disobedience, or neglect endangers the safety of any fort, post, camp, guard, or other command which it is his duty to defend, or speaks words inducing others to do the like, or casts away his arms or ammunition, or quits his post or colors to plunder or pillage, or by any means whatsoever occasions false alarms in camp, garrison, or quarters, shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.” See William M. Connor, “The Judgmental Review in General Court-Martial Proceedings,”
Virginia Law Review
, Vol. 32, No. 1, December 1945, pp. 39–88, at p. 72: “ . . . a new rule of decision as to desertion was erected in the 1917 Manual thus worded: ‘Desertion is absence without leave accompanied by the intention not to return.’ Both elements are essential to the offense. The offense becomes complete when the person absents himself without authority from his place of service with intent not to return thereto. A prompt repentance and return are no defense, nor is it a defense that the deserter at the time of departure intended to report for duty elsewhere.”

“Specification 1”
Weiss Court-Martial Transcript File, p. 5. (The court reporter consistently misspelled Brechifosse, a Vosges hamlet, as “Brechitosse.”)

When the trial
Weiss Court-Martial Transcript File, p. 10.

“It was night”
Ibid.

“Captain Simmons”
Weiss was mistaken at this stage of his testimony, as he was in both drafts of his memoir. He could not have reported to Captain Simmons on his return from his time with the Resistance and the OSS in October 1944, because Simmons was recuperating from a sniper wound to his neck received on 30 September 1944. He returned to duty when Company C was well into Alsace in January 1945. Weiss must have reported to the acting company commander, Lieutenant Darkes. See Russell Darkes, “Twenty-five Years in the Military,” pp. 40 and 43. (Darkes does not mention Weiss in his memoir.)

The court intervened
Weiss Court-Martial Transcript File, p. 15.

Defense counsel had
Ibid., p. 16.

The defense called
Ibid., p. 18.

“How did you get”
Ibid., pp. 19–20.

Major Wilson introduced
Major Walter L. Ford, “N.P. Form No. 5, Psychiatric Report in Disciplinary Cases,” 2 November 1944, two pages, File: Private Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, Virginia, 22203-1837.

“Upon secret written”
Weiss Court-Martial Transcript File, p. 22.

“They didn’t kill”
WD/Second Draft, p. 114.

TWENTY-SEVEN

The stockade had
“History: Disciplinary Training Center Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945,” p. 1, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

“However, to be fair”
WD/Second Draft, p. 118.

The commanding officer
Colonel Peck assumed command of the Loire DTC on 3 November 1944. See “History of the DTC Branch, Theater Provost Marshal’s Office, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945,” NARA, RG 498, Box 154, Records of Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army in World War II, Adm 5670 & D PM to 567E Ramps.

“Sometimes I’d see”
WD/Second Draft, p. 120.

“honorably restoring to”
Robert L. Santos,
The Army Needs Men: An Account of the U.S. Army Rehabilitation Center at Turlock, California, 1942–1945,
Denair, CA: Alley-Cass Publications, 1997, p. 20 (http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/bsantos/army.html).

At the Lichfield
Jack Gieck,
Lichfield: The U.S. Army on Trial
, Akron, OH: University of Akron Press, 1997.

Guidelines set by
Letter, Major General Milton A. Reckord, U.S. Army Theater Provost Marshal, to all provost marshals, 19 February 1945, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, Records of Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army (World War II), Adm 5670 & D PM to 567E Ramps, p. 1.

“a large area”
“History: Disciplinary Training Center Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945,” p. 1, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

TWENTY-EIGHT

The 38th Regiment
Barkley,
In Death’s Dark Shadow
, p. 238. Based on his father’s account, Barkley wrote, “Deeper to the rear, squad huts were constructed and life was relatively comfortable for a fighting front.” See also Wood and Ashbrook,
D + 106: The Story of the 2nd Division,
p. 4, and “History: Disciplinary Training Center Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945,” p. 1, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

“It was also true”
Charles B. MacDonald,
The Siegfried Line Campaign
, U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1993 (originally published 1963), p. 613.

“those back home”
Whitehead Diary, p. 142.

“That kind of propaganda”
Ibid., p. 143.

“To the veterans”
Barkley,
In Death’s Dark Shadow
, p. 269.

“When we reached”
Whitehead Diary, p. 145.

“By midnight the”
Charles B. MacDonald,
The Siegfried Line Campaign
, U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1993 (originally published, 1963), p. 610.

Neither they nor
Brigadier General A. Franklin Kibler, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, et al., “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” The General Board, European Theater of Operations, File 385/1, Study No. 1, p. 65. The report stated, “By the night of 15–16 December, the [German] assault divisions had closed into final assembly areas, the bulk of the artillery was in position, and reserve divisions were en route. Existing and forecast weather conditions were now most favorable for attack.”

“Not knowing the”
Whitehead Diary, p. 148.

“No pity was”
Ibid., p. 155.

“outstanding courage, skill”
Robertson,
Combat History of the Second Infantry Division in World War II
, p. 103. See also Second Battalion Staff, “The Second Battalion, 38th Infantry, in World War II,” p. 35. The citation, later called the Presidential Unit Citation, added, “Attacking and successfully penetrating the Siegfried Line in the vicinity of the Monschau Forest, the 2nd BATTALION was ordered to move 6 miles to the vicinity of Krinkelt where enemy tanks were driving in force. The last unit to leave the forest, the 2nd BATTALION successfully withdrew and under intense enemy artillery, mortar, and sporadic small arms fire moved to Krinkelt where defensive positions were occupied in the darkness without time for prior reconnaissance. Infiltrating enemy riflemen fired at the men as they moved into position at Rocherath. They fought off an attacking Panzer unit. Three times the enemy armor breached the main line of resistance. On one occasion ten tanks overran the positions, firing point blank range, employing spotlights to reveal their targets as the tank crews raked the area with machine-gun and cannon fire. Although heavy casualties were sustained in this bitter engagement, the 2nd BATTALION 38th INFANTRY, successfully repelled the fanatical thrusts, killing or wounding nearly 500 of the attacking enemy.”