Slovik execution
The Slovik execution refers to the execution of Edward "Eddie" Slovik, a U.S. Army private who was shot for desertion during World War II. Born in 1920 and raised in a challenging environment, Slovik had a history of petty crime and was initially classified as unfit for military service. However, he was drafted into the army in 1944 and found himself terrified by the realities of combat in Europe. After expressing his fear of fighting and attempting to evade frontline duty, he was court-martialed and sentenced to death. Major General Norman Cota upheld the harsh sentence, citing the need to deter desertion amidst the ongoing war. Slovik was executed by firing squad on January 31, 1945, making him the only American soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War. His case sparked debate over military justice and the treatment of soldiers facing combat stress. The story gained significant attention years later, particularly after the publication of a book in 1954, leading to varied public perceptions of Slovik as both a coward or a victim of an unjust system.
Slovik execution
The Event Execution of an American soldier for desertion
Date January 31, 1945
Place Near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France
Private Slovik was the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion. During World War II, more than twenty-one thousand servicemen were convicted of desertion and punished. Of these, forty-nine were sentenced to death, but Slovik was the only one whose sentence was not reduced to a prison term.
Born in 1920, Edward “Eddie” Donald Slovik was raised during the Great Depression by a poor and unstable Polish American family in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of twelve, he began participating in petty thefts and disorderly conduct incidents. He was imprisoned and paroled twice, in 1937-1938 and 1939-1942. Following his second parole, he worked with a plumbing company in Dearborn, Michigan, at which time he married a disabled woman, Antoinette Wisniewski, who was employed as a bookkeeper. Classified as unfit for military service because of his criminal record, he worked regularly and was perhaps on the road to becoming a responsible husband and citizen. As the demand for soldiers increased, however, he was reclassified as fit for service and then drafted into the U.S. Army in January, 1944. Following seven months of basic training in Texas, he was assigned to fight in the European theater with the Twenty-eighth Infantry Division.
When Slovik landed in northern France in August, his division was engaged in violent fighting against German soldiers who had escaped through the Falaise Gap. When he arrived at Elbeuf on August, 25, he was terrified by the loud shelling and large number of dead bodies. In the confusion, he and a friend were either unable or unwilling to report for duty, and they stayed with the Canadian army for six weeks. When the two men finally joined their unit on October 8, Slovik informed the captain that he was “too scared” to fight in the front lines, and he asked to be reassigned to a rear unit. After his request was denied, he wrote one note threatening to “run away” if sent into combat and a second note stating that he understood that his written statement would be used as evidence against him in a court-martial.
When taken into custody, Slovik was offered the opportunity to join a different regiment and to have the charges against him suspended. Believing that the maximum penalty would be a relatively short period in jail, he chose the option of a court-martial. The trial took place in Paris on November 11, and the nine officers of the court judged Slovik guilty and sentenced him to death. Although commanding officers had routinely reduced such sentences, Major General Norman Cota upheld the court’s decision. Cota later said that he could not justify a lesser punishment for a deserter at the same time that he was sending thousands of soldiers to their deaths in the brutal battle of Huertgen Forest.
On December 9, Slovik wrote General Dwight D. Eisenhower a letter pleading for clemency. However, Eisenhower approved the execution, observing that it was necessary to discourage desertion, especially when thousands of American soldiers were dying at the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower and other officials were almost certainly influenced by Slovik’s criminal record combined with his unimpressive written admission. On January 31, 1945, Slovik was executed by a firing quad near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in eastern France. Afterward, his body was buried along with those of soldiers executed for violent felonies, such as rape and murder. Rather than publicizing Slovik’s execution as an example, the military authorities chose to keep it a secret. His widow was finally informed about how and why he had died by journalistWilliam Bradford Huie, who conducted exhaustive research into the case during the early 1950’s.
Impact
Very few people had even heard of Slovik before the 1954 publication of Huie’s popular book The Execution of Private Slovik: The Hitherto Secret Story of the Only American Soldier Since 1864 to Be Shot for Desertion. Slovik’s story then attracted considerable attention, and it produced a wide variety of reactions. Some people viewed Slovik as a cowardly criminal who deserved his fate, while others considered his execution to be an unjust punishment that tarnished the reputation of Eisenhower and other officials. The incident placed a spotlight on the terrors of combat for many young draftees. In 1974, actor Martin Sheen played the role of Slovik in a television film. In 1987, a Polish American veteran persuaded President Jimmy Carter to order the return of Slovik’s remains to Michigan.
Bibliography
Ambrose, Stephen F. Citizen Soldier. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Huie, William Bradford. The Execution of Private Slovik: The Hitherto Secret Story of the Only American Soldier Since 1864 to Be Shot for Desertion. 1954. Reprint. Yardley, Pa.: Westholme, 2004.
Whiting, Charles. Deserter: General Eisenhower and the Execution of Eddie Slovik. York, England: Eskdale, 2005.