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During the First World War, many soldiers were shot and executed for military offences such as desertion or cowardice. But during World War 2, the number of men inside of the allied forces shot for these offences was greatly less. Inside of the US Army, there was only one man executed for desertion during the conflict, despite a number of death sentences being handed out for those soldiers who refused to fight or abandoned their posts. Eddie Slovik was the only American executed for desertion in the Second World War, and he was treated rather unfairly. As a young man, he was in trouble a number of times with the police and he was even sent to prison. However he was then drafted into the American Army following D-Day and the Normandy Landings to replace soldiers who had died. He was caught up in intense fighting as he made his way to the frontline and he had been called into a front line rifle division, and he was a man scared of conflict. After being caught up in intense shelling, he refused to fight when he was united with his unit, and he wrote a note refusing to fight after he walked away from the advancing soldiers. He was offered a number of chances to fight and return to his regiment, but refused and he was court-martially. Slovik believed he would only serve prison time, but he was surprisingly sentenced to death. At the time of the conflict in 1944, The US Army were preparing for the Hurtgen Forest offensives and the Battle of the Bulge, and desertion figures were rising. Dwight Eisenhower confirmed that Slovik's execution should go ahead to deter other soldiers from abandoning their post and the army. Because of this he was brought in front of a firing squad inside of a small French village and was shot dead, being executed for deserting. He was the only person in the Second World War to be executed in this manner for the crime of desertion inside of the American Army. Eddie Slovik's case is incredibly sad and tragic, and it's believed he was made a scapegoat. So join us today as we look at, 'The HORRIFIC Execution Of Eddie Slovik - The American Shot For Desertion In WW2.' Thanks for watching! Support the channel by subscribing, liking, and sharing. Follow me on Twitter: Follow me on Instagram: Disclaimer: All opinions and comment stated below in the Comments section do not represent the opinion of TheUntoldPast. All opinions and comments and dialogue should discuss the video above in a historical manner. TheUntoldPast does not accept any racism, profanity, insults, sexism or any negative discussion aimed at an individual. TheUntoldPast has the right to delete any comment with this content inside it and also ban the user from the channel.
