The Execution of Private Slovik

by William Bradford Huie and Illustrated by Cover Art Huie, William Bradford

Book Overview

Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Last American Soldier Who Paid the Ultimate Price for Desertion A New Edition of the Acclaimed Investigative Story In August 1944, a drab convoy of raw recruits destined to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000GRR4RO
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Co., Inc.
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Interesting Yet Tragic Story

When I was reading this book, I could not stop reading it and never got bored reading it. Here is a tragic story of a young American man, Eddie D. Slovik, who had straightened out his life, after a life of spending approximately a total of 5 years in reformatories and jails for petty crimes and thefts, then found a steady job during World War II on the home front, and married a strong woman, whom he loved very dearly. Then, his promising life as a truly reformed ex-convict with a potentially bright future was abruptly disrupted and ended, when he was drafted into the Army as a "replacement private" to fight in the final bloody stages of World War II. It was the first tragedy in Private Slovik's short life for this to happen to him, as he went from being classified by his local Draft Board from 4-F (not fit for military service and when the US Military did not want any part of him) to 1-A (immediately available for military service). His promising life truly was wasted and went up in smoke. The second tragedy in Private Slovik's life is when he was the only soldier in World War II to be executed for desertion, since the U.S. Civil War in the 1860's. Despite desertion during time of war is very wrong and a very serious offense, and in my opinion should be severely punished, it was unfair to single him out for execution. "Although over twenty-one thousand soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II--including forty-nine death sentences--only Slovik's death sentence was carried out." (Source/Cited from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik). Private Slovik should have of course been tried by General Court Cartial, then given a sentence of prison or should NOT have had his execution actually carried out. Thus, he would have been given a new start and a second chance in life in Post-World War II America. This is among one of the worst injustices carried out during the final stages of this war. This book is definitely a must read for those who are interested in military history and/or studying the history of World War II. I highly recommend this book, both for the study of history and an as an excellent novel, good for both serious study and for recreational reading.

Well Written

"The Execution of Private Slovik" tells the story of the only American soldier since the Civil War who was executed by firing squad for desertion. Eddie Slovik was one of literally thousands of documented deserters during WWII who were court-martialled. Of these thousands, forty-nine were sentenced to death, but only Slovik's sentence was carried out. So the author's central question is, why was Slovik the ONLY one? We see Eddie Slovik as a youth who, in the modern vernacular, was "at risk" due to some minor scrapes with the law as a teenager. We then see him as a somewhat self-absorbed adult who never thought he would be caught up in the wartime draft and was resentful that he was forced to leave his new wife and new furniture. Once shipped overseas and assigned to a unit, Slovik apparantly intentionally deserts, calculating that he would be thrown into the stockade only for a few years and eventually set free during the euphoria brought on by the war's end. A huge miscalculation. The author makes a compelling argument that the wartime Army's senior leaders found it easier to execute a deserter "with a civilian record", even though such information was not supposed to be material to court-martial sentences, and the "record" amounted to nothing more than some petty crime when Slovik was a minor. This book was written in 1954, when it could not have been fashionable to write an investigative piece portraying then-President Eisenhower in a somewhat less-than-flattering light (Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, ORDERED Slovik shot--very different from declining to intervene). Huie is to be commended for this courageous and thoughtfully-written book.

A Slanted "Truth"

Is this book worth reading? Yes, but...the reader should be aware that the writer does seem to have a biased view of his subject. While Pvt. Slovik does seem to be a scapecoat for other deserters, at the same time, I doubt that others flaunted their refusal to obey orders as blatantly as he did. My father also served in the 28th Division, 109th Infantry Regiment and was undoubtedly as afraid as Pvt. Slovik. War is truly hell and I'm sure that he wanted to be anywhere but where he was, but he realized his duty to help eradicate the greatest evil of the 20th century. Thank God for the men (and women) of his generation! Were it not for them, we would not be free to live as we do today! After reviewing Pvt. Slovik's history, it would seem that his desertion was yet one more event in a life lived as a sociopath. As such, he had no redeeming value to consider nor should he have expected mercy. I reserve my tears for the thousands of soldiers who deserve them...those who gave their lives so we might live ours.

Could Not Put It Down

I could not put this book down once I started. "Wow" is all I could say at the end. This is an incredible World War II story of how an uneducated kid from Detroit full of lovesickness for his new bride ended up being shot for refusing to fire his gun in anger. He was accused of desertion--but it isn't that he ran from fighting it was the fact that he refused to fire. When he became separated from his unit after a night time artillery barrage, he ended up being a productive member of a Canadian reconn group that found him and another guy. He acted as their cook. It was then that he took to carrying writing paper in his ammunition pouches. And he wrote to his wife every day until he died. When he finally was able to get back with his unit, he did not want to fight. Instead of finding something else for him to do, the Army ended up killing him. He apologized according to the priest who spoke to him as he was tied to a post and he told the priest to let the boys know that he didn't blame them for what they had to do. The irony, of course, is that thousands--THOUSANDS--of American soldiers deserted duty during World War II, including officers, yet only Slovik was executed. The book opens with the author contacting the other guy who got lost with Slovik and he was stunned that Eddie Slovik was shot. He had absolutely no idea. The impetus behind the book is that the whole story was hushed up--the author happened to stumble upon a reference right after the war and began his investigation--so that even though at the time the reason given for killing Slovik was to create a deterrent for desertion, no one outside of the small execution group ever found out! I enjoy reading military history and I highly recommend this book.

A fine depiction of the arbitrary "justice" of wartime

This book is an exceptionally written work covering the life of Private Eddie Slovik. It covers his disadvantaged childhood leading to brushes with the law, mostly of the petty theft variety. The picture that develops is of a fundamentally weak man who would get by just fine if he had a crutch to lean on. He was lucky enough to have a strong wife who guided him and provided the emotional support he needed. Slovik appears to have been a bit stupider than most, but a decent guy. He, along with many others, did not have the spine to be fired at by enemy soldiers, although by all accounts, he was very poised at his own execution. His case seems to have been arbitrarily picked for execution. Multitudes of GI's were sentenced to death for desertion, Slovik's admitted crime, but only Private Eddie Slovik was actually killed. Another reviewer has referred to the "whining" which makes up part of the letters to his wife. The terror and uncertainty prevalent in wartime is certain to affect even stronger characters. The effect of war on Eddie Slovik was such that he could not bear it. Although I believe that no human is fit to be a soldier, we are made for far better things, the drafting of a man like Eddie Slovik shows that arbitrariness of the draft of WWII that lead to the militarization of thousands of men who would not be stable under combat circumstances. Huie writes this in a style that makes you forget there is an author. About as objective as one could really hope to be, the facts of the case are still so moving as to bring sobs. A compelling, tragic read.