librarianonparade's review against another edition
3.0
Much has been written about the deserters of the First World War, the lack of understanding of shell shock, the executions at dawn and the campaigns for posthumous recognition and pardons; but far far less has been written about the deserters of the Second World War. Perhaps because we think of the trenches of Flanders as a particularly unique and horrifying form of warfare, the life of the fighting man in World War Two is somehow seen, in comparison, as 'not as bad'. As if war was ever something you could compare and contrast.
Many hundreds of men were executed for desertion between 1914-1918 - in the later war, just one. One poor unfortunate American private, Eddie Slovik. Men were executed for innumerable other crimes, but not desertion. This is not to say that desertion was not a problem in WW2 - as Glass points out, figures were probably even higher; and court-martial boards and military psychiatrists, whilst better informed, were not necessary any more sympathetic. After the horrors and shame of WW1 the public on the homefront simply would not have accepted execution as a punishment, and WW2 was a political war as much as it was a military and strategic one.
So this is an important book, and a welcome addition to a gap in WW2 studies. That said, anyone looking, as I was, for a general overview of desertion across the armies of both Axis and Allied powers, an investigation into the causes, impetus, apprehension, punishment, incarceration, legacy, had better keep looking. This is more an extended biography of a handful of three particular deserters, two American, one British, than anything else, and I don't think any of these men are especially representative. I was a little disappointed at the lack of this broad overview, but this is still an excellent book - moving and deeply humane.
Many hundreds of men were executed for desertion between 1914-1918 - in the later war, just one. One poor unfortunate American private, Eddie Slovik. Men were executed for innumerable other crimes, but not desertion. This is not to say that desertion was not a problem in WW2 - as Glass points out, figures were probably even higher; and court-martial boards and military psychiatrists, whilst better informed, were not necessary any more sympathetic. After the horrors and shame of WW1 the public on the homefront simply would not have accepted execution as a punishment, and WW2 was a political war as much as it was a military and strategic one.
So this is an important book, and a welcome addition to a gap in WW2 studies. That said, anyone looking, as I was, for a general overview of desertion across the armies of both Axis and Allied powers, an investigation into the causes, impetus, apprehension, punishment, incarceration, legacy, had better keep looking. This is more an extended biography of a handful of three particular deserters, two American, one British, than anything else, and I don't think any of these men are especially representative. I was a little disappointed at the lack of this broad overview, but this is still an excellent book - moving and deeply humane.
drewmiller_'s review against another edition
4.0
A much-needed look at the cold, unfair realities of how a nation treats its soldiers. The deserters Glass focuses on were at one point all committed to the war effort. As each soldier comes to reject the war - for different reasons, and some on multiple occasions - we begin to understand the way the glory of combat obscures the trauma soldiers endure. As Steve Weiss bitterly described, war was unfair (units were rarely rotated, leaving only a small percentage to do the bulk of the fighting), unforgiving (the brutal treatment of deserters by US and British forces), and inhumane (the army treated even non-deserting soldiers no better than boots or ammo to be resupplied). And in the 1940s, knowledge of PTSD (referred to as anything from "combat fatigue" to "psychoneurosis") was extremely low. Soldiers with no obvious physical injuries were assumed to be fit for battle, and those who claimed otherwise were more likely to be punished than to be treated. Famously, General Patton slapped a shell-shocked soldier in an army hospital, and Deserters tracks the eventual realization by military brass that battle trauma is a real and present danger. Glass' prose is at times hard to read, but the haunting sadness of Bain, Weiss, and Whitehead remains clear. The Deserters is a powerful reminder to note the brutality and destruction often drowned out by the glory of the "greatest generation."
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