Post by Admin on Nov 17, 2019 13:49:04 GMT
When US deserters reigned over Paris.
When Paris was liberated in 1944, the French authorities and populations were over the moon: Freedom, finally, after 4 years of German occupation!
That freedom ended up having a sour taste. As the allies pushed North, they were suddenly stopped in their tracks along the Siegfried Line where they met their fiercest challenge in Europe since D-day. Paris became the place of choice for R&R: Battle weary American soldiers were sent there on permission. A 72 hours pass and back pay in their pocket, they would descend on the city in search of booze and sex. The French police alongside American MPs struggled to deal with those drunk and disorderly men.
Things gradually got worse as thousands of those young GIs deserted while in Paris. They did so for many reasons: Some because they were tired of fighting, some, for the adventure, others did it for the money. In all, an estimated 50,000 American soldiers deserted in Europe during WWII. There were around 20,000 deserters in the wild by Christmas 1944, that's the equivalent of an infantry division !
Many of these men formed criminal gangs and used their military training, uniforms and weapons to bad effect! They would rob army depots, civilian warehouses, homes, businesses... They stole, raped and pillaged their way through Paris, but also Northern France and Belgium.
The criminal activity peaked as the fighting reached crescendo along the German border: Over 144,000 American soldiers ended up dying or being wounded between September 1944 and January 1945. Between the battle of the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, the allies were pushed to breaking point and soldiers deserted in droves. As very few of them spoke French, their only way of surviving and successfully evading the authorities was often to join one of those GI deserter gangs...
By the end of WWII, 20,000 American soldiers had been tried and sentenced for desertion. Many ended up with prison sentences, most were dishonourably discharged. 49 were sentenced to death, although only one soldier was subsequently executed. His name was Eddie Slovik.
When Paris was liberated in 1944, the French authorities and populations were over the moon: Freedom, finally, after 4 years of German occupation!
That freedom ended up having a sour taste. As the allies pushed North, they were suddenly stopped in their tracks along the Siegfried Line where they met their fiercest challenge in Europe since D-day. Paris became the place of choice for R&R: Battle weary American soldiers were sent there on permission. A 72 hours pass and back pay in their pocket, they would descend on the city in search of booze and sex. The French police alongside American MPs struggled to deal with those drunk and disorderly men.
Things gradually got worse as thousands of those young GIs deserted while in Paris. They did so for many reasons: Some because they were tired of fighting, some, for the adventure, others did it for the money. In all, an estimated 50,000 American soldiers deserted in Europe during WWII. There were around 20,000 deserters in the wild by Christmas 1944, that's the equivalent of an infantry division !
Many of these men formed criminal gangs and used their military training, uniforms and weapons to bad effect! They would rob army depots, civilian warehouses, homes, businesses... They stole, raped and pillaged their way through Paris, but also Northern France and Belgium.
The criminal activity peaked as the fighting reached crescendo along the German border: Over 144,000 American soldiers ended up dying or being wounded between September 1944 and January 1945. Between the battle of the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, the allies were pushed to breaking point and soldiers deserted in droves. As very few of them spoke French, their only way of surviving and successfully evading the authorities was often to join one of those GI deserter gangs...
By the end of WWII, 20,000 American soldiers had been tried and sentenced for desertion. Many ended up with prison sentences, most were dishonourably discharged. 49 were sentenced to death, although only one soldier was subsequently executed. His name was Eddie Slovik.