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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 31, 2010 19:14:01 GMT 12
I have been looking at Papers past news reports between 1939-1945 with the keyword "deserter". There are some interesting articles, such as kiwi soldiers who've absconded from camp, foreign seamen who deserted from ther ships while in our ports, etc. Many of these guys you cannot help thinking are despicable, and others you wonder what the circumstances were to make such a rash decision, and you feel for them. A couple of the articles however are actually quite funny, and this one in particular made me laugh, about US deserters found in Australia: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19441024.2.36&srpos=52&e=-09-1940--12-1945--10--51-byDA---0deserter--U.S. DESERTERSEvening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 99, 24 October 1944, Page 4 ROUND-UP IN AUSTRALIA O.C. SYDNEY, October 18. The United States army in Australia has had its share of deserters, and those rounded up seemed to have done very well in the country of their adoption. Many, according to the U.S. provosts, have acquired an Australian accent. One of them had married, bought a farm, and been settled, for twelve months. Nobody in the district knew he was an American. Recently special plain-clothes U.S. agents caught deserters building a house at Woy Woy, a resort on the Hawkesbury River, 40 miles from Sydney. The deserters had been A.W.L. for eighteen months. Their wives abused the agents when they broke down a door after the deserters had locked themselves in. The wives said the door had only been put up that morning. The deserters were taken to the police station and handed over to the U.S. authorities. Another deserter was caught on a farm on the north coast of New South Wales. He had been A.W.L. for two years. Another was running a residential and charging his own countrymen exorbitant rents. Probably he would never have been caught had he not been reported for having made additional excessive charges for "extras." When provost officers called on him they thought he was an Australian "because his accent seemed so natural." But one special agent who did not know other officers had already visited the deserter, made his own check on the house, and recognised him from "wanted" pictures he had seen in Melbourne eighteen months before. Other deserters caught were working as odd-job carpenters and salesmen and a few were working in rackets and some of these had large sums of money on them when they were picked up. One deserter was running a hamburger stall sealing "genuine American hamburgers."
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Post by oggie2620 on Sept 1, 2010 7:23:41 GMT 12
There is a fab thread on Rootschats military forum about A E Harrison (Australian) that might fit with this. Its up to 22 pages and is fascinating... You folks from Downunder shouldnt be so welcoming. We all want to stay when we come over!
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fb6
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 96
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Post by fb6 on Sept 7, 2010 18:09:24 GMT 12
Yep, it wasn't all funny though. I recently read Graham Clayton's book, ''Last Stand In Singapore'', and those that bolted first lead to one of the Allies biggest ever defeats against a notably smaller invasion force... It affected the survivors for the rest of their lives...
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Post by chinapilot on Sept 15, 2010 8:22:22 GMT 12
Just reading 'Panther Soup'...about the other 'invasion' through the south of France...by Nov '44 it was estimated there were 17,000 US 'deserters' in Paris and surrounds and this doubled during the 'Battle of the Bulge'...
Before anyone makes anti American comments,"To the Victor the Spoils' had the number of UK/Canadian deserters in double figures at that time also...
Re retreats, Kippenberger's "Stand for New Zealand!!" certainly seemed to have stopped one in Crete...[not that it was much use in the scheme of things..]
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 15, 2010 9:24:10 GMT 12
It's almost amazing how forgotten the southern invasion of France has become these days.
When I recently interviewed some guys who were in Italy with 24 Battalion, 2NZEF, they told me that the biggest, strongest bloke in their platoon was also the biggest coward. He was always looking for excuses to get out of battle. It got to the point where one of the guys telling the story, who was the Sgt, had to put a man on him with a gun in his back and force him to march with the others. One night he slipped away and they never saw him again. However months later this cowardly private was picked up by MP's in the south of Italy sriving around in a Jeep, dressed as an officer!
The main reason I was actually searching for deserters was a while back I found snippet reports in the Herald of police finding a large deserters camp in the bush near Wellington, where deserting soldiers who didn't want to go to, or back to, the war had been living rough in a small community. I'd hoped the Evening Post might have more info but amazingly it's not mentioned at all as far as I can find. There are reports of individuals in NZ who deserted, or failed to show up at camp after call up, or who'd gone AWOL. But I couldn't find anything on the camp with from memory around 30 deserters who'd been there about a year.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 2, 2020 13:33:06 GMT 12
AMERICAN DESERTERS
NEARLY 200 IN DOMINION
O.C. AUCKLAND, This Day.
A constant search is being maintained in New Zealand for deserters from American forces. It is emphasised that any New Zealander who harbours such men is committing an offence which is punishable in New Zealand Courts.
Desertion is common to all nations at war, and it was only to be expected that some of the many Americans who have visited New Zealand in the past two years would fail to return to their ships or units when they were due to leave. At present there are about 190 in the country, a number which, although large, is not disproportionate to the numbers of Americans who have been in New Zealand.
Their reasons for deserting, or for allowing initial absence without leave to extend for so long a period that it has become desertion, have been various. Some probably had love affairs, Others allowed themselves to be persuaded by so-called friends, and others did not relish the idea of returning to combat. Whatever their reasons, however; it is obvious that they could not succeed in their intention unless they had the help of members of the civilian population.
Some have been away from their service for so long that they must have found work to support themselves. Finding these men presents special difficulties not only for the American authorities but also for the New Zealand police. The former have no countrywide organisation on which to draw, while the forces available to search for deserters are in any case small. The police have so many other duties to perform that they cannot spare much time looking for American deserters. The American authorities, therefore, emphasise that discovery of the men depends very largely on the co-operation of the civilian population.
EVENING POST, 14 JUNE 1944
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Post by emron on Feb 2, 2020 17:45:16 GMT 12
31 January 1945
Edward (Eddie) Donald Slovik, born February 18, 1920, was executed by firing squad near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in France. He was the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower had confirmed the execution order on 23 December. Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out. During World War II, 1.7 million courts-martial were held, representing one third of all criminal cases tried in the United States during the same period. Most of the cases were minor, as were the sentences. The death penalty was rarely imposed, and usually only for cases involving rape or murder. Slovik was the only soldier executed who had been convicted of a "purely military" offence.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 2, 2020 18:56:03 GMT 12
By the way there were a lot of murders in NZ involving US servicemen in WWII, some they were the victims and others they were the perpetrators. Also a lot of foreign merchant sailors seem to have either been involved in murders or bad assaults, etc. There was a lot more of ths sort of thing going on than people seem to think. A murder virtually every week or two back in the early 1940's in NZ, not much different from now.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 5, 2020 7:55:22 GMT 12
ALLEGED HARBOURING
AMERICAN A.W.L. MEN
AUCKLAND, July 3,
Two charges, each of harbouring members of the United States forces on various dates, knowing them to have been absent without leave, were preferred against a married couple, George Rutherford Shortland and Pearl Elizabeth Shortland, when they appeared before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., today. Both pleaded not guilty. The prosecution was brought under the Harbouring of Deserters Emergency Regulations, 1942.
A private in the United States army, Ralph Francis de Bucce, gave evidence that on April 24 he and another soldier named Clarke stowed away on an aircraft at New Caledonia and came to Auckland absent without leave from their unit. Upon arrival in Auckland witness was taken by Clarke to the Shortland cafe operated by the defendants, and was introduced to Mrs. Shortland, whom they knew as "mum." Clarke told Mrs. Shortland that they had come from New Caledonia, and suggested that they should stay at the cafe. She agreed and said both men had a home there for as long as they should want.
The following day, said witness, he met another American absentee named Moore. He took Moore to the cafe. Places were prepared for all three men to sleep on the premises and they stayed there several consecutive nights. Nothing was paid for lodging. On one occasion witness saw Mrs. Shortland hand Clarke a £5 note. Witness stayed at the cafe for four or five days with Moore, and during that time they did some concrete work for Shortland. On the last day there Mrs. Shortland got them each a secondhand suit of civilian clothes. No charge was made to either man. Witness later parted company with Moore, and when next he returned to the cafe was told that Moore and Clarke had gone to work on a chicken farm at Henderson.
Some weeks afterwards he met Shortland in the street and was told that the military police were watching the cafe. Witness went to the cafe to get his uniform back, but Mrs. Shorthand ordered him off the premises, saying that she did not want to be charged for having a deserter there. On June 15 he gave himself up.
IN CROSS-EXAMINATION Cross-examined, witness admitted that he had stayed some nights elsewhere in Auckland with a girl friend whom he wished to marry. He denied knowing that his suit of civilian clothes had been claimed by the girl's cousin as having been stolen from him. He also denied telling Mrs. Shortland he had come from New Caledonia as an advance guard. Witness admitted borrowing £5 from Mrs. Shortland on the pretext that he and his friend were going into the country for a few days.
Arnold Moore, private in the United States army, said he absented himself from his unit, which was stationed in Auckland at the time, on February 9. In April he met the previous witness and was taken to the Shortland cafe. He confirmed staying there without paying lodging, but said that he understood that the concrete work undertaken was by way of paying for their board. On a number of occasions Mrs. Shortland gave him money, totalling in all about £3 10s, The civilian clothing procured for him was too small, so he accompanied Shortland to a second-hand shop, where it was exchanged. Shortland had been the one who suggested getting civilian clothes, stating that it was necessary if they did not want to get "picked up."
On one occasion, said witness, Shortland had said something about getting him a social security book in his son's name, but when subsequently asked about it, he replied that they were only issued to men on attaining the "age of 18, and that would make his son liable for military service.
Cross-examined, witness said Mrs. Shortland had suggested that he should give himself up to the senior officer. It was some days after this that he did so. He denied ever having received £5 from her as alleged by the previous witness.
The hearing was adjourned till Monday.
EVENING POST, 4 JULY 1944
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 5, 2020 19:59:07 GMT 12
This bloke!!
SOLDIER'S ESCAPADE The experiences of a soldier, who on a pass made out by himself, had taken leave of the 2nd N.Z.E.F in Cairo and had eventually reached New Zealand as a stowaway were detailed at a court-martial at Trentham. From Cairo the soldier went to Tel Aviv, hitch-hiked back, and then, aided by a serviceman of another country, made a return flight to Italy. He next stowed away on a vessel bound for Australia and New Zealand, spending five days in the hold before mingling with those on board, and on arriving at a New Zealand port he made his way ashore by night, climbing down a rope and swimming to an adjacent wharf. A financial matter requiring to be settled in the interests of his wife was given as his reason for desiring to get back to New Zealand. The soldier, Private William Walsh, who when arrested in Christchurch on a desertion charge was wearing civilian clothes, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour.
EVENING POST, 7 OCTOBER 1944
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Post by tbf25o4 on Apr 6, 2020 11:05:58 GMT 12
The Ruapehu Draft that involved a lot of the soldiers who had served in Greece and Crete returned to NZ mid 1942 if memory serves correctly and a lot of them refused to return to the Middle East at the end of their furlough
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 6, 2020 11:49:07 GMT 12
Paul, they came back in 1943, not 1942. The first big furlough draft home was after the North African campaign had been won. And yes many of them found ways to not go back, some getting their doctors to declare them unfit, some going AWOL, and some who were on the train from Wellington to Auckland before shipping out again staged a protest (mutiny) as the train progressed and more and more joined them as they picked up troops along the way. The government hushed it all up at the time. I think the ring leaders were imprisoned and the rest sent on the ships anyway. Poor blighters had served overseas up to three years already and had come home to see lots of men who'd never served at all in comfortable jobs making a lot of money, and they felt it should be those blokes' turn. I can see their point.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 6, 2020 12:01:48 GMT 12
I recall some of the veterans I knew and interviewed told me they had a reinforcement turn up to their platoon in Italy who was a really big strapping guy, but he point blank refused to obey orders. I decided he no longer wanted to be in the Army after he'd reached the front line. Colin was the Sergeant and he assigned a corporal to stick with this guy and walk behind him every step of the way with a Tommy-gun to make sure he did not try to bolt, and gave orders to shoot him if he did. But somehow he got away in the night regardless. They thought that would be the lat they saw of him, but months later Norm, another of the platoon members, ended up in the No. 1 New Zealand Military Hospital, and low and behold he discovered this deserter was there in another bed. He got the MP's onto him. They found he'd stolen an officer's uniform and a jeep and had been roaming southern Italy away from the danger independently for months stealing everything he could. From memory he'd had some minor accident that put him in the hospital. He ended up being arrested and Court Martialled, and I guess he must have served a few years behind bars too.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2021 22:08:56 GMT 12
The main reason I was actually searching for deserters was a while back I found snippet reports in the Herald of police finding a large deserters camp in the bush near Wellington, where deserting soldiers who didn't want to go to, or back to, the war had been living rough in a small community. I just found this. It was in the Waikato Times (22 Nov 1943), not the Herald, and it was King Country rather than Wellington as I'd remembered. CAMP IN BUSH
MILITARY DEFAULTERS
STATEMENT BY POLICE A statement that a group of military defaulters had been located in the heavy bush country some miles from Mangapeehi, King Country, was made by Senior-Sergeant A. G. McHugh in the Magistrate’s Court, Hamilton, today when John Charles Herlihy, aged 26, described as a labourer, of Te Kuiti, was charged with refusing to answer questions put to him by a constable. The charge was laid under the National Service Regulations. The senior-sergeant said accused had been sentenced by Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., in January of last year to two months’ imprisonment for failing to obey the lawful commands of a military officer, the accused being a military reservist who had failed to report for duty. When arrested in the bush last Friday, and ever since, he had refused to give his name but the police were satisfied he was Herlihy. In court the accused, when charged under the name of Herlihy, admitted his identity. He was roughly attired in old clothes usually worn in the bush, wore hob-nailed boots, and was unshaven. Alleged Evasion of Service Senior-Sergeant McHugh went on to state that the police had been aware for some time past of the existence in the bush behind Pukemako of a camp of men eligible for military service who were ostensibly splitting posts and part time engaged in pig hunting. Efforts had been made to catch the men, and in the latest raid one man, Herlihy, had been secured. He and the other occupants of the camp were allegedly hiding to evade military service. To a question from the magistrate Herlihy said he had nothing to say about the charge. The magistrate recorded a conviction and ordered accused to be detained in a defaulters’ camp for the duration of the war.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2021 22:16:57 GMT 12
WAIKATO TIMES, 29 NOVEMBER 1943
BUSH RAID
MILITARY DEFAULTERS
EVIDENCE OF ILLICIT STILL
Further details concerning the raid made by a party of civil and military police in the bush country west of Mangapehi. which resulted in the arrest of a man named John Charles Herlihy, who was later dealt with in the Magistrate’s Court, Hamilton, as a military defaulter, show that the statement of the police in Court that an illicit whisky still had been operated was justified.
Constable H. B. Allsopp, of Te Kuiti, was in charge of the armed party of seven. They arrived at Pukemako at 2 a.m. on a Friday and proceeded about four miles into the bush. The constable, who was leading, discovered a 44-gallon drum of molasses and some kerosene tins, proving that persons had recently been there. He called to two of the men who followed him up a faint track leading farther into the bush. After they had followed this for a distance of about a mile, a hut made from canvas, sacks and tin came to view, and almost simultaneously the sound of voices coming from the gully below was heard.
Further observations revealed two men beside a whisky still. The three members of the police party quickly concealed their presence and watched the two men in the gully below operating the still. The danger of detection of the three members of the police party was enhanced by the presence of a dog who came uncomfortably close.
Awaiting Development As it was impossible to make an arrest from their positions, the three men lay concealed awaiting further developments. In about half an hour’s time one of the men from near the still came up to the camp, but returned to the still. Some time later the other man came up and went inside the hut.
Arrangements were made for Lance-Corporal Green, a member of the police party, to endeavour to cross the creek and get behind the hut. He was successful, but was noticed by the man inside the hut who caught sight of him and came out to investigate. Constable Allsopp and his companion thereupon stepped forward with drawn revolvers and the man put up his hands and surrendered. Before doing so, however, he issued a warning cry to his companion at the still, who jumped into the thick bush. Although a thorough search of the country was made no trace was found of the escapee. The dense nature of the bush considerably hampered the efforts of the searchers.
The captured man was handcuffed and brought to Te Kuiti by Constable Allsopp, the other members of the police party remaining to guard the camp and still.
Dozens of Bottles The constable returned to the area, arriving there just on dark. On making a search of the bush in that vicinity he discovered three dozen bottles, hidden under fern, which appeared to contain whisky. He and Corporal Green located a further three dozen bottles under the trunk of a fallen tree, while a further seven bottles were discovered lying against a tree. Other bottles were found buried in the ground in the bush. Liquor was also located in a barrel at the still.
In the hut were five 44-gallon drums of liquid made of molasses which it is believed was used in the distilling of the whisky. There were also molasses in a milk can. The hut contained two roughly made stretchers and was well stocked with food. It was guarded by four dogs. The presence of the whisky still was reported to the Customs authorities. It is considered by them to be crude but very elaborate.
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