Weiss continued telling in headline form what he had done with the Resistance and the OSS, neglecting to mention that he had attacked a farmhouse where German soldiers had been hiding and chased the Germans cross-country to Soyons. Nor did he include in his testimony his missions to guard OSS parachute drops of men and equipment. Major Wilson asked how long he had served “with this Recon outfit.”
“I stayed with the outfit from approximately September 2nd to October 9th.”
The questions and answers established that Sergeant Scruby and the other men of his squad left the OSS at Lyons, which court reporter Corporal Trunkfield consistently spelled “Leone.” Weiss explained that he did not return to the 36th Division when the rest of the squad did, because he was sick. When he recovered, he hitchhiked to Charlie Company’s command post in the Vosges.
Major Wilson asked, “Did you report to your company commander after this?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who is your company commander?”
“Captain Simmons.”
“Did he ask where you had been?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was he satisfied with your story?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know whether or not Captain Simmons received any communication from this Paratrooper Recon outfit as to your activities when you were with them?”
“He received a citation for our fighting.”
“What date did you return to your Company—Company C?”
“October 10th.”
Major Wilson did not ask about Major Cox’s official request for Weiss’s transfer to the OSS and Weiss’s offer to parachute with the OSS into enemy territory. This would have indicated to the court that Weiss was not a coward seeking to avoid the war, but a soldier who had found his métier with the special forces rather than under a company commander he distrusted. Weiss had not had time to explain his case to his counsel before the trial. He was also, as he said later, too depressed to make his condition clear to the court.
“Weiss,” Wilson asked his client, “what caused you to leave your company on or about 16 October 1944?”
“I came back to the company and I was pretty nervous on account of the Valence deal. I nearly got killed there. I also found out that a lot of my buddies who I palled around with had been killed or wounded. I didn’t think the war was natural for America and was pretty shaken up. The fellows had been killed or wounded.”
Wilson’s next line of questioning established that Weiss went to a village on 16 October and returned after “eight days,” although he had in fact returned six days later. It further demonstrated that Weiss returned of his own will. When Wilson asked for the date he returned to the company, Weiss’s response was confused: “I believe that was on the 25th of October, or the 28th of October.”
“Was your company at the time you returned engaged with the enemy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What caused you to leave again?”
“It was artillery, sir. The shells coming in. I seemed to go all to pieces and broke down. I felt tired and worn out.”
Rather than pursue this line of inquiry, which might have revealed a psychological state that pointed toward treatment rather than punishment, Major Wilson posed no further questions.
The assistant trial judge advocate, Captain Jess W. Jones, conducted the cross-examination. “Weiss,” he began, “where did you say you were located when you were with the Maquis?”
“Right across the Rhone River from Valence.” The question was irrelevant, because Weiss’s service with the maquis was not disputed and was not an offense. In the next exchange, Weiss admitted leaving the line on 16 October.
“Why did you leave the line on the 16th?” Captain Jones asked.
“Because I broke down inside; the artillery shells were coming in and I shook all over and just went to pieces.”
“Now, did you leave the organization again on the 28th of October 1944?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were you tactically before the enemy on the 28th?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why did you leave then?”
“Intensified artillery barrage. I went to pieces again.”
“Do you know what the 75th Article of War is?”
“Yes, sir.”
“On the 16th of October 1944 did you understand what that was?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell the court just how you left on the 16th of October? When did you leave? At what time of day?”
“It was early in the morning, about seven-thirty.”
“How did you leave without anyone detecting you?”
“I don’t know if anyone detected me or not.”
“Did you walk away?”
“I got up and ran down the hill.”
“Was there shelling at the time?”
“Yes, sir.”
The next questions concerned Weiss’s two-and-a-half-hour flight through the woods, which ended with his arrival near a village. There was no reference to the French North African armored crew who gave him shelter.
“When you left this first time did you know you were leaving your organization?” Jones asked.
“Do you mean did I realize it?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I realized it.”
“Did you definitely make up your mind? Had you been thinking about it the night before?”
“No, sir.”
“When did you make up your mind to leave your organization?”
“When the artillery fell, sir.”
“When you got away from the artillery fire—say down to the foot of the hill—what did you think about down there?”
“I could hear it and was shaking.”
“On the next day, did you feel it was your duty to return to your company?”
“I was still nervous, sir.”
“Were you trembling the next day?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you feel a duty to return to your company?”
“I felt a duty, sir.”
“Did you make an attempt to go back the next day?”
“I thought it over, sir.”
“What conclusion did you come to?”
“I wasn’t fit; I would be a detriment to my unit.”
“When you finally did decide to go back to your organization what made you pick that particular day to go back?”
“My mind was clearer and I realized in the full sense of the word that I had a duty to fulfill to my organization.”
“And what did you do then?”
“I returned to my unit, sir.”
Weiss, in response to more prosecution questions, said that he was bivouacked with the company in a “little town” on 24 October and went into the line on 25 October. The Germans were firing rifles and machine guns, he recalled, but no heavy artillery. The assistant trial judge advocate asked when he left the company again, and Weiss answered it had been 28 October at about 4:00 in the morning. “What made you leave at that time?” Captain Jones asked.
“The artillery barrage, sir.”
“How did you get away? Did anybody see you when you left?”
“I imagine the soldiers saw me.”
“What did you do when you left?”
“I walked down the road for a while. I got a ‘hitch’ on a truck and went through a few villages I can’t remember by name. I stayed in a barn and cried.”
“What were you crying about?”
“I was all shaken up inside.”
“How long were you gone?”
“Two days, sir.”
“Until the 30th?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What happened then?”
“I turned myself in to the MPs.”
“At Vesoul.”
Captain Jones asked why Weiss went to Vesoul, to which he responded, “It was just as good a place as any. It was a town and I wanted to get away from the artillery.”
“I ask you on both of these times when this artillery barrage started coming in, did you really try to stay there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What went through your mind at that time?”
“My mind was cloudy. I couldn’t think straight.”
Captain Jones’s cross-examination ended without his having asked Weiss if anyone else had deserted with him. The names of the two deserters with whom he left the line on 28 October, Privates Clarence Weidaw and James (Jim) Dickson, were not entered into the court record. Nor was there mention of the desertion of Frank Turek and another soldier from the same Company C that morning, although Turek had been in the defendant’s chair only twenty-four hours earlier. These were significant lapses. If at least five men from one company were so disgruntled that they left the line simultaneously, it would not have reflected well on their commander or, possibly, on the army itself. No one asked whether Weiss had faith in Captain Simmons. No one asked if he would have stayed in the war under another commander, as he had requested to do with French captain Binoche and OSS officers Lieutenant Rickerson and Major Cox. While the prosecution would have weakened its case by drawing the court’s attention to other desertions and general dissatisfaction with the company commander, the defense was remiss to leave these facts out of the trial record. Weiss had deserted with two other soldiers. Where were they? Why were they not on trial? If others were being treated for medical conditions, why wasn’t Weiss?
The court intervened to ask three questions, none of which was relevant to the case. “When you were cut off from your company close to Valence, what did the tank destroyer open up on you with?”
“Three inch guns, sir.”
“How close were they?”
“Some hundred yards.”
“During the period you were with the Maquis did you undertake any sort of demolition? Did you engage in any fighting against the Germans during that time?”
“No, sir.”
Weiss’s confusion at this point appeared overwhelming. His time with the Resistance was not germane to the case against him. His trial was for deserting on 16 and 28 October near Bruyères, not for having been cut off from his company at Valence in August. Moreover, his answers were neither accurate nor to his benefit. He had attempted to engage the Germans at a farmhouse with Major Mathey’s maquis group, and he had also assisted Captain Binoche in demolishing a bridge over the river Rhône.
Major Wilson, undoubtedly noticing the discrepancy, refreshed Weiss’s memory. “When you were with the Maquis did you undertake any sort of demolition?”
Weiss answered, “Yes, sir.”
“What did you do?”
“We blew up one bridge that would hinder the ‘Jerries’ from coming through.”
Defense counsel had clarified part of the record, but its relevance to the charge and specifications was nil. Major Wilson was done, and the assistant trial judge advocate, Captain Jones, undertook a short re-cross-examination about Valence, where Weiss’s squad was cut off from the rest of the company. “When you were first fired on by this tank destroyer outfit was that the first time that you ever noticed being afraid very much?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was that before you got with the Maquis or after?”
“Before, sir.”
“You say you went out with the Maquis and blew up a bridge?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were you afraid at that time?”
“The nearest Germans were four miles away and they were just an occupying force.”
Captain Jones had no further questions, and the court began its re-examination of the witness.
“When you were with the Paratroopers near the Swiss border did you hear any artillery over there?”
“No, sir.”
“You fought with the Paratroopers over there?”
“One engagement.”
“What was the nature of the fight?”
“There was no fight; we expected a fight. We went up to the Italian-Swiss border and went up into the mountains and we expected to be subjected to ‘Jerry’ fire but there were no ‘Jerries’ and we got out safely.”
The trial record continued, “There being no further questions by the prosecution, the defense, or the court, the witness was excused and resumed his seat next to his counsel.”
The defense called its next witness, Sergeant Settimo Gualandi. Gualandi swore to tell the truth, and the defense counsel asked how long he had known Weiss. “Since March, sir,” he replied, which meant they had met while training at Fort Blanding in Florida. Major Wilson’s questions allowed Gualandi to tell the court that he and Weiss had hit the beaches of southern France together, served in the same squad and were separated from their company at Valence. “From the time you landed in France up to Valence did Weiss show any indication of being afraid?” Wilson asked.
“No, sir. Not at all.”
“Was your squad ever sent out on patrol?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was Weiss along with you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In the vicinity of Valence were you and Weiss together on a mission to destroy a machine gun next [sic]?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will you tell the court what happened when you were sent out on that mission?”
“We were pinned down and our squad was sent back just a little way in order to go around and flank it out. Weiss was first scout. We were following him and he was pocketed right under the machine-gun nest and the tanks came creeping up the road and opened fire; we were right near them. They were on our right and we couldn’t get back.”
“Was there any of our own fire in the vicinity?”
“It was all German at that time when we were on the right flank.”
“Then what happened?”
“We couldn’t get back because of the machine-gun shooting so we pulled back—I would say 100 yards—and we stayed in a ditch over night. The next morning our company had already pulled out and we didn’t know where they were so we went into an open field to a house and set up our own security there. Some French policemen came around on a bicycle and seen us and left right away. Pretty soon they came back—two men and a civilian came back with police uniforms. They took us out, four at a time. We went through Valence and across the Rhone River.”
“How many American soldiers were in the group that was cut off?”
“Eight of us.”
“Do you recall some of the names of the others?”
“Sergeant Scruby. He got wounded. There was Segle [sic].”
The exchange that followed elicited from Gualandi a summary of the squad’s service with the Resistance and the OSS. Major Wilson then asked whether Gualandi had gone on missions with the paratroopers. “We just went right along with them wherever they went,” Gualandi answered. “We didn’t have a special mission.”
“How did you get back to your outfit from the Paratroopers?”
“We stayed there about two days and decided we had better get back. Major Cox wrote a letter for us explaining to the commanding officer of the 143rd that we had been fighting with the Maquis and joined the Paratroopers and were under military control and on duty all the time. He wrote the letter to the general and we hitch-hiked back.”
“When you got back what happened?”
“We turned into the company commander.”
With that conclusion to the defense’s questions, the assistant trial judge advocate began his cross-examination. “Sergeant,” he said, “did the accused return to the company with you?”
“No, sir. He left u
s. He got sick when we came up to Leone [sic]. He stayed back with the Paratroopers.”
“Now,” the prosecutor asked, “were you in his squad on or about 16 October 1944?”
“After he came back he got into a different squad.”
“Were you ever around or near him when a fight was going on?”
“He joined up when we had been pulled back for a rest. Then we went up to the line again and he was with us.”
“Did he appear, at the time you saw him, to be very nervous?”
“No, sir. He seemed all right to me.”
“Did you ever see Weiss at any time in which it appeared that his nerves were out of control?”
“No, sir.”
The prosecutor asked whether Sergeant Gualandi recalled Weiss rejoining the company for the second time on 28 October and returning to the line. He did remember.
“When you got up there did you receive an artillery barrage?”
“We moved into the 142nd position and there was a barrage.”
“Was there a barrage the first morning? A ‘Jerry’ barrage?”
“I can’t recall, sir. I couldn’t swear to it.”
“Can you recall whether there was a ‘Jerry’ barrage around four o’clock in the morning?”
“I can’t recall, sir.”
“You say you were with the accused on the 28th?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did he appear extraordinarily nervous to you in any way?”
“No, sir. He appeared all right.”
The court reporter noted, “There being no further questions by the prosecution, the defense, or the court, the witness was excused and withdrew.”
The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II Page 27