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The Plot of Shame: US Military Executions in Europe During WWII
This book describes the men who were executed for crimes committed in the European Theater of Operations during and just after the Second World War.
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery is the last resting place of 6,012 American soldiers who died fighting in a small portion of Northern France during the First World War. The impressive cemetery is divided into four plots marked A to D.
However, few visitors are aware that across the road, behind the immaculate façade of the superintendent’s office, unmarked and completely surrounded by impassable shrubbery, is Plot E, a semi-secret fifth plot that contains the bodies of ninety-four American soldiers. These were men who were executed for crimes committed in the European Theater of Operations during and just after the Second World War.
Originally, the men whose death sentences were carried out were buried near the sites of their executions in locations as far afield as England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Algeria. A number of the men were executed in the grounds of Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset – the majority of whom were hanged in the execution block, with two being shot by a firing squad in the prison yard. The executioner at most of the hangings was Thomas William Pierrepoint, assisted mainly by his more-famous nephew Albert Pierrepoint.
Then, in 1949, under a veil of secrecy, the ‘plot of shame’, as it has become known, was established in France. The site does not exist on maps of the cemetery and it is not mentioned on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s website. Visits to Plot E are not encouraged. Indeed, public access is difficult because the area is concealed, surrounded by bushes, and is closed to visitors.
No US flag is permitted to fly over the plot and the graves themselves have no names, just small, simple stones the size of index cards that are differentiated only by reference numbers. Even underground the dishonored are set apart, with each body being positioned with its back to the main cemetery.
In The Plot of Shame , the historian Paul Johnson uncovers the history of Plot E and the terrible stories of wartime crime linked to it.
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery is the last resting place of 6,012 American soldiers who died fighting in a small portion of Northern France during the First World War. The impressive cemetery is divided into four plots marked A to D.
However, few visitors are aware that across the road, behind the immaculate façade of the superintendent’s office, unmarked and completely surrounded by impassable shrubbery, is Plot E, a semi-secret fifth plot that contains the bodies of ninety-four American soldiers. These were men who were executed for crimes committed in the European Theater of Operations during and just after the Second World War.
Originally, the men whose death sentences were carried out were buried near the sites of their executions in locations as far afield as England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Algeria. A number of the men were executed in the grounds of Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset – the majority of whom were hanged in the execution block, with two being shot by a firing squad in the prison yard. The executioner at most of the hangings was Thomas William Pierrepoint, assisted mainly by his more-famous nephew Albert Pierrepoint.
Then, in 1949, under a veil of secrecy, the ‘plot of shame’, as it has become known, was established in France. The site does not exist on maps of the cemetery and it is not mentioned on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s website. Visits to Plot E are not encouraged. Indeed, public access is difficult because the area is concealed, surrounded by bushes, and is closed to visitors.
No US flag is permitted to fly over the plot and the graves themselves have no names, just small, simple stones the size of index cards that are differentiated only by reference numbers. Even underground the dishonored are set apart, with each body being positioned with its back to the main cemetery.
In The Plot of Shame , the historian Paul Johnson uncovers the history of Plot E and the terrible stories of wartime crime linked to it.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published March 3, 2023
About the author
Paul Johnson
133 books775 followersPaul Johnson works as a historian, journalist and author. He was educated at Stonyhurst School in Clitheroe, Lancashire and Magdalen College, Oxford, and first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine. He has also written for leading newspapers and magazines in Britain, the US and Europe.
Paul Johnson has published over 40 books including A History of Christianity (1979), A History of the English People (1987), Intellectuals (1988), The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815—1830 (1991), Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000 (1999), A History of the American People (2000), A History of the Jews (2001) and Art: A New History (2003) as well as biographies of Elizabeth I (1974), Napoleon (2002), George Washington (2005) and Pope John Paul II (1982).
Paul Johnson has published over 40 books including A History of Christianity (1979), A History of the English People (1987), Intellectuals (1988), The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815—1830 (1991), Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000 (1999), A History of the American People (2000), A History of the Jews (2001) and Art: A New History (2003) as well as biographies of Elizabeth I (1974), Napoleon (2002), George Washington (2005) and Pope John Paul II (1982).
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February 19, 2023
There are some stories which are just a bummer no matter how you write it. Paul Johnson takes the hit for all of us by writing The Plot of Shame. The book examines the men who are buried in a sequestered portion of a U.S. military cemetery in France. This potion of the cemetery is for the men who were tried, convicted, and executed by the U.S. military during World War II. They don't have headstones with their names on them. An American flag can never fly over this part of the cemetery.
Johnson gives some background on how this plot came to be and then jumps into selected stories of some of the men buried there. I am conflicted on how to rate this book as it is more of a collection of true crime vignettes as opposed to a singular story. Additionally, the brutality of each episode is nothing but horrible outcomes for everyone involved. It can feel like a slog at times, but I don't think you can blame Johnson for it. He's working with what he has and has clearly done a tremendous amount of research.
Ultimately, this is a very niche book which is not going to uplift you in any way. It is well written, but I am not sure it comes together as a book because of its subject matter.
(This book was provided to me by Netgalley and Pen & Sword.)
Johnson gives some background on how this plot came to be and then jumps into selected stories of some of the men buried there. I am conflicted on how to rate this book as it is more of a collection of true crime vignettes as opposed to a singular story. Additionally, the brutality of each episode is nothing but horrible outcomes for everyone involved. It can feel like a slog at times, but I don't think you can blame Johnson for it. He's working with what he has and has clearly done a tremendous amount of research.
Ultimately, this is a very niche book which is not going to uplift you in any way. It is well written, but I am not sure it comes together as a book because of its subject matter.
(This book was provided to me by Netgalley and Pen & Sword.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review