Death Comes to a Deserter

Synopsis

The American attack in Hurtgen Forest during WW2 cost thousands of lives. The battle destroyed an entire division in a month and became known as 'the Death Factory'. Despite outnumbering the German army, the inhospitable and unfamiliar terrain meant US soldiers were replaced over and over again. Reinforcements or 'the new boys' were drafted in regularly - often for their first taste of battle. One such replacement was an unlikely combat soldier. Pruski had only fired six rounds before. He was also in the Navy and only as the ship's cook. After his first encounter with enemy fire on the front line, he is parted from his division. Exhausted and terrified, instead of tracking down his team, he and another soldier find their way to a French hospital for refuge. On returning, Pruski writes that he will not fight and is imprisoned in the 28th Division's stockade. In what was to come, the horrific slaughter in 'the Death Factory', he had signed his death warrant.