During the maddening years of World War II, the Soviet Red Army executed over 150,000 of its own soldiers for desertion. Germany had still not come to terms with its defeat in the First World War. He was executed on January 31, 1945, becoming the first US soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Slovik also remains the last US soldier to be executed for desertion. Slovik remains, to this day, the last US soldier to be executed for desertion.