The Brookwood Killers - Military Murders of WWII

The Brookwood Killers - Military Murders of WWII written by Paul Johnson and

published by Frontline Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 256

Nestled deep in the Surrey countryside stands the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial. Maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, its panels contain the names of nearly 3,500 men and women of the land forces of Britain and the Commonwealth who died in the Second World War and who have no known grave.

Among the men and women whose names are carved on the memorial are Special Operations Executive agents who died as prisoners or while working with Allied underground movements, servicemen killed in the various raids on enemy occupied territory in Europe, such as Dieppe and Saint-Nazaire, men and women who died at sea in hospital ships and troop transports, British Army parachutists, and even pilots and aircrew who lost their lives in flying accidents or in aerial combat.

But the panels also hide a dark secret. Entwined within the names of heroes and heroines are those of nineteen men whose last resting place is known, and whose deaths were less than glorious. All were murderers who, following a civil or military trial, were executed for the heinous offence they had committed. The bodies of these individuals, with the exception of one, lay buried in unconsecrated ground.

As Paul Johnson reveals, the cases of the ‘Brookwood Killers’ are violent, disturbing and often brutal in their content. They are not war crimes, but crimes committed in a time of war, for which the offender has their name recorded and maintained in perpetuity. Something that is not always applied in the case of the victim.

This book is packed with a large number of killers and sadly their victims during World War II. But the disturbing thing about this book is that we read about 20 murders, which is bad enough but then you realise the vast majority of these killers you have never heard of. This is both very sad for each victim but also sad that it kind of feels a little like because of who and when then these crimes occurred the killers have got away with something, as in without being known in a notorious manner.

I enjoyed this book and reading about crimes as a bit of a true crime buff, especially as I had not really ever heard of these crimes. The book is very well written, concise but comprehensive, I also enjoyed the fact that you got the crime, investigation, trial, appeal and finally the result. The author Paul Johnson has done a really good job and this book is an enjoyable read, just like his previous book Hertfordshire Soldiers of the Great War. As this book says it is staggering that these names appear on a memorial and yet even the victims' names are not, it is surprising that nothing has been done about this. This is a good book if your into true crime, it makes a change from the usual true crime books.