This was the title of the latest Herts At War lecture over at the University of Hertfordshire given by ex-army officer and now lecturer Dr John Greenacre.
A possibly controversial subject was handled with sensitivity & intelligence by tonights speaker. It concentrated on the trail and eventual execution of Private Benjamin Hart of 1st/4th Bn The Suffolk Regiment. Our speaker was born and bred in Suffolk and works at the University of Suffolk and as Hart was the only man from the Suffolk Regiment to be shot it peaked our speakers interest, not necessarily because of his story. Of the 364 soldiers shot most were for desertion, far more were sentenced to death but 'mitigating circumstances' had many sentences reduced to imprisonment.
Our speaker dispelled alot of the myths around what happened at Courts Marshal, for instance the board of officers, in effect the jury, were not all staff officers far from the front line. Of the four officers on Hart's board one had an MC & would go on to win a VC, he and one other were to be killed in action later in the war so they knew what sort of circumstances Hart had come from. Hart was accused of desertion as he went missing shortly after his platoon had been warned about going into the front line trenches. He appeared again a couple of days later and was arrested. It transpired that he'd deserted before and been sentenced to prison once the war ended, he'd not been an exemplary soldier by any stretch of the imagination and had other charges against him and other punishments including No1 Field Punishment, this entailed being tied to a post or wagon wheel for any two hours in twenty four just to be humiliated. They were also given extra guard duties and fined (my Grandad Pte William Morgan 1st Kings Dragoon Guards suffered this punishment for being drunk on picquet duty).Hart had also been buried alive by a mine earlier on and had to be dug out, he said he'd had trouble with his nerves ever since. Hart didn't speak for himself though he could have and called no witnesses to help him. In many ways his fate was sealed. Once the sentence is passed it goes up the command chain to brigade,division & corps for approval at each stage before the sentence is carried out. At the division level the general who had the file in front of him thought Hart's nerves were worthy of more investigation and he was sent for four days to see a neurologist who pronounced him mentally fit. From the divisional general it when to the Corps Commander Lieut General Rawlinson no less who wrote:' I consider an example should be made.' One more stop for Field Marshal Haig's signature and that was it. Though it must be noted that everyone involved with this were soldiers, there was no one with any legal training involved at all.
Benjamin Hart was shot by firing squad on 6th Feb 1917 and buried at Suzanne Military Cemetery No 3 in France. Not in an unmarked grave as some think but with a Commonwealth Wargraves Commission headstone.
Of all the Commonwealth countries who took part in the war only Australia refused to shoot its own men. The death penalty was available but no General could pass it. It would have to have gone to the Governor General back in Australia for sanction and none ever were. It was also known that if Australian troops passed by a soldier on No1 Field Punishment, more often than not they'd untie him! Execution for desertion was stopped soon after the war, the phrase 'Lack of Moral Fibre' became more prevalent in the second world war but at least they couldn't be shot.
Dr Greenacre wasn't trying to influence audience opinion but put the facts to us and showed there was due process and rules & regulations to the whole sad tale. In the Q&A session afterwards he was asked whether officers were treated differently, he said they must have been as only three officers were ever shot by firing squad. It was a very interesting talk and one I'm glad to have heard.
My opinion? I don't think there is any excuse to shoot your own soldiers. They surely had enough to deal with being out in the horrors of the trenches never mind the thought their own side might shoot them if they transgressed. Hart could have been suffering from what today would be called post traumatic stress, sadly words that did not exist in 1917, but t
here seems something particularly abhorrent with executing your own men.
John Greenacre (on the right) prepares for the lecture.
