TRAGEDY OF GREAT WAR

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 45, 22 February 1930, Page 20

TRAGEDY OF GREAT WAR

will take your' men tliero' this afternoon and. carry out a practice to make sure tli'at everything goes,'off without a. hitcli.". "'■■ ;. ' ; '•'." ' That was all. I saluted^and walked out into the sunshine. That afternoon, with the larks singing overhead and the air lazy with the buzz' of insects, I marched the firing party up to the old range. In front ofone of <the butts a tall stiake had been driven firmly, in to ; thei ground... .: . .... •As the u.CiO. halted the party and stood them at ease, I noticed a group of figures in uniform standing in a circle in the nest field about 400 yards away. In the centre of the circle stood a hatless and forlorn figure. '■ "That's Sergeant ," said a wili- | tary . policeman. , "They 'ire reading out the-\.-promulgation of. the courtmartial to him.' 1 That hatless figure, standing iv the hot sunshine of that drowsy- summer afternoon', was learning for the first time that he had" only a few hours to live. And here'were we,'• little more than a stone's throw away, rehearsing how to send the man to his doom! How i stark a tragedy.: war had staged! Probably as his fate was Being read put tv him the sergeant's eyes strayed to us. Perhaps he wondered about us. I hoped fervently he would have no inkling of the truth. '~ 'j- ■ ■ As they* marched him away my men were facing the stake in. two rows of fl ve —one. standing, the other kneeling —and practising coming up.::to the aiming position. ,- '.• That night we slept in ail old German internment camp near;'the execution, field. The next morning we were awakened about-4 a.m. by;, a military policeman. " Before, we moved off I paraded the firing patty, in my hut and had a heart-to : heart ijalk with ■.them. •'-'.:. :. ■ ' -".ii .'II. don't ..want you to^'have any false ideas about being merciful by not shooting straight,'-' I said. ; f'The only way you-can be'-'kind now- .iS;: to shoot straight "and- put;'him -'ou.t1 of it quickly."■■';..;. ' . fj',' Half an hour later we reached the scene.-that had been laid^for/.the execution. ' ....-:. ..-"'- .'■ 'In front of the stake were gathered a kuotf.of officers, smoking and chatting. They. were A.P.M.'s from all over France, .who! had been .detailed to witness' the ' execution for tional purposes." Polished- fieldboots, gleamed wet with tho morning dew; hero and there I picked out 'tho red of staff tabs. Five yards from the stake'l halted tho firing party. They grounded arms in two rows of five, and thoj uon-coin-missionod ofliccr then roarohod them off a dozon yards, whero theyhemained with their backs to the firing point. I then went along the rowl oJ; rifles and loaded them with nine rounds of ball and one of blank. !

MAN SI-lt)T FOR .DESERTION

A hundred yards from the stake had been erected a bell' tent in which the doomed man had passed the night, Suddenly the. flaps'of the tent parted and' two military policemen appeared with the sergeant between' them. ■'■'■■ In rear was.a padre. . ; "The padre has"been with him practically- throughout, the. night,"- the A.P.M. remarked. •:. ■ ' •; ■ Over the'doomed man's eyes had been tied a white .bandage. They had taken away Ms kilt because of the disgrace to the tartan, and ,he was clad .in a shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Swiftly the military policemen placed him against the stake and began to bind him to it, with ropes. A doctor stopped up and pinned a white disc— tho target for the firing party—over his heart. . . ■ ' ' Suddenly, tho doomed man's mouth opened and he began to speak in a] high, quivering voice. "Boys!" he said. "Boys, I'm innocent 1 It was through an officer that I did this." . "Get him tied up! For God's sake get him tied up!" screamed the A.PJkL in a panic. I The military policemen finished theii; j work and skipped out of the way. The only spoken word of command to a firing party is 'the command "Fire!" j Every other or.der is given silently by signals'.', ..,'-.. '. . .- .- ... I signalled to tho n.c.0., who was facing me to give,the party the about turn. They came round with a, click of heels. : I waved them forward on to their rifles, then up to the aiming position. ■ . There was a click of safety catches. The sergeant opened his mouth again. "Boys ... "he began. What he was going to say we never knew. • "Fire!" I shouted, in a voice that sounded strangely different from thy own. Ten rifles spat flame. Through the drifting smoke I saw the sergeant's face contort in ■■•its-'-death agony, saw his. body, twist,and fall- limply- against theropeg: that .held him up. . His ■ arms I and feet twitched. • '• ';:' v | "He's not dead! They've ndt killed him! You'll have to finish him off," wailed the A.P.M. wringing Ins hands. I droi my rovolyer and waited, while tho military policemen cut down the poor body and the doctor examined it. '... "He's quite, dead," said the, doctor, after what seemed.an ago. "There are five shots through the disc and four all round.the heart. Death must have been instantaneous." , '■ ' ''You don't want me' any more?" 1 •asked the; "A'.p;M. -,-':■■■;•- "No," he replied."' And then—aa'aii afterthought—"Thaiiks." . •: '! As I marched my party back to camp we passed tho G.S. wagon on which they, woro taking the body for burial in. the .military, cbnietory. ~'-'. ..,'./-

, We saluted. it...\"But. i for. the' grace of God . .'."l. thought! .'■;.[■■.: ...