If a soldier in the 1st w/w refused to go over the top would he have been shot for cowerdice?

evandrea

Yes he would have been sentenced to be shot by firing squad after a Courts Martial which could be held in the field. The Manual of Miltary law still to this day carries this sentence, for such offences committed by miltary personnel, however it can not be carried out under the civillan law of Great Britain and a lesser sentence will always be awarded.

squeaky

Are you watching mid summer murders?
Answer yes they were shot for cowardice - although most of the poor souls actually were suffering mental problems and shell shock and would have been better treated for psychriatric illness

Yes almost certainly. Poor souls.

SteveLaw

Yes, they were. No-one understood "shell shock" then. You might find this interesting.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1219478.ece

Bomber1961

yes after a being court martialled.

I don't believe it!

I think so, after a trial I think.

Jude

Yes.

insane_mad_maniak

yea, they were shot on the line, so no one else would want to say there not going because they would be shot too.

capa-de-monty

probably

bert

Yes, after a "trial" an excellent book on the subject is "Shot at Dawn" I'm sorry that I have no more details of the book, it is well worth searching for though !

jason c

Yes, some times after a trial but sometimes on the spot.
Ja.

CLIVE H

Yes and a great many soldiers of the British Army were indeed shot for supposed cowardice in the face of the enemy for refusing to go over the top. We now know that many of these men, if indeed not all of them, were actually suffereing from what was then called "shell-shock" following months in the trenches with the shells exploding all around.
Anyone would go nuts.

I heard of one soldiers [sorry cannot remember his name] who was wounded, and suffereing from shell-shock was sent back to a field hospital. After about three days, one of the doctors asked him, "would you like to go to the seaside for a day?" Yes, replied the soldier. He was taken by the doctor and put on a truck with other wounded and they were all sent back to the front. He was in no fit state to be anywhere near the front and refused to go over the top. He was tried, found guilty and shot dead. He has subsequently received a pardon and his name is now on his village memorial.

I think the UK.gov have been cowardly in the extreme over the years for not investigating fully all of these cases of men being shot for cowardice. I think many of the officers responsible for their trials and those who signed the death warrents should have been dragged up into court to answer for their own crimes. Most of these officers did damn all and spent all their time hundreds of miles away from the front in such as Brussels.

Old soldier - none of my family ever fought in WW-One - my grandfather fought in the Boer war in South Africa c1898-1900 and did not have to serve in WW-One. My dad did WW2 came back okay. I joined the British Army as a boy 15 in 1957 and came out again in 1965 - no war - only the Cold War which we won anyway.

GunnyC

The French actually had a mini-revolt about it and court martialed many and shot them; units that refused to had every tenth man shot using a random drawing. Russians used the same process. I do not know of any Americans shot for it or British but probably some did refuse and were court martialed but not shot.

beckythepirate

Yes.

Gerry Atrix

Not all , but many were, even though they were suffering from what is now called post traumatic stress disorder.
They have just been granted a posthumous pardon.

Aren't they lucky.

Shambles

Probably. I know of a case where a soldier was in a forward observation post which was overrun and his commanding officer told him to get back to the battalion and raise the alarm. The soldier stuck his rifle down in the trench to trip the Germans up to slow them down. As he had no rifle with him when he reached his battalion he was arrested and eventually shot for cowardice.

forgivebutdonotforget911

Yes. they were. Except for the French. When the French Army mutinied in 1917, nothing was done to them. They waited for the Americans to come and take the front for them.

Outspoken but Honest

They were shot there and then be the senior officer with his pistol they didn't have time for court marshals

Shock and Awe

As an long time airborne infantryman (16years), now current paralegal in the army, for refusing a direct order: the issuing officer didn't just plain out shoot our Soldiers (at least not in our U.S. Army).

Bottom line, we didn't shoot our guys in WW1. The only guy we excuted for desertion was PVT Slovik in WW2! The British Empire executed approximately 346 Commonwealth soldiers during WWI. These individuals were convicted of either desertion, cowardice in the face of the enemy (refusing an order to attack), striking an officer, or sleeping on guard duty. Not one Australian soldier was convicted of these crimes, but 23 Canadians were, as were four Irishmen.

Anyway, I hope this helps and didn't overload you....

Jaz

Yes they were.. I'm doing this in class :L

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