A German spy's information

[michaeldr]

I am currently reading Len Sellers' book 'Shot in the Tower'. It is the story of the WWI spies executed in the Tower of London. The book could not come with a higher recommendation; in July 2008, in the Wall Street Journal, Dame Stella Rimington listed her five best books about spies in Britain and 'Shot in the Tower' was her No.1!

A] Chapter III, concerns Carl Frederick Muller, of whom Sir George Aston asserted that much of the information which he collected was correct. This being so, then to what was Muller referring when he wrote to his masters regarding shells manufactured at Woolwich containing 'petrol and Naphtha'?

B] Before Muller was executed at the Tower, on 23 June 1915, he shook hands with each of the eight guardsmen who made up his firing squad. Perhaps the guardsmen did know, or perhaps they did not know, that their ammunition was of a special kind on that particular morning; "Prepared bullets were to be used at the execution, and orders were issued that the medical officer at the Tower of London should submit a confidential report as to their effects on the body, as information was required for future guidance as to the extent to which the top of the bullet should be filed and how else should they be prepared."

Has anyone heard of this, or similar experiments, and do they know at what they were (for want of a better word) aimed? e.g; was mass production of these rounds considered seriously in 1915?

Thanks in advance

Michael

[Gunner Bailey]

Michael

Petrol and Naphtha sounds like napalm to me. Anyone know if this is right?

Use of a Dum Dum bullet would I suppose be legal in these circumstances as a civil execution would be outside of the Geneva and Hague Conventions, especially as instantaneous multiple shots should have meant instantaneous death. Morally correct is a different question.

Gunner Bailey

[michaeldr]

Use of a Dum Dum bullet would I suppose be legal in these circumstances as a civil execution would be outside of the Geneva and Hague Conventions

GB,

That's an interesting point. Muller's trial was civil and held before the Lord Chief Justice,

however his execution was certainly military and not civil

quote from the Lord Chief Justice; "...you will be imprisoned in His Majesty's Prison at Brixton, and the Sheriff of the County of London is hereby charged with your safe custody, and with the duty of handing you over at the expiration of such time to the competent Military Authority."

Michael

[Gunner Bailey]

Use of a Dum Dum bullet would I suppose be legal in these circumstances as a civil execution would be outside of the Geneva and Hague Conventions

GB,

That's an interesting point. Muller's trial was civil and held before the Lord Chief Justice,

however his execution was certainly military and not civil

quote from the Lord Chief Justice; "...you will be imprisoned in His Majesty's Prison at Brixton, and the Sheriff of the County of London is hereby charged with your safe custody, and with the duty of handing you over at the expiration of such time to the competent Military Authority."

Michael

Michael

The civil / military division is interesting in spy cases as I believe most (all?) were tried in civil courts, but executed by the military, so I would personally be unsure where they sat legally. It is interesting that someone in authority would feel the German spy was a suitable case for ballistic experiments! Not much respect there I suspect.

GB

[michaeldr]

GB,

The civil / military division is interesting in spy cases as I believe most (all?) were tried in civil courts

As I indicated in post No.1, I have only read the first three chapters of Len Sellers' book

however the impression gained so far is that Muller's civil trial was the exception (he was tried together with a another man who, as a British national, could not be tried by a Court Martial) The others were tried before military courts with Major General Lord Cheylesmore presiding.

Michael

[Gunner Bailey]

Michael

I may be confused with WW2 spies here.

GB

[truthergw]

I do not think naphtha was a constituent of napalm. Perhaps this was an experiment with incendiary shells? Perhaps this was the part of his information that was not correct?

Geneva convention would not cover an execution. It banned the use of dum dums in battle.

Legal is what the government of the day decides is legal. Who would lodge a complaint? Who would prosecute it? Who would you prosecute? Presumably not the firing squad? It is only in very recent years that citizens of any European country have had some limited recourse to a supra-national tribunal as an individual.

[TonyE]

A very interesting comment on the ammunition. It would seem from the description that the ammunition started out as normal Ball Mark VII, since the orders refer to "..extent to which the top of the bullet should be filed and how else should they be prepared."

I do not know of any work that was done during WWI to increase lethality of the .303 ball bullet, and filing the tips simply increased the danger of the core blowing through leaving the envelope in the barrel. Some work was done in 1918 with bullets with an air void in the tip of the bullet, but this was connected with saving aluminium rather than any more sinister purpose.

Could it have been to compare the effect of the bullets on the condemned man with wounds sustained by British soldiers to see if the Germans were filing their bullets?

Regards

TonyE

[Gunner Bailey]

I do not think naphtha was a constituent of napalm. Perhaps this was an experiment with incendiary shells? Perhaps this was the part of his information that was not correct?

Geneva convention would not cover an execution. It banned the use of dum dums in battle.

Legal is what the government of the day decides is legal. Who would lodge a complaint? Who would prosecute it? Who would you prosecute? Presumably not the firing squad? It is only in very recent years that citizens of any European country have had some limited recourse to a supra-national tribunal as an individual.

Tom

Found on web

Napalm was developed at Harvard University in 1942-43 by a team of chemists led by chemistry professor Louis F. Fieser, who was best known for his research at Harvard University in organic chemistry which led to the synthesis of the hormone cortisone. Napalm was formulated for use in bombs and flame throwers by mixing a powdered aluminium soap of naphthalene with palmitate (a 16-carbon saturated fatty acid) -- also known as napthenic and palmitic acids -- hence napalm [another story suggests that the term napalm derives from a recipe of Naptha and palm oil]. Naphthenic acids are corrosives found in crude oil; palmitic acids are fatty acids that occur naturally in coconut oil. On their own, naphthalene and palmitate are relatively harmless substances.

I got this from

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys...ions/napalm.htm

Hence my original comment.

John

[michaeldr]

Tom, Tony & John,

Thanks all, for your input which is much appreciated here

I have been thinking along the same lines as Tony regarding the form of execution;

since the weapon was banned and as far as we know was not produced in war time GB,

then I wonder if reports/complaints from the front were being investigated here to see if wounds, reported as possibly from this weapon, matched the results of this test.

I agree with John's comment that such an experiment was morally questionable, but the executed spy was said to have died instantaneously

It had also occurred to me that a possible explanation for the curious mixture allegedly put into shells (but could have been cylinders?) might have been early work on a Flame-thrower – Does anyone know if Woolwich worked on this and if so from when?

regards

Michael

[auchonvillerssomme]

This might be a stupid question, i haven't seen the book only the references here....could filing be filling?

Mick

[michaeldr]

Mick,

I've re-checked and the word in the book is 'filed'

I know Len's approach to Great War history and I very much doubt that he has slipped up here

The ref which he quotes in his notes is "PRO Kew. WO141/2/2. Report of 23 June, 1915, marked 'Confidential', from Brigade Major, Brigade of Guards."

There is also a report by the Surgeon-Colonel, Honourable Artillery Company (W. Culver James) filed at the same Kew ref

recommend the book strongly

regards

Michael