British Soldiers trapped behind the lines - and executed by the German

[Hedley Malloch]

Please may I tap the collective knowledge and expertise of the GWF?. I am researching British soldiers who were trapped behind the lines, caught and executed by the Germans. Below is a list of the names I have and their brief personal details. I am certain that all the names listed below fall into this category - but have I missed anyone?

For purposes of this study I am not concerned with soldiers who were the subject of battlefield executions, so I suggest that names are confined to those who died in 1915 or later, who are known to have been captured, were formally charged with something, and who passed before some type of judicial hearing in front of a senior German officer.

Name Rank & No. Regiment Age Died Buried

Buckley, George, Private 10665, 1/East Lancashire Regt. Died: 15/01/15 Buried: Ligny-en-Cambresis Communal, Nord

Carnell, Richard John, Serjeant 10516, 1/East Lancashire Regt. Aged 23. Died: 15/01/15. Buried: Ligny-en-Cambresis Communal, Nord

Haggett, Robert, Private 10622, 1/East Lancashire Regt. Aged 22. Died: 15/01/15 Buried: Ligny-en-Cambresis Communal, Nord

Cowgill, Harold, Private 9856, 1/East Lancashire Regt. Aged 26. Died: 15/01/15 Buried: Ligny-en-Cambresis Communal, Nord

Murray, D.E., Corporal 10844 1/East Lancashire Regt. Died: 13/05/15 Buried: Fontaine au Pierre Communal, Nord

Digby, Robert, Private 9368 1/Hampshire Regiment Aged 31 Died: 30/05/16 Buried: Le Catalet Churchyard, Aisne

Martin, David, Private 7636 1/Royal Irish Fusiliers Died: 27/05/16 Buried: Le Catalet Churchyard, Aisne

Donahoe, Thomas, Private 8537 1/Royal Irish Fusiliers Died: 27/05/16 Buried: Le Catalet Churchyard, Aisne

Thorpe, William, Private 8561 1/King's Own (Royal Lancs Reg) Died: 27/05/16 Buried: Le Catalet Churchyard, Aisne

Nash, John, Private 10084 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers Aged 21 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Stent, John William, L/Cpl 6943 15th (The King's) Hussars Aged 24 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Moffatt, James, L/Cpl 7925 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers Aged 30 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Horgan, Daniel, Private 9852 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers Aged 19 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Howard, George, Private 9381 2/Connaught Rangers Aged 28 Died: 25/02/15 Buried:Guise Communal Cemetery

Walsh, John, Private 6594 2/Connaught Rangers Aged 33 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Murphy, Terence, Private 8713 2/Connaught Rangers Aged 29 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Thompson, William, Private 9472 2/Connaught Rangers Aged 24 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Buckley, Denis, Private 6240 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers Aged 34 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Innocent, Frederick, Private 7845 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers Aged 27 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Wilson, Matthew, Private 7010 2/Connaught Rangers Aged 36 Died: 25/02/15 Buried: Guise Communal Cemetery

Lay, George, Private 9968 1/Royal Berkshire Fusiliers Aged 22 Died: 28/04/15 Buried: Etreux Communal Cemetery

Hands, Thomas, Private 10825 1/King's Own (Royal Lancs Reg) Aged 21 Died: 8/03/15 Buried: St. Quentin Northern Communal Cemetery

Hughes, John, Rifleman 10234 2/Royal Irish Rifles Aged 20 Died: 8/03/15 Buried: St. Quentin Northern Communal Cemetery

I am unsure about the following names. Does anyone have any information about the circumstances of their deaths?

Name Rank & No. Regiment Age Died Buried

Tierney, Michael, Private L/14500 4/Middlesex Regiment Aged 19 Died: 04/11/14 Buried: St. Symphorien, Mons

Clark, George Henry, Private L/14684 4/Middlesex Regiment Died: 04/11/14 Buried: St. Symphorien, Mons

Spence, Thomas James, Private L/9509 4/Middlesex Regiment Died: 04/11/14 Buried: St. Symphorien, Mons

Spiers, Walter Private, 8705 1/Royal Scots Fusiliers Died: 05/02/15 Buried: Mons Communal Cemetery

Whistle, Sidney Robert, Private 7664 1/Royal Scots Fusiliers Aged 30 Died:27/04/15 Buried: Mons Communal Cemetery

We plan to reopen the Iron 12 website in the next few weeks and we may include a page on other soldiers who suffered the same fate, starting with the soldiers listed here. Acknowledgements will be given to all who help.

Many thanks in advance for all contributions.

Hedley Malloch

Chair, Iron Memorial Fund

[horatio2]

Four POW ratings of Hood Battalion RND were executed by German Military Command on 24 June 1918 for the murder and robbery of a wounded German soldier:

Able Seamen William BUNTING (TZ/2293), William HAMILTON (CZ/5328), Bernard HEPBURN (CZ/5798) and Gordon LOCKHEAD (CZ/5366).

All are buried in Lowrie Cemetery, Havrincourt.

Pre-1915 - Lieutenant Commander Oswald HANSON RNVR, Benbow Battalion, RND, was executed at midday 11 October 1914 by the German Military Authorities (In connection with the attempted escape of POWs at Exaerde 10 October 1914. He assaulted a German Guard who was about to fire on his men.) He is buried in Dendermonde Communal Cemetery Extension

[Hedley Malloch]

Horatio,

Thanks for this. My main interest is in soldiers who were on the run, who had not been previously taken into custody, who were not PoWs at the time of their arrest.

[horatio2]

Just for clarity - the four Hood ratings were not POWs but trying to evade capture behind enemy lines when they were involved in the killing. When subsequently captured and arrested they became POWs and were tried and executed but they may still not meet your criteria.

[tullybrone]

Hi,

I seem to recall a BBC journalist (BBC Paris Correspondent?) writing a non fiction book about 10 years ago about soldiers "left behind" in Northern France on the retreat from Mons but can't remember his name. They were hidden by French families. I think one of the men mentioned was Hampshire Regiment. IIRC he was discovered and executed in 1915.

EDIT

Having had a closer look at the above list I see the man I recall from the book is likely Pte Digby, Hampshire Regiment, executed 1916.

2nd EDIT

The book I mention above is by Ben McIntyre - published 2001 - please see synopsis/reviews via below links.

US title The Englishman's Daughter -

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-12985-9#path/978-0-374-12985-9

UK title A Foreign Field -

http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Field-Story-Betrayal-Great/dp/1841973696

Steve Y

[Old Tom]

I can not add to the list but wonder at the circumstances of the executions. Understandable when a POW has attacked a guard and it the soldier has taken to wearing civilian clothes. However Hedley,s opening statement implies that the soldier should have been treated as a POW. No doubt in the heat of the moment some such soldiers were shot, but execution suggests a considered judicial action. Is there any record of of the German officers concerned being investigated or tried?

Old Tom

[Guest]

Have you checked the ICRC POW records for info, ie R J Carnell

Cheers Mike

[David Filsell]

That is a disturbing list. Although many of the 'Huns dastardly deeds' against civilians in Belgium are now fairly fully detailed, I had no I idea that so many Brits had been executed. Was there any post war investigation into the justification for ?the sentences passed

[Steven Broomfield]

6389 Corporal Herbert Hull (11th Hussars) was exceuted on 21st October, 1915. He had been an evader (along with Pte Fowler of the 11th) but was betrayed and shot. He is buried at Caudry.

[Loader]

Wonder how many of them were still in uniform when caught? Will bet some were. I too hope there was some sort of investigation after the war & justice meted out in kind.

[Ron Clifton]

According to Statistics, during the war the British executed 47 prisoners of war and civilians by sentence of courts-martial or military courts. Many of these were for spying and the rest seem to be for "offences against inhabitants" which probably means murder.

Some of the executions by the Germans may well have been summary or without proper process, but it is possible that others were indeed tried and legally executed after due judicial process. The case of Edith Cavell is one such example.

Ron

[David Filsell]

We have 23 Brits listed in post one in 1915 - and none later. Seems strange to me that these events seems so little known about and equally that it would appear the deaths were not investigated!!

[Hedley Malloch]

Just for clarity - the four Hood ratings were not POWs but trying to evade capture behind enemy lines when they were involved in the killing. When subsequently captured and arrested they became POWs and were tried and executed but they may still not meet your criteria.

Horatio - thank you for this. That clarifies things. I have seen their file in the TNA, but I will revisit. Worth an inclusion, I think.

Tullybrone - thanks for the heads up on Ben McIntyre. His soldiers are on my database

Old Tom - there is a strong case for their treatment as PoWs, but they were not. Why not is an interesting question.

Broomers - Hull, yes of course. I have a note of his name. He has to go in. Thanks.

Loader - some were, some were not. It did not seem to make any difference.

Ron - all of the soldiers on the data base were executed after due process. I agree that there were others executed without due process. But I need to keep the study tight. If I loosen the criteria then I move into areas like battlefield executions which are much harder to pin down.

David - Spot on! Why indeed? British soldiers on the run were being captured well after 1915, but nothing bad seems to have happened to them.

Should the Germans responsible have been prosecuted? The British seemed to think so in 1918, but nothing much seems to have happened in the 1920s. There were two rounds of trials, the first in Leipzig in 1923; the second organised by the Germans (the Reichstag trials?) at the end of that decade. But nothing much came of them. I need to know more about them. In the 1930s the subject of war time atrocities is swept under the carpet of appeasement. From the 50s onwards there were bigger and more recent atrocities with which to be concerned.

Many thanks again. All contributions welcome.

[Hedley Malloch]

Have you checked the ICRC POW records for info, ie R J Carnell

Cheers Mike

Mike,

Thanks for this. This is the same Carnell. My reading of the card is that his wife has made an enquiry to the ICRC as to his whereabouts. Their information is ambiguous: he is recorded as 'disparu officiellement' which could mean either that he has died or gone missing. From the context I assume that it means he is dead. The date written above this information is 21/1/15 which is within a week of his death. There is no supporting PoW registration card for him.

So the German response is that yes, they know about him, he is not a prisoner of war, and he is not around anymore. They don't say where he is, or what role they may have played in the process. Very interesting.

[JimSmithson]

Could I point you all to the book 'Trapped Behind Enemy Lines' by John Anderson & Victor Piuk, published in October last year. I think it, or if contacted they, will answer all your questions. They have a dedicated Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1642720179349746/?fref=nf

Jim

[seaforths]

Ah sorry I'm a late comer to the topic but I've just been reading about the Lille Four today which you are, Hedley, no doubt aware of. Two were reunited with the British when Lille was liberated and two transported to Belgium ahead of the British advance (as civilians) and one of the two seems to disappear without trace. He's the only one not fully identified only as Thomas A. born Sheffield, age 24, First Cyclists' Battalion. I doubt his fate will ever be known and he seems to have had some serious mental health issues, possibly resulting from shell shock, while they were trying to shelter and hide him.

Edit: one of the two transported to Belgium had a French civilian I.D. card issued by the Germans (that was Clifford Thomas) but Tom A. hadn't as far as I know an I.D. card, forged or otherwise.

[seaforths]

Four POW ratings of Hood Battalion RND were executed by German Military Command on 24 June 1918 for the murder and robbery of a wounded German soldier:

Able Seamen William BUNTING (TZ/2293), William HAMILTON (CZ/5328), Bernard HEPBURN (CZ/5798) and Gordon LOCKHEAD (CZ/5366).

All are buried in Lowrie Cemetery, Havrincourt.

Pre-1915 - Lieutenant Commander Oswald HANSON RNVR, Benbow Battalion, RND, was executed at midday 11 October 1914 by the German Military Authorities (In connection with the attempted escape of POWs at Exaerde 10 October 1914. He assaulted a German Guard who was about to fire on his men.) He is buried in Dendermonde Communal Cemetery Extension

Just wondered if you had a source for the information regarding Lt. Hanson? I have come across the information before, possibly a forum thread. It is at odds with a report given by Louis Grieg, RN Surgeon.

Many thanks and sorry Hedley, I'm not trying to divert, just curious...

[Guest]

This will be Hanson ICRC Click

Mike

[seaforths]

Thanks very much Mike, strangely - I didn't think of looking there as he never reached Germany. I did find the threads on the forum that I had seen the information before and the threads pre-date the release of the ICRC records. Also a discussion somewhere involved with Phil Evans which I will look for as there seemed to be anomalies between the burial places in Belgium of some of the men - they were buried some considerable distance to where they allegedly died/were shot which would have meant, if that really happened, transporting their bodies by road or rail but can't recall if that thread/information also pre-dated CWGC release of exhumation records...something for me to revisit anyhow - it's just finding it again

With regard to Thomas A. He was last seen in Brussels in October 1918. Clifford Thomas: 'Tom and Bernard (Bernard Duvocelle - a Frenchman, helped Tom on the journey to Brussels) arrived in Brussels a few days after me. We were all included among the evacues. Tom introduced me to Bernard, whom I had never met before. Tom's foot was in a bad way, but he got it attended to. It was a German who saw to it...That Hun did his job very well. He must have been a doctor or a Red Cross man, I should think. All was going well, but one fine evening Tom went off without a word. We looked for him everywhere, but had no luck. Was he collared by a German patrol? Did he lose himself? I don't know. As soon as we got to Brussels the English made inquiries. Nothing came of them.'

The British were also made aware of Tom's existence because when Lille was liberated, Mme Tierce handed in the pay books of all four men to the British Authorities. Tom had injured his foot just before he made the journey to Brussels. He had been spotted by a German at the window of the house he was staying at and he ran from the house with the German in pursuit. He had no shoes on and cut one of his feet badly leaving a trail of blood for the German to follow. A French woman in the street gave him her slippers and he managed to lose the German and get to another safe house. It was after that, the decision was made to smuggle him from Lille with the French civilians. The Germans had issued a proclamation on 1st October that all males between 14 and 60 report to the Citadelle with various supplies as stated in the proclamation - these boys & men were then marched to Belgium in batches. This would have made it very difficult for them to shelter Tom in Lille any longer as he had given himself away by opening the window. Tom and Bernard Duvocelle were in the last batch to leave Lille.

Source: Between Two Fires, Antoinette Tierce.

I've a feeling that I might have a file on the woman, a Miss Smith in Lille, that sheltered him that might give more clues as to his identity.

[MelPack]

Should the Germans responsible have been prosecuted? The British seemed to think so in 1918, but nothing much seems to have happened in the 1920s. There were two rounds of trials, the first in Leipzig in 1923; the second organised by the Germans (the Reichstag trials?) at the end of that decade. But nothing much came of them.

Hedley

From distant memory (so I could be wrong), I think that the Leipzig trials were concerned exclusively with naval matters such as the sinking of hospital ships and the killings of merchant seamen. There were a couple of convictions of junior naval officers but, somehow, serendipity intervened and they escaped from prison.

[Hedley Malloch]

Jim - I have 'Trapped Behind the Lines' - it's a good book.

Mel - I need to know more about the Leipzig trials, but thanks for the clarification.

Thanks to all.

[Guest]

The Leipzig Trials

Mike

[MelPack]

Hedley

I have just checked to see what is available online. The British submitted seven specimen cases, only four of which were proceeded with - two for the maltreatment of PoWs (my mistake) and two naval cases:

ICRC pdf here; https://www.icrc.org/ihl-nat.nsf/0/a986f1b231839183c1257641004f12ee/$FILE/German%20war%20trials_1921_EN.PDF

The Leipzeig trials; an account of the war criminals' trials and a study of German mentality by Claud Mullins (1921) here:

https://archive.org/details/leipzeigtrialsac00mull

[lostinspace]

Hedley,

I think you can scratch Pte. S.R. Whistle off your list; according to the ICRC site he died at 8:45 am on 27 April 1915 of a "complicated pelvic fracture". He was captured after being wounded in the right hand and buttocks (per German records) on 23 Aug., 1914. The hospital was referred to as "Feld. Laz. 5. Flenu b. Jemappes". Apparently he was cared for by Belgian nurses as the last paragraph states (via Google Translate): "He died peacefully after having been surrounded for eight months of diligent and dedicated nursing care and especially by sister Eugene of the black sisters of Mons." Sidney (or Sydney) was 30 years old. Here is the link to this information: http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search/#/3/2/107/248726/Britishand Commonwealth/Military/Whistle

Dave

edit: You will have to type in "Whistle" (as the link won't take you to the page I referenced), and then input PA 2005 and R 11083 to get all the info.

[Hedley Malloch]

Dave - thank you for the information on Whistle. I'll cross him off the list. Three of the four other Mons cases interest me as they all apparently died of wounds on the same day. I think this is highly unlikely unless the wounds were administered by a German firing squad.

Mike and MelPack - thank you for the Leipzig links.