Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 17 March , 2003 Share Posted 17 March , 2003 Just finished re-reading George Coppard's book 'With a Machine Gun to Cambrai'. The chapter where he talks about when he was suspected of doing a 'self inflicted wound' has always interested me. I can imagine that most real cases were court martialled but what was the usual punishment when found guilty? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 17 March , 2003 Share Posted 17 March , 2003 Ian, Not quite what your looking for but a total of 3904 soldiers and officers were convicted of SIW. 8 ofc were convicted under General Courts Martial 4 ofc under Field General Courts Martial 10 ORs by District Courts martial 3882 OR s under Field General Courts Martial Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 From the "Field Service Pocket Book " 1914,ammended 1916. Page 223. Chapter 8 "Discipline" : Section 18 (2a) - "33. Wilfully maiming himself with intent thereby to render himself unfit for service. - Maximum punishment : Imprisonment ". Not quite a full answer to your question,but I hope it helps, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 Joe/Dave, Many thanks. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Lines Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 Hi Ian Looking through my paperwork on a Canadian battalion I've managed to find references to seven men in battalion orders regarding men who wounded themselves all in 1918. For five of them all it says is......Classified Injured "Negligently Self Inflicted"....... followed by the date. No punishment is stated which leaves I think two possibilities, either they were evacuated to the U.K. and if it was felt necessary dealt with at a later date or they were not badly injured and stayed with the battalion without punishment. The others state 1.......Sentenced to 28 days Field Punishment No.1. Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline (wounding himself by negligent handling of a firearm.) 2. Convicted by Field General Court Martial of When on Active Service conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, Negligently wounding himself and sentenced to 70 days Field Punishment No.1. Reduced later to 56 days. Judging by this limited snapshot it appears as ever that there was no standard punishment. I imagine it varied depending on how negligent/deliberate the man was thought to have been, his previous record, moral of the battalion etc. If you are interested I can give you the names and numbers of these men so you can order their service records. These would confirm whether the first five were sent to England or punished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 Not to belittle this erudite discussion, but my father and my uncle's recollection of service in the Middle East and North Africa (the former as an officer, who would have had to enforce it) was that sunburn could be treated as an SIW. I would have had hell of it being red headed and pasty.. Has anyone seen any such cases from Mesopotamia /Gallipoli/Salonika or the like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesmessenger Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 SIWs were usually put in special hospitals in France. On recoveryFP No 1 was the usual award. They also went to the bottom of the leave roster. Charles M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 Alan/Phil/Charles, Many thanks - Al can you e-mail the names and number of the Canadians. Thanks, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Lines Posted 18 March , 2003 Share Posted 18 March , 2003 Ian I will email the details on Friday. Sun burn is still probably classed as an SIW. I remember two lads being sent home early form a particularly nice detachment I was on in 1987 for the hideous crime of being badly sun burnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
182 CEF Posted 19 March , 2003 Share Posted 19 March , 2003 Hi Ian Looking through my paperwork on a Canadian battalion I've managed to find references to seven men in battalion orders regarding men who wounded themselves all in 1918. For five of them all it says is......Classified Injured "Negligently Self Inflicted"....... followed by the date. No punishment is stated which leaves I think two possibilities, either they were evacuated to the U.K. and if it was felt necessary dealt with at a later date or they were not badly injured and stayed with the battalion without punishment. The others state 1.......Sentenced to 28 days Field Punishment No.1. Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline (wounding himself by negligent handling of a firearm.) 2. Convicted by Field General Court Martial of When on Active Service conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, Negligently wounding himself and sentenced to 70 days Field Punishment No.1. Reduced later to 56 days. Judging by this limited snapshot it appears as ever that there was no standard punishment. I imagine it varied depending on how negligent/deliberate the man was thought to have been, his previous record, moral of the battalion etc. If you are interested I can give you the names and numbers of these men so you can order their service records. These would confirm whether the first five were sent to England or punished. Al, could you please tell me what Battn this is? Thank you Dean ps. In the 1980's during Winter indoc, Soldiers on the course were told if they got frost bite if their feet, they would be charged with SIW. This course was help in CFB Petawawa in an area called (as I remember) Pine Point. Ans man it WAS cold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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