Boy Soldiers

[Rosemary Clarke]

Following discussions in earlier threads, some of you may be interested to know that David Lister's biography of Abraham Bevistein (shot at dawn aged 17) is to be published by Pen and Sword on 28 February.

Also, Richard van Emden's book Boy Soldiers of The Great War, will be published in March by Headline Books.

Both books can be pre-ordered/ordered via Amazon (via this Forum, of course) and are sure to make for interesting reading.

Best wishes

Rosemary

Rosemary

[robbie]

Die Hard, Aby!: Abraham Bevistein - The Boy Soldier Shot to Encourage the Others by David Lister. (2005)

Hardcover 208 pages (February 2005)

Publisher: Pen & Sword Books / Leo Cooper

ISBN: 1844151379

I was searching through the new Military History books on Amazon and found the above book.

THen I did a search and found Rosemary's thread posted a couple of months ago.

It looks really interesting. Has anyone read it, and if so what's your view of it?

Robbie

[Chris_Baker]

Just to give some context for anyone who is unfamiliar with this case.

Abraham enlisted under the surname of Harris, joining the 11th (Service)Middlesex Regiment in September 1914. The bn became part of 36th Brigade in 12th (Eastern) Division and went to France in May 1915.

He was slightly wounded near Givenchy in December 1915 and returned to the battalion on 19 January 1916.

On 13 February 1916 at Sailly Labourse, he "when ordered to return to the trenches absented himself...until apprehended at La Flanderie on the same day".

Harris himself said at his court martial, "I left the trenches because three rifle grenades exploded near me. I was deafened and my nerves had gone a bit. The quartermaster sent me to Captain Ward RAMC and he passed me as fit for duty and told me I was fit for the trenches. The quartermaster told me to report to the adjutant and gave me a note for him. He told me to return to teh trenches and warned me it was a serious thing not to go back. I felt nervous and lost my head. I wandered around the town towards Bethune into La Flanderie, thinking to stop there a few days and then return to my regiment".

Various other evidence was given which appear to have broadly confirmed the story, but perhaps the evidence that swayed the decision was that of a Madame Cordionne, who ran a farm where he had been billeted and to which he had returned in the afternoon of the day in question. She said, "He said that the Germans had been bombing our trenches and he had left them and was going to England".

Harris was executed on 20 March 1916, having been found guilty of desertion.

It seems that it was only afterwards that his family made it known that he had enlisted at the age of 18 years and 3 months, without their permission.

[robbie]

Thanks Chris. So the title is a little misleading - "boy" soldier should appear in inverted commas.

Robbie

[Tom Morgan]

I think that David Lister has done well in piecing together quite a few key aspects in the life of A. Bevistein - someone who has always been something of a mysterious figure.

He also goes into a lot of detail a concerning the trial, and if I remember correctly, he has discovered that for a large part of the post-trial proceeedings, A. Bevistein's papers were "sent upwards" attached to the file of another man of quite different character and temperament. Of course, each man's case should have been considered in isolation.

I found it an interesting read.

Tom

[robbie]

Thanks Tom. I'm sure I'll like it - enjoy a good trial.

Robbie