DID ANY COUNTRY BOOBY TRAP DEAD BODIES OR ITEMS IN TRENCHES THEY ABANDONED?

[RICHARD1959]

[Malcolm Linham]

Richard

I am not aware of any country booby trapping bodies , however there were several reports of Germans being exceedingly inventive in booby traps during the 1917 retreat to the Hindenburg Line.  I wold suggest the greatest loss of life was caused by a delayed action device that exploded in the Bapaume  when in excess of 20 Australians were killed. 

I am away at present so cannot out my hands on other examples , but I seem to remember that the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers were tasked with searching captured German dugouts.

Hope this assists,

Malcolm 

[AOK4]

Reports about British booby traps after their 1915 retreat around Ypres can be found in German sources. Both sides were using booby traps, I would say.

[phil andrade]

Without having sources to hand, I would opine that , yes, the horrors of this war were sufficiently developed that booby trapping the dead was a method resorted to.  
 

 

Phil 

[Chasemuseum]

I have not read any reliable source discussing booby trapping the dead in WW1.

 

When you look at reports of booby trapping corpses during the Vietnam War, this is by a communist force who place a low value on their own dead and have no respect for enemy dead. They knew that the US forces placed great value on their own dead, so if a US soldiers body could be mined, that US forces when regaining control of where the body was located - they would attempt to recover it. In the same way that it was standard US/Australian practice to conduct a detailed search of enemy dead for intelligence purposes, also that for field hygiene if VC/NVA troops tried to over run a US/Australian fire base, that the US/Australian troops would clear the enemy dead immediately after the battle. This conflict gave good opportunity to booby trap the dead.

 

By comparison the Western Front of WW1, the belligerents of both sides generally held a strong cultural respect for the dead, both their own and the enemy. While the conflict seldom gave the opportunity to mine fresh kills before departing an area. Add to this, the various explosive detonators were not well suited to the task. By WW2, many of these conditions had changed and the use of boobytraps in fluid warfare was much more widespread.

[WhiteStarLine]

1 hour ago, Chasemuseum said:

 the belligerents of both sides generally held a strong cultural respect for the dead

Booby traps on equipment and in dugouts were very common.  Early in 1918 a German booby trap consisting of a bomb with a delayed action fuse, hidden in a 
petrol powered electric motor, exploded in an AIF area and all ranks were warned that this was common.  My grandfather photographed a dugout and enlarging an area shows that the 11th Field Coy had completed the inspection and chalked that it was safe.

To booby trap a corpse in a mass attack setting would be impossible to do consistently.  There would be numerous horrified witnesses who would share the story, even if only in post-war accounts.  As the attackers are looking for recent dead to find current maps, messages, documents etc, the specialist defenders tasked with this would have to move to these bodies, many of whom had just been killed because they were in an unsafe area themselves.  If the attack was unsuccessful and never even penetrated the trench system (as so many of them were), then these booby-trapped bodies need to be cleared again before burial, once again in full view of their comrades.

There are numerous accounts of humanity on both sides, such as the Germans waving through Australian stretcher-bearers into German territory to retrieve Australian wounded post-Passchendaele.  This kind of soldier is not going to stand by idly as someone rigs up high explosive to the body of a close comrade who has just died next to them.

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

While is some cases that may be true " booby trapping corpses during the Vietnam War, this is by a communist force who place a low value on their own dead"

I found they went to extremes to recover their dead, not to booby trap them, but the bury them.

We often had trouble finding their dead after a fight, finding only blood trails.

That they like anyone else, took advantage of doing that to someones dead, they did not know, is always possible.

My reading and studies of our forces at places like Bapume, where a number of Aussie Light horsemen were killed, when the building they were in exploded after being booby trapped.

But doing it to ours or their dead I don't recall they doing that?

S.B

[AOK4]

I agree that while booby trapping was common, I haven't found any reference to booby trapping bodies.

[Chasemuseum]

Unquestionably the use of boobytraps during planned retreats in 1917 and 1918 was common. This is well documented by contemporary accounts. It involved both the use of mechanical trip mechanisms and delayed action fuses. The products available for both were not well engineered and both were relatively unreliable. Devices developed in WW2 were much more improved, but were still inconsistent, to Hitler's personal good fortune.

 

 

[Chasemuseum]

20 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

While is some cases that may be true " booby trapping corpses during the Vietnam War, this is by a communist force who place a low value on their own dead"

I found they went to extremes to recover their dead, not to booby trap them, but the bury them.

We often had trouble finding their dead after a fight, finding only blood trails.

Agreed. The importance of VC/NVA casualties included both the management of moral within their forces and an understanding of how the US forces were using body counts to assess their battlefield success/failure and garner support for the war effort back in the USA. 

 

My infantry training was in the mid 70s, following the conflict, I was not there, but the people who instructed me were. They taught us to always take precautions when clearing enemy dead. Every soldier carried at least one toggle rope, we were trained to use all the ropes in the section, to move a corpse, in case an M16* mine or equivalent was fitted under it. That would give us about 50 to 70m clearance from the blast. We could use judgement on a fresh kill from an attack, where only a grenade could have been placed under the corpse. As a general rule of thumb trying to use only one or two ropes would garner vocal criticism from the directing staff in the debrief after the exercise.

 

*its too many years now for me to remember, but I think the dangerous radius from the M16 "jumping jack" mine was about 100m. So even with all the ropes in the section, it was still necessary to take cover, and only have the party who were clearing the dead in the greater area.

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

Agreed, I am from the same time, and we had to be careful about touching the bodies, as you never know. Thats why we had toogle ropes on our webbing.

But I never saw any that were, that's not to say, one didn't have a grenade under the body. Weather it was planted by the enemy or he just died with the grenade, you can take your pick.

 

Edited 4 July , 2022 by stevenbecker

[Wigeon]

 " The body of a British soldier was found to have a grenade attached to the wrist in such a manner that it would explode if the body was incautiously moved."  Quote from September 1918 Amendments to SS 163 " Hints on Reconnaissance for Mines and Land Mines in the Area evacuated by the Germans." dated May 1917. Naval and Military Press Reprint. 

"Malice Aforethought. A History of Boobytraps from World War One to Vietnam." by Ian Jones describes the same or  similar event and also mentions an incident of a boobytrapped dressing station, disturbance of of a body would fire a concealed charge.

If there is mention of dealing with boobytrapped bodies in any of the Tunnelling Company War Diaries I missed it.

 

I

[Bob Davies]

I was reading this topic some time ago. It may give you more answers or not! Here is a link; 

 

Booby-trapped bodies?

---

By derekjgregory,
15 April , 2021 in Medical Services (Home and Abroad)

  Share

Follow0

• Reply to this topic
• Start new topic

derekjgregory

• 
• Members2
• •  25
• Location:Vancouver
• Interests:Medical care and casualty evacuation on/from the Western Front; attacks on hospitals, dressing stations &c (especially from the air)

 

Posted 15 April , 2021

I've just been reading A voice from the trenches 1914-1918: from the diaries and sketchbooks of Bernard Eyre Walker RAMC, edited by Sara Woodall (Blackthorn Press, 2020; original in the Liddle Collection at the Brotherton Library in Leeds).  It's well worth reading, not least for his marvellous sketches: Walker went on to become a renowned water colourist.  

 

On two pages Walker - who served as a stretcher-bearer and orderly with the 81st Field Ambulance – refers to booby-trapped bodies and the hazards they posed to stretcher bearers (especially, I imagine, RSBs).  

 

3 March 1918: ‘RAP Gouzeaucourt.  Near Queen’s Post there is an effigy in khaki lying face downwards on a stretcher.  The back of the head has sunk in, and there are wires showing, but their course has not been traced.  He has been fenced off, until the results of misplaced German ingenuity can be rendered “ineffective”.’  

 

6 March 1918: ‘Frank Garrett and I went to Tyke Dump for rations this morning and took a look at the booby traps there.  A body is lying face downward on a structure something between a wooden framework and a stretcher on the top of a bank, next to a half-dug grave.  It wears haversack-pack, water bottle and trenching tool.  The face is resting in a steel helmet; one hand holds the back of the head, the other lies pal upward by his side.  One leg is straight, the other partly bent and the foot averted.  The hands look discoloured now but seem to be of wax.  Part of the back of the head has fallen away showing a bit of wooden framework and two wires.  A hole in the trousers shows some stuffing too, but originally it must have been quite a deceptive dummy.’
 

Walker sketched the last effigy.  I've read about booby-traps before, especially when German forces were in retreat, and I've read the various threads discussing them elsewhere on the Forum.  But I can't find any discussion (or even a mention) of bodies being rigged up in this way -- and since they must have posed such a risk to stretcher-bearers I thought it worth asking if anyone has anything to offer on this?

 

Edited 4 July , 2022 by Bob Davies

[phil andrade]

1 hour ago, Wigeon said:

 " The body of a British soldier was found to have a grenade attached to the wrist in such a manner that it would explode if the body was incautiously moved."  Quote from September 1918 Amendments to SS 163 " Hints on Reconnaissance for Mines and Land Mines in the Area evacuated by the Germans." dated May 1917. Naval and Military Press Reprint. 

"Malice Aforethought. A History of Boobytraps from World War One to Vietnam." by Ian Jones describes the same or  similar event and also mentions an incident of a boobytrapped dressing station, disturbance of of a body would fire a concealed charge.

If there is mention of dealing with boobytrapped bodies in any of the Tunnelling Company War Diaries I missed it.

 

I

Well, there it is, then.

More no holds barred than many imagine.

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

 

[ilkley remembers]

Stories of booby trapped bodies appeared in the press during the war years most it would seem having begun life in the pages of the Daily Mail and Daily Express. Perhaps a slightly more credible story is this one which is from the ‘Ealing Gazette and Middlesex Observer’ dated Sat. 12th Oct. 1918. Given the informant details contained within the article it might be possible to trace the originator of the report.

[phil andrade]

On 03/07/2022 at 01:18, Chasemuseum said:

 

 

 

 

By comparison the Western Front of WW1, the belligerents of both sides generally held a strong cultural respect for the dead, both their own and the enemy. 

Is there scope for circumspection here ?

The Germans recorded their dismay at the failure of the British and Australians to clear the field of their dead at Fromelles in July 1916. This had happened in the same sector the previous year, apparently.

 

Again , when the Germans recovered the Passchendaele Salient in the spring of 1918, they were appalled to find the dead of the fighting of the previous autumn still unburied.

 

They also evinced this reaction to the failure of the French to inter their dead. I’ve read several allusions to this in German accounts.

 

This might reflect the unwillingness of the Allies to be seen as acquiescing in the status quo : by seeking to gain permission to recover their dead, they might be acknowledging the German occupation and thereby yield some form of psychological or moral advantage.

 

This raises the question : if the Allies were unwilling - or, of course, unable - to recover their dead, what purpose would be served by booby trapping the corpses ?

 

The situation in the early months of 1917 , with Operation Albericht, and the final months of fighting in 1918, afforded the Allies a chance to deal with their dead as they advanced, and it might be no coincidence that it was in these periods that we see references to the practice of the Germans resorting to this ghastly expedient.

 

 Phil 

 

 

 

 

[PRC]

6 hours ago, ilkley remembers said:

Perhaps a slightly more credible story is this one which is from the ‘Ealing Gazette and Middlesex Observer’ dated Sat. 12th Oct. 1918. Given the informant details contained within the article it might be possible to trace the originator of the report.

Article shows the recipient of the letter, Frank Allen, was a managing director of Moss’ Empire.

Moss Empires was a company formed in Edinburgh in 1899, from the merger of the theatre companies owned by Sir Edward Moss, Richard Thornton and Sir Oswald Stoll. This created the largest chain of variety theatres and music halls in the United Kingdom. The business was successful, with major variety theatres in almost every city in Britain and Ireland, and was advertised as the largest group in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Empires

On the 1911 Census of England & Wales there is a 60 year old Frank Allen, born Sunderland and a Director & Manager of Theatres who was recorded as the widower head of the household at Woodlawn, Kingston Hill, Kingston Vale, Putney (London) S.W.

Living with him is his married daughter Anna Maud, (aged 24, born Sunderland) and her husband of under 1 year. He was Douglas Johnston, aged 30 and a Chartered Accountant.

The birth of an Annie Maud Allen, mothers’ maiden name Holliday, was registered with the civil authorities in the York District in Q4 1886. But no candidate in County Durham.

The marriageof a Douglas Johnston to an Annie Maud Allen was recorded in the Chelsea District of London in Q2 1910.

The wedding, at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street on May 7th, gets a few mention in contemporary newspapers. The reports may give details of any siblings.

On the 1901 Census of England & Wales, when his wife Frances, (aged 30, born Durham). was still alive, the couple had “5” daughters listed, although I suspect the fifth is actually the first of the household servants, and the census taker was having a bit of a mare when he filled out the schedule from his notes. The first four are far from easy to make out:-

Image courtesy Genes Reunited

Phyllis Allen, aged 18, born Barrow-in Furness. No obvious match in the civil birth records for England & Wales.

Iona? \ Lorna? Allen, aged 7, birth place not shown. No obvious match in the civil birth records for England & Wales.

Blanche? \ Iolande? Allen, aged 16, born Northumberland. No obvious match in the civil birth records for England & Wales.

Frances Allen, aged 12, born Surrey. No obvious match in the civil birth records for England & Wales.

No obvious match for Anna Maud on this census

Father Francis was staying by himself as a visitor on the 1891 Census of England & Wales. No obvious match for his wife and family, so can’t tell if there are additional daughters.

So potentially at least five daughters who lived into adulthood, and without the certainly of knowing their full birth names and with the relatively common surname of Allen, it would be very difficult to know if and whom they married.

I turrnd to the internet to see if Frank Allen was famous enough to feature on any websites – particularly ones that might mention his daughters.

One of the matches I found for the man who was managing director of Moss Empire from December 1912, (following the death of Sir Edward Moss, the founder), until December 1919, featured this cutting.

The blogpost where I found it has the couple marrying in the Rochford District of Essex in the summer quarter of 1917, the bride being listed in the civil marriage index as Frances K. Allen. Claud Holland Russell survived the war. (Image rights remain with the original source. There may be restrictions on reuse.) http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-bit-more-on-claude-russell.html

The MiC for Captain ClaudE Holland Russell, M.C., shows he first landed in Flanders as a Second Lieutenant serving with the 4th Battalion on the 24th November 1914. When he applied formally for his medals in May 1920, his contact address was given as 78 Clarence Avenue, Northampton.

The blog posting linked to above records him as wounded at the Hooge in 1915.

While I can see him in the index of the British Army Monthly Lists for October and November 1918, and the column references given woulkd see him serving with the Royal Fusiliers, I could not find him in the relevant column, so can’t identify from that route which unit he was serving with. With the unit information it might then be possible to look up a war diary.

Unfortunately lots of loose ends and little more than a baby step forward

Cheers,
Peter

[ilkley remembers]

@PRC Thanks for the very Comprehensive reply. Spend a couple of hours this morning trying to progress it further but sadly to no avail. I think that Claude Holland Russell is probably the best bet as the originator but finding which battalion he was attached to is extremely difficult. I did however manage to find a cleared photo of Kitty Allen

[AOK4]

British booby traps, as described in an order by the German 4th Army in 1917: