The Crucified Soldier

[Soren]

A depiction of the story of the Canadian crucified Soldier

[Augustine]

I did a search for other posts on this forum regarding this incident, but nothing turned up here.

Found quite a few articles online, however. This is from Wikipedia:

Harry Banks

Harry Banks, born 16 March 1896 in Yorkshire, England (although other sources suggest that his name was "Harry Band" and that he was born in Montrose, Scotland in August, 1885), was an Allied soldier serving in the Canadian Army who may have been crucified with bayonets or combat knives on a barn door or a tree, while fighting on the Western Front during World War I.

Three witnesses said they saw an unidentified crucified Canadian soldier near the battlefield of Ypres, Belgium on or around April 24, 1915 but there was no conclusive proof such a crucifixion actually occurred. The eyewitness accounts were somewhat contradictory, no crucified body was found, and no knowledge was uncovered at the time about the identity of the supposedly-crucified soldier.

Nevertheless, the story made headline news around the world and the Allies repeatedly used the supposed incident in their war propaganda, including an early propaganda film titled The Prussian Cur which included scenes of an Allied soldier's crucifixion. A three-foot bronze sculpture by British artist Francis Derwent Wood of a crucified soldier titled Canada's Golgotha was included in an 1919 exhibition of wartime art in London, but the sculpture was withdrawn from the exhibit after protest. (The sculpture was also displayed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 2000, again provoking some controversy.)

Even during WWI the German government protested the falseness of this atrocity story and after the end of the war they formally requested the Canadian government provide proof. With no knowledge of the identity of the soldier and having only a few eyewitness accounts, the crucifixion story was labelled a propaganda falsehood by an independent British inquiry.

In 2002, British documentary filmmaker Iain Overton claimed to have uncovered new historical evidence which identified Harry Banks as the soldier who had been crucified. Banks, a soldier in the 48th Highlanders, 15th Canadian Infantry Battalion, First Division of the Canadian Corps, was reported missing in action on April 24, 1915 near Ypres. Other soldiers in his unit wrote to Bank's sister Elizabeth to express their condolences; a year later, one of them finally confirmed in a letter to Elizabeth that her suspicions her brother had been "the crucified soldier" were true.

The circumstantial nature of all the known historical evidence has left the truth of this highly controversial story unresolved. It is known that a Harry Banks enlisted into the Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force on September 1, 1915 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The only other publicly available knowledge on Harry Banks is located at the National Archives of Canada and consists of national service enlistment forms, with no information about the notorious alleged incident.

I was curious what others' reations might be to the story/legend, but this being the Art section, I suppose I should pose my questions elsewhere.

Anyway, I've enjoyed looking at all of your artwork here and am impressed with the range of subjects you've covered.

[Andrew Hesketh]

Another excellent piece of work.

The incident referred to has been discussed at some length on this forum before, but I can't find it on a search either!

[Owen D]

Sorry, Soren, not enough life in the figures. Not dramatic enough for me.

[Augustine]

Sorry, Soren, not enough life in the figures. Not dramatic enough for me.

The emotions are somewhat ambiguous (as opposed to the execution drawing where so much emotion was conveyed through simple postures and facial expressions). I don't get as much of a sense of what everybody is thinking or feeling here as with many of the other drawings.

But then...what sort of emotions WOULD be running through these soldiers' minds? Would there be pure bloodlust and anger, or would there be elements of fear, revulsion, or hesitation among them? What, without evidence either way to draw from, no pun intended, would be most true to human nature in this case?

As for the alleged incident itself, it only seems plausible if it was motivated by anger and the thirst for revenge. A methodical premeditated crime seems less likely. The "Bloodthirsty Hun" stereotype of WWI German troops was am image that propagandists tried to perpetuate, and with a few exceptions (every military force has its few exceptions), that was far removed from reality. My opinions anyway.

[Soren]

Sorry, Soren, not enough life in the figures. Not dramatic enough for me.

I was not sure what to do with the figures expressions, I wanted to steer clear from the blood thirsty hun imagery, I suppose I was thinking of the nonchalance I have seen in the few existing pictures of atrocities from WW2 that exist.

I'm thinking of the Aussie airman about to be beheaded by a Japanese officer, and secondly the photo's of the |Nazi's during Ghetto clearances and whilst shooting civilians, they always seem to be a weird ambience about them, sort of matter-of-fact I feel.

Soren

[shinglma]

As for the alleged incident itself, it only seems plausible if it was motivated by anger and the thirst for revenge.

There are previous threads on this subject which were triggered by the showing of a tv programme in the UK.

You might want to look at this thread here or simply search on "crucified".

Mike

[Gunboat]

I have not visited this part of the forum before and I now regret this as the standard of work is great.

I have to agree that I thought the figures looked a bit formal and lifeless, but the hatching technique you use is wonderful and how you have captured the suggestion of the location i.e. the building and doorframe with just a few strokes is wonderfully done