Reenactment of the execution of a British soldier for desertion.


If anyone knows who's to credit for this scene, please let me know and will give credit. 

Today 104 years ago, on December 3, 1917, British Private Joseph Bateman was executed for desertion.
Unlike other British soldiers who were "Shot at Dawn" during the First World War, not much is known about Private Joseph Bateman, but this is what we know:
Joseph Bateman was born in Wordsley, England around 1889. In November 1913, he married a woman named Florence Rudge, and on their first anniversary in November 1914, Bateman enlisted into the British Army with the 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment of the British 2nd Division.
Bateman arrived on the Western Front sometime in 1915 or 1916, and most likely fought on the frontlines on the Somme. However, less than 6 weeks into his service, he went missing for unknown reasons.
When he was found he was put into detention and then released on a warning, though the following day he went missing again, for which he was eventually court-martialed and sentenced to death by firing squad for desertion.
Also in 1915, Bateman's wife Florence gave birth to his daughter, whom they had probably conceived before he left for the front. It is unlikely that he ever saw his daughter.
In the early hours of December 3, 1917, Private Joseph Bateman was executed by a British firing squad in the village of Ytres near the Somme. He was buried in the Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery south of Ytres.
During the First World War, over 3,000 British Commonwealth soldiers were sentenced to death, of whom 346 were actually carried out.
On October 31, 2006, some 90 years after the First World War, the Armed Forces Act of 2006 was passed, granting an official pardon of 306 British Commonwealth soldiers executed during the First World War, most charged with desertion.
The remaining 40 executed soldiers of the 346, who weren't pardoned, were 37 soldiers executed for murder and 3 for mutiny.

Comments

  1. Effector DhanushanthJanuary 29, 2024 at 12:08 AM

    But why was Bateman's death said to be horrible? Or am I missing something?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A U.S. marine gives a cigarette to an injured Japanese soldier, buried in the sand at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Image
A U.S. marine gives a cigarette to an injured Japanese soldier, buried in the sand at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Equipped with a grenade, the soldier lay in ambush for 36 hours. Marines spotted him concealed in the dark sand and managed to dislodge the grenade out of his reach. Although he surrendered, the cautious Marines suspected potential booby traps and approached carefully. At his request, he was given a cigarette, and thereafter, they cautiously removed him from the shell hole. The 3rd and 4th Marine Divisions broke up the remaining organized resistance on March 16, 1945, the same day this photo was taken. Occasionally individual enemy soldiers armed with demolition charges and grenades raced out against tanks or groups of Marines but were shot down before they could do any great damage to personnel or equipment. Isolated pockets, totaling some 3,000 enemy soldiers, remained around the island. US V Amphibious Corps Command declared Iwo Jima secure at 1800...
Read more

American soldiers execute SS camp guards who have been lined up against a wall during the liberation of Dachau concentration camp.

Image
Following the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, American troops felt an urge to personally punish the camp's guards. What exactly transpired still isn't known. Dachau concentration camp, located in the state of Bavaria, Germany, was the first concentration camp established by the Nazi regime. On April 29, 1945, Dachau was liberated by the U.S seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division. Corpses of prisoners in the Dachau death trains. 1945. But it wasn’t just liberated. Reports indicated that, appalled by what they saw, members of the U.S army were driven to take revenge. They allegedly murdered the SS officers and guards who were responsible for the Holocaust horrors that took place at Dachau. The troops arrived at the Dachau concentration camp in the afternoon. They were on their way to Munich which was just over ten miles from Dachau. Though the troops passed through Dachau, it wasn’t initially a part of the attack zones they were headed for. ...
Read more

This photograph captures one of the last moments of this woman’s life.

Image
Cheng Benhua was a resistance fighter who gave her life defending her home country of China against the Japanese Imperial Army.  She has become a symbol of bravery in the face of death and unspeakable abuse.  Not long before striking this defiant pose, Cheng Benhua was repeatedly abused by her Japanese captors.  Despite the awareness that she would soon be killed, she still managed to put on a devious smile that made it seem like she was taunting the soldiers around her. Cheng Benhua's unwavering courage in the face of death has become an iconic representation of fearless resistance. A photograph, taken by a Japanese photographer shortly before she was fatally wounded in 1938, captures her unyielding spirit.  Not long before striking this defiant pose, Cheng Benhua was repeatedly abused and raped by her Japanese captors.  Despite enduring severe mistreatment at the hands of her captors, she appears to smile as she fa...
Read more