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The Thin Yellow Line
The summary execution by firing squad of confused and shell-shocked British soldiers in World War I by their comrades still arouses heated passions, over eighty years later. Calls for posthumous pardons are still made in Parliament on behalf of these men who were tried by flawed courts martial and shot within hours of the verdict. William Moore's presents a compassionate account of the dreadful proceedings that caused 346 men to be executed by their comrades.
270 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 15, 2018
A book about the history of ‘cowardice?’ mainly in WWI .
The author writing prior to 2018 states that the British government did not release its trial records of men executed in WWI for cowardice.
Also details of trials could only be given to the defendant who was by then dead since most court martials executed the prisoner by dawn when the poor soldier in many cases was not even aware of the sentence. It angered me to see many famous names ordering the executions quite randomly and these mainly concerned the privates and not the officers .
One must remeber that in WWI under age boys of even 15 and 16 lied about their age just to be admitted into the army and do their duty to the country.
It was no eye opener of the violence that the soldiers had to live with. If you lagged behind you may be shot in the back for not facing the enemy's machine gun bullets while the generals with their medals on their chest sat comfortably in safe bunkers ordering suicidal charges .
They were not cowards in the face of the enemy , but the scapegoats of the officers.
In page 56 :The case of the private who threw away his bayonet and pouches . What really happened was that the man’s webbing had caught in a barb and all efforts to cut through failed until eventually he was told to wriggle out of his equipment with bullets flying all around him.
Sir Douglas Haig speaking In Landrecies burning secret papers and dramatically saying that he will sell his life dearly , but then driving off in the night . The explanation put forward that Haig was suffering from severe constipation would not have helped the ordinary soldier.
A 19 year old boy shot at dawn wth the sentence passed within a month of the boy leaving hospital for a nervous breakdown after wounds by a mine explosion .
Doctors not giving a thorough examination and scribbling GAK ( God alone knows )
The lack of sensitivity advising the relatives of the death of the soldier by a mere postcard.
The executions at dawn with court martials where the victim did not even know the sentence let alone appeal against it , the lack of proper assistance casting doubt on the validity of the whole set up.
Since the details of the court martials could not be made available by the authorities before a 100 years was up , these can only now be studied.And the lack of this information comes out clearly in the book which illustrates cases and incidents but which I feel lacked a proper sequence .
I can only say that I was disgusted reading about the way the ordinary soldier was treated.
The author writing prior to 2018 states that the British government did not release its trial records of men executed in WWI for cowardice.
Also details of trials could only be given to the defendant who was by then dead since most court martials executed the prisoner by dawn when the poor soldier in many cases was not even aware of the sentence. It angered me to see many famous names ordering the executions quite randomly and these mainly concerned the privates and not the officers .
One must remeber that in WWI under age boys of even 15 and 16 lied about their age just to be admitted into the army and do their duty to the country.
It was no eye opener of the violence that the soldiers had to live with. If you lagged behind you may be shot in the back for not facing the enemy's machine gun bullets while the generals with their medals on their chest sat comfortably in safe bunkers ordering suicidal charges .
They were not cowards in the face of the enemy , but the scapegoats of the officers.
In page 56 :The case of the private who threw away his bayonet and pouches . What really happened was that the man’s webbing had caught in a barb and all efforts to cut through failed until eventually he was told to wriggle out of his equipment with bullets flying all around him.
Sir Douglas Haig speaking In Landrecies burning secret papers and dramatically saying that he will sell his life dearly , but then driving off in the night . The explanation put forward that Haig was suffering from severe constipation would not have helped the ordinary soldier.
A 19 year old boy shot at dawn wth the sentence passed within a month of the boy leaving hospital for a nervous breakdown after wounds by a mine explosion .
Doctors not giving a thorough examination and scribbling GAK ( God alone knows )
The lack of sensitivity advising the relatives of the death of the soldier by a mere postcard.
The executions at dawn with court martials where the victim did not even know the sentence let alone appeal against it , the lack of proper assistance casting doubt on the validity of the whole set up.
Since the details of the court martials could not be made available by the authorities before a 100 years was up , these can only now be studied.And the lack of this information comes out clearly in the book which illustrates cases and incidents but which I feel lacked a proper sequence .
I can only say that I was disgusted reading about the way the ordinary soldier was treated.
August 5, 2016
A quite unusual and interesting book about the history of cowardice in war. The author notes that to this day the British government will not release its trial records of men executed in WWI for cowardice. The reason implied by this book: because many were NOT cowards, but were scapegoats or innocent soldiers knocked unconscious by a shell, and suspected of never joining the attack. These were court martialed and shot. The sheer violence of the war compelled the military establishment to stifle any lack of enthusiasm for fighting, for fear of mutiny or collapse of the line.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews