Conscientious Objectors of the First World War by Ann Kramer

Author:Ann Kramer [Kramer, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War I
ISBN: 9781844681198
Google: XWdtBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-11-30T02:49:04+00:00

Hubert Peet writing about the event commented proudly that ‘dotted around the parade ground were 17 conscientious objectors still in their original positions. And in their original positions in every sense they stood to the end, the bulwark of the movement, tested and not found wanting.’

Over the next few days, the objectors were beaten, bullied and manhandled. The army used every method to try and break their resistance, threatening the death sentence and even, Brocklesby remembered, telling some of the COs who arrived after the Harwich group that their comrades had already been shot. As the situation intensified, some of the Harwich group were moved to a Field Punishment Unit at Harfleur and given twenty-eight days’ field punishment.

Field Punishment No. 1 was the most brutal punishment in the army. It involved strapping a man with chains, ropes or leather straps to a rigid object such as a post, wheel or fence, and stretching out his arms in the shape of a crucifix. Tied tightly, the man was unable to move and was left in this position for 2 hours, daily for three days. Following a break the sequence began again for another three days until the twenty-eight days had been completed. The punishment was legal and was applied to ordinary soldiers not just COs. Harry Stanton, who kept a detailed diary, described his first experience of the punishment:

We were placed with our backs to the posts and arms outstretched. Our ankles were then tied together and our arms tied tightly at the wrists to the cross-beams. We were to remain in this position for two hours. For those of us who were of average height the strain upon our arms were just bearable, though our wrists quickly became numbed, but for those who were shorter, the punishment was painful in the extreme, since they were forced to stand entirely on their toes to relieve their arms of the dead weight of the body.

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