World War 1 Executions: Shot at Dawn
The Shot at Dawn Memorial is a monument at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, UK. It commemorates the 306 British Army and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for desertion and other capital offences during World War I.
World War 1 Executions: Shot at Dawn In the final, bitter-sweet, episode of the Blackadder series ~ 'Blackadder Goes Fo(u)rth' ~ the comedy suddenly, unexpectedly, but quite rightly and appropriately, turns very serious. It is 1917, in the trenches of France, and the team are about to go 'over the top'.
As they stand ready, awaiting orders, all becomes silent. Guns stop firing. The men hope that it is a permanent ceasefire ~ that the war is over
But Captain Blackadder dashes their hopes, saying: "The guns have stopped, because we are about to attack. Not even our generals are mad enough to shell their own men."
But that is not exactly true. The allies did, indeed, kill their own men. Sometimes there may have been accidents, but that is not what I mean. From time to time, allied officers, quite deliberately, ordered the execution of their own men.
They were shot at dawn ~ or whatever hour was considered suitable ~ by firing squad ~ a squad made up, perhaps, of their own comrades; certainly of their fellow troops!
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