Pte Peter Black…. Shot at Dawn

[@B0M0A0K]

What a great story, thank you for telling it. Each time we remember the dead, their memory lives on and we of the 2000's have no idea what it was like to try and live through such an experience. I live just across the water from this memorial and will make a point of going and looking at the list on it.

[@daddybob6096]

"We will remember them". God bless Peter Black and all the other 346 men. "They Shall Grow Not Old". Robert. 84yo. Veteran. RNZIR Malaya. 61/63

[@paulcousins1168]

Having served in the forces for 39 years and involved on active service in Malaya, Borneo and Singapore , plus Northern Ireland. The life of a soldier is very different to when my grandfather, father and uncle were serving during the first and second world wars, non the less every person has a different perception of combat. I have seen big men cry because of the stress of the job in hand and the nerves cut in and tend to crack it's not a nice feeling or sight to see.

[@MrMoggyman]

The British tried to take control of the Australian forces in WW1 so that they could meter out shot at dawn punishments like this. The Australian commanders refused this. No Australian was shot for cowardice in WW1. The Australian high command took it that enough of their men were being killed by the Germans without them doing it themselves. In Peters case it is understandable. Any soldier who served in WW1 would perfectly understand, but the military did not. Some men could handle the danger and the bombardments. Others could not. My great grandfather fought in the 1st and 3rd Battles of Ypres (Hooge and Passchendaele), in The Somme campaign, and at Neuve Chapelle with the 4th Territorial Battalion of The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI). He described WW1 as nothing more than a carnage of men, a slaughter of good fine men. As for Passchendaele, nothing but mud, wet, cold, and stinking corpses in a sea of blood from good fine men shot dead, maimed, gassed, and blown to bits in a battlefield scene of utter hell. Living like a troglodyte, with rats as big as small dogs, fleas, lice, and wet that could result in trench foot, with insufficient food and water. A complete and utter waste of human life. Is it any wonder that Peter got out of it? I can fully understand why the veterans insisted his name be on the memorial. They knew what Peter had endured. They had suffered it. Peter couldn't, but they did not blame him for that. They praised him for simply being there. Simply to come into the trenches was courage and bravery enough for them. And they all returned to a land fit for hero's, right? WRONG! They returned to unemployment, starvation, poverty, a paltry army pension, a few medals and pity. You have done your bit, now shut up and bogger off. We're not interested in your experiences, what you saw out there, or what you did. We couldn't care less. That was what they returned to. All this crap now to remember the WW1 soldiers. Pity no one gave sod all about their sacrifice or common welfare when they returned but only now when they are all dead and gone. All the white feathers in hand to shame those who did not answer the call. All the Britain Needs You Now prompting and jingoism to sign up. When they returned there was nothing. And that is what many veterans thought they had fought for.....nothing. They had put themselves in danger, and seen so many sacrificed on both sides, and for what? To sign an armistice in a railway carriage? All those hundreds of thousands of men and civilians dead, all that damage, all that suffering for that? Just for that? Why was that not done before the war even started? My great grandfather told me this; 'Once I was a young man, and I was daft. I thought that I would go on an adventure, so I volunteered for the territorial army around 1912 as I could see a conflict was coming and I thought that I would get the chance to broaden my horizons with international travel in the army. But then I found that this adventure was not an adventure at all, but a matter of life and death. So listen carefully, here are some wise words from your great grandad.......don't be daft.....never volunteer for anything!' There were insurrections in Luton and Glasgow, and probably other places with ex-soldiers who had returned fully armed and provisioned with enough ammunition for an uprising. It was at this time that the aristocracy and gentry in the UK, which all peasants and surfs had seen fit to look up to as their betters prior to 1914, were only seen for what they were. The discontent ended up with the 1926 general strike.

[@AM-ni3sz]

Thank you

[@jackhodges2827]

I meant no disrespect Robert...Your grandfather was a brave and heroic man.God bless his memory.

[@user-py2mf3nb8g]

Very sad....good on his friends....

[@dwj388]

Good film John, A dark episode in our history.

[@john.shrig121]

Yep…. A very dark episode indeed…. Mind you we could have had some of that with some of the clowns we served with…lol.

[@dwj388]

@@john.shrig121 indeed.

[@simplyphil.photography164]

True, they should have not been shot at dawn, many where underage, many was lost on the battlefield, only to stumble back after the action, many was shell shocked , at the end of their mental capacity. I think the Germans only executed around 18 if my memory serves me well. The French rebelled against execution, after many had been shot after a failed attempt to drive the Germans back.These horrors of executions should have never taken place, no matter of which army. I had an old friend who was a butcher by trade, after WW1, went back to work, found he could not kill a lamb, pig or chicken ; he told me of the horrors that he saw, rats, as big as cats, trying to eat you whilst you slept.

[@chriswatts1680]

No man should have been shot at dawn war is barbaric & soldiers deserved better most were volunteers NOT CLASSED AS COWARDS let these good men rest in peace their names should be on war memorials

[@robertamatt4532]

It has to be recognised that many of Kitchener's Army were young lads not only eager to travel and fight but also the attraction of 3 square meals a day, a warm bed, clothing and being paid. This was at a time when the working class's were under nourished and work was scarce, the plight of the working class's at this time was dire. The majority of the recruits gained weight during the first few months of service. The horrors of shell fire, machine guns and barbed wire and death had yet to be faced. I recall seeing the grave of a 14 year old in a CWG Cemetery close to Albert on the Somme, and thinking what the hell was a school boy doing here. Little wonder some ran away, after all it was supposed to be a big adventure, that it clearly was not.

[@rogueriderhood1862]

@robertamatt4532 If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined.

[@Monsoon-sd6vr]

This is a reflection of the history of the time. People in UK were executed for all sorts of offences many of a very young age. With so many men under arms I am surprised the figure was not higher. If you read the basic info on the cases for those convicted of cowardice very few were executed for their first offence.

[@john.shrig121]

Your right, it was a sign of the times along with the attitude of the day… we now know a lot of the problems they suffered are things like PDSD, Shell Shock, etc. if we knew then what we know today…. I’m sure things might have been different. The German Army used the civil authority to deal with their soldiers…. Hence very few were shot… the Australians would not allow any of their soldiers to be shot.

[@rogueriderhood1862]

Of the death sentences handed down by courts martial 90% were commuted to lesser punishments. Some were executed after deserting on more than one occasion, and after having been reprieved for the original offence. It's not as simple as some people would have you believe.

[@angloaust1575]

Gung ho era King and country White feathers a bygone era Thank God... people are better Educated today!

[@trevordavies7646]

as a vet I have tears in my eyes, thinking how bad it was for them shot by firing squad and them that were forces to watch, RIP

[@john.shrig121]

Trevor, like you I’m a vet too…. It was a very dark chapter in British military history… a lesson I hope we will never repeat, thanks for the comment, glad you liked the video.

[@mole389]

Firing squad was at dawn to be a discrete time of day

[@colinb5415]

His friends, the ones who returned, knew the horrors of war. They would have experienced that which broke this man and they would have known that it could so easily have been one of them. The ones who were in control of the memorial would most likely have been older and would have had no concept of the realities of WW1, only the sanitised films shown on the newsreels in the cinemas. What right did they have to judge a brave man, a volunteer who eventually crumbled as a result of those untold horrors?

[@robertcooper3491]

Very few men are true cowards …. Most of these men …regardless of nationalality where suffering from shell shock

[@AbandonEarth911]

Soldiers of all lands unite.

[@brianjeffery5880]

thank you for sharing this video

[@john.shrig121]

Your most welcome, and thank you for your comment, he is a local lad to me, I’ve also been to his gravesite in France, a very sad episode of ww1 indeed.

[@guruandy2606]

Thanyou for telling us of the pardoned soldiers ...have the remaning lads been also?

[@john.shrig121]

Only 306 of the 346 have been pardoned. The others I’m afraid have not…. Thank you for your comment.

[@guruandy2606]

@john.shrig121 So incredibly wrong of any government of any country to not recognise battlefield fatigue or PTSD that caused these terrible psychological injuries to these poor servicemen.

[@john.shrig121]

@@guruandy2606 I agree, however, what we know today about PTSD and Battle Fatigue they did not know then…. But they did know it as Shell Shock, the treatments as we know where in its infancy…. But your right there was no excuse.

[@alisdairmclean8605]

@@john.shrig121 What is or are the reasons that the remaining 40 soldiers were not pardoned?

[@john.shrig121]

@@alisdairmclean8605 from what I can gather, they where not pardoned for acts such as Murder, treason, etc.

[@MegaWillieo]

Peter served bravely but the horror of battle scars broke him. Many of those shot at dawn were overwhelmed by the constant chaos of the line and should have been sent to the rear in another capacity

[@john.shrig121]

Thank you for that comment….. you are absolutely correct.

[@robshirewood5060]

There was a case of a Sergeant with the DCM (2nd below VC) at the time who finally broke and they shot him, he endured hell and should have been relieved not wasted.

[@derekstynes9631]

The absolute Hell that was the Somme was the most Barbaric Battle that Butchered the Brave souls that endured it . Private Peter Black gave His Life for Mans inhumanity to His Fellow Man .

[@francisebbecke2727]

Sad

[@loritabarber-iw3fy]

The British army shot their own men.correction the Australian army refused !😉😉😉😉

[@john.shrig121]

That is very true indeed.

[@jackhodges2827]

@@loritabarber-iw3fy What about Breaker Morant? Fact check it.

[@john.shrig121]

@@jackhodges2827 that was the boar war…..during the First World War, Australia would not allow her soldiers to be shot at dawn.

[@Skipper.17]

Even the Australian government wasn't aware of it until after the executions

[@jackhodges2827]

Robert.You say your grandfather was there.I bet he didn't run away.Think about this,if he had ran away,you wouldn't even be here.He would have been shaking at dawn.

[@robertamatt4532]

Yes my grandfather was there, he served with the Buffs ,The Royal East Kents and returned wounded in body and spirit, he was determined that wars solve nothing, he was proven correct when you consider that we were again at war with Germany 20 years later. He died well before his time due to the long term effects of Mustard gas on his lungs. Its easy to be a laptop soldier all these years later and condemn boys as young as 17 who could take the horrors and who were shot for their sins by an uncaring government. The ruling classes started that war and directed it from 30 miles behind the lines, whilst the working class boys fought and died on the barbed wire. Then having killed 880.000 soldiers in the War to end Wars they mismanaged the peace and had to do it again in WW2.

[@paulrudd6234]

Jackhodgers , You are a W⚓

[@Anton-bw3yi]

Read up a bit of how the British army during the South African boer war shot many innocent boers in a chair after a one sided court found them guilty of being rebels. Not to mention about women and infant children kept in tent camps poorly fed and thousands died in despicable conditions.

[@john.shrig121]

The Brits were not the only ones to do things like that…. I don’t think any country can say they are innocent of any actions against its own people or others.

[@rogueriderhood1862]

Beers carried out atrocities too, neither side could claim the moral high ground.

[@Anton-bw3yi]

They were no better than the Nazi Germans. South Africa was not even their country but they had a much more advantage in resources food ammunition etc etc. The Boers were a peace loving farming serious Christian nation but their farms homes were blatantly burned down the poor women and children were dumped in wire fenced tent camps with sickly rations and sickening conditions where thousand died. Many men in the Cape areas were innocently jailed and after a pathetic excuse for primitive court hearing those men were dragged outside the town and shot a bag of lime chucked over the body and covered in a shallow grave. In a lot of cases the parents were denied of their sons bodies. The average British person of today does not know nothing of these behaviors of a nation that was supposed to be such a etiquetted civilized people. The strongest country at that staged. One would have expected much different. The British lady Emily hobhouse actually did so much during and after that war for the Boers and their folk. It would be so much enriching to make an effort to research various historical writings of this shamed war. The Boers were only the defenders but England was the invaders. Sorry to stick to the story but it is what it is ( or was)

[@john.shrig121]

@@Anton-bw3yi thank you for your comment, but the video is about a British Soldier shot at Dawn during WW1…. Not the Boar war. I’m sure someone will cover that in another video. But thank you anyway for your comment.

[@Not_sheeple]

​@rogueriderhood1862 my word.....pray tell where or who?. You don't know a thing about the 1st and 2nd ABW....

[@jackhodges2827]

You must be related to that coward..What if the whole battalion disappeared for a month?

[@simoncampbell3144]

Now then you brave lad , ever served anything but yourself? I very much doubt it

[@robshirewood5060]

My great grandfather served in ww1, with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on the Western front, in Mesopotamia, and some of them also went to Siberia up to 1920, he survived from 1914 to 1920 in all those campaigns and battles. He said to my grandfather who told me the stories "son there are no such things as cowards, just human beings who have reached their limits, i will never call a man a coward having seen the things i have seen". Battalions are made up of human beings, in spite of all the training they are not clones and each has his own breaking point. As a medical professional and military experienced I respect the level of humanity of human being and how much they can take is very personal. Courage is when you face something time and time again even though you are scared to death, but there are limits to everyone. No man or woman is a coward they just have different breaking points.

[@MC14may]

Have you ever been in combat?

[@williambuchanan8607]

Jackhodge, you really do have a lot to say for yourself...unless you where there and know the full details, wind your neck in !

[@jackhodges2827]

@@williambuchanan8607 William..You sound like a coward just like P.Black.I haven't got a lot to say about myself but you seem to talk a lot of sh!t...

[@jackhodges2827]

What the hell has my military experience got to to do with a council being blackmailed by thieves who stole explosives and threaten to destroy a cenotaph that would not include a cowardly deserter to be included with the brave men who died fighting?

[@colinb5415]

Don`t know you Jack or your past service but I do know a few vets` from the modern conflicts, not one doesn`t suffer with PTSD. Not one would ever call this man or any of the others shot for desertion A COWARD.

[@colfer222]

@@colinb5415 Dead right colin

[@john.shrig121]

@@colinb5415 absolutely spot on mate…. Well said.

[@mole389]

Shameful to add it to a memorial to those who did their duty

[@AnInterestedObserver]

Please no music over voice, it ruins the video. By all means keep the music over the images, but not over your voice. It's distracting. For me, it's unwatchable. I'm off.

[@jackhodges2827]

Thank you for deleting my comment. Afraid of the truth?

[@Bumper776]

Your comment is still there.

[@robertamatt4532]

Can you be sure that you would not have run away too, there were very few hero's on the battlefields of Picardy according to my grandfather who was there. --

[@robshirewood5060]

@@robertamatt4532 My great grandfather would second that as would my grandfather. So would my great uncle who landed on D-Day, "just human beings trying to stay alive" and the other great uncle who was an Englishman and a Sergeant in two Scots Regiments, in ww2 BEF, Dunkirk, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria Germany, then Palestine in 1947-48, shot at in every location.

[@jackhodges2827]

Mark and Simon,you talking sh!t.

[@richardfoster5208]

Died for our tractors in parliament to give our country away