EPISODE OF WAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 155, 3 July 1934, Page 7

EPISODE OF WAR

SOLDIERS’ CONVICTION. JUDGMENT REVERSED. PARIS. July 1. A court-martial quashed the previous decision regarding a corporal and three men, ruling that, although guilty of technical disobedience, their refusal to obey was unintentional, being clue to intense weakness and nervous pfostration. A message from Paris on June 4 said that a tragic episode of the war was recalled at the Court-martials Appeal Court in a suit brought, by four widows and mothers to clear relatives who were shut for cowardice. Major Dubose gave evidence that he was in command of the Fifth Company of tho 63rd Regiment. After the greater part of the regiment had been wiped out in tho Buttle of Saint Mihiel, the. survivors were ordered back to tho line in an exhausted condition to capture a strong point on the evening of September 19, 1915. The officers advanced a few yards into No Alan’s Land but tho men did not follow them. “I don’t blame them,’’ added Alajor (Dubose. “General De Letoille then ordered the entire company to be rourt-mar-tialled. I protested. Finally, I was ordered to select one man per platoon. Five were chosen by lot and shot, bui tho commander of one platoon refused to carry out tho order, so tho sixth man escaped. The court-martial recommended the five privates to mercy, but General de Letoille refused.