The grave of Louis Harris in Ghissignies CWGC cemetery, the last soldier executed for desertion during the Great War
Image details
Contributor:
Niall Ferguson / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
MNDB7HFile size:
27.4 MB (1.9 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2767 x 3458 px | 23.4 x 29.3 cm | 9.2 x 11.5 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
8 April 2018Location:
Ghissignies British Cemetery, Rue de la Victoire, Ghissignies, FranceMore information:
On November 7, 1918, mere days before the end of World War I, British privates Louis Harris and Ernest Jackson were shot for desertion and cowardice. Harris had volunteered for the Army in 1915, but was discharged as unfit. He got conscripted in 1916, however, and was sent to France in July, where he served as part of a Lewis gun team. On September 2, in the middle of an attack at Rocquigny, while there was “no firing and practically no opposition, ” Harris ditched his kit and his comrades and vanished. He was arrested the next day and faced an FGCM for desertion and cowardice. Harris’s execution was the last. Four days later on November 11, the war ended and all death sentences for military offenses were commuted to penal servitude. In 1929 the death penalty was abolished for desertion and other military crimes.