Saturday 27 September 2014

Panic at the Front


Sunday 27th September 1914: Our contact with the 1st Battalion tells us: “We were up at 7 am for breakfast. We heard that the 1st Division had attacked with success east of Condé, and then heard that the Germans had broken through and had forced the bridge at Condé and panic was caused in the rest billet line the other side of the river by a man who went rushing through the villages calling out that the Germans had broken through and were streaming across the river. All of this was completely untrue and the man was caught and Court Martialled and shot for causing alarm and despondency[1].

Source: X550/2/7


[1] Shot at Dawn by Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes make no mention of this incident or any soldier executed in these circumstances, so the source is probably wrong about the offender being shot. 

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