Read Executed at Dawn for Free Online

most merciful action to the prisoner is to shoot straight.

    Procedure
    The APM is responsible for all arrangements and for seeing the sentence carried out.
    After promulgation, the prisoner should be allowed anything he wishes to eat, drink or smoke within reason. He will also be provided with writing materials if desired.
    When being prepared for execution the prisoner will be identified by the NCO in charge of the guard in the presence of the APM and Medical Officer. The APM will collect pay book and identification disc and make them over to the NCO in charge of the guard for delivery at the unit’s Orderly Room.
    The prisoner will be handcuffed or have his wrists bound before being taken to the place of execution.
    The Medical Officer will provide a three cornered bandage for blindfolding and a small paper disc for fixing over the heart. He will adjust these when requested by the APM.
    He will also arrange for a stretcher in case the prisoner is unable to walk.

    Firing party
    Rifles will be loaded by the Officer i/c Firing Party and will be placed on the ground. One rifle will be loaded with a blank. Safety catches will be placed at safety. Distance from post 5 paces. The Officer will bring with him a loaded revolver.
    The firing party will be marched into position by the APM whilst the prisoner is being tied to the post. The APM will so time this that the firing party will be ready for action simultaneously with the completion of the tying up.
    The firing party will march in two ranks, halt on the rifles, turn to the right or left, pick up the rifles and come to a ready position, front rank kneeling, rear rank standing. They will press forward safety catch and come to the ‘present’ on a signal from the APM. The Officer, when he sees all the men are steady, will give the word ‘fire’. This is to be the only word of command given after the prisoner leaves the place of confinement.
    When the firing party has fired, it will be turned about and marched away at once by the Sergeant, the Officer remaining behind.
    The Medical Officer will go forward and examine the body. If he considers that life is not extinct he will summon the Officer i/c of the firing party, who will complete the sentence with his revolver.
    The Medical Officer will certify death and sign the death certificate which he will hand to the APM.

    Removal of body
    When death has been certified, the body will be unbound and removed to the grave under arrangements previously made by the unit.

    The notes make it clear that from the time a death sentence has been passed on a man, he would be handed into the custody of the APM of the division, who would be in charge of making all the necessary arrangements and liaising with the prisoner’s commanding officer, as necessary, once he was in receipt of all the formal paperwork from divisional headquarters.
    The origins of these notes remain a stubborn mystery. The earliest documentation that the Royal Military Police Museum has concerning military executions is the Provost Training in Peace and War, being the Manual of the Corps of Royal Military Police 1950 (pp. 213–15), which sets out a procedure that very closely accords to those issued to Guilford in 1917 – which is interesting in itself, as the death penalty was virtually abolished in the military in 1930, as will be discussed later.
    The overall impression left by the notes given to Guilford is that they are very detailed and read as if based on the accumulation of good practice to date, although the source of the good practice and whether it applied across the whole British Army has not been possible to determine at the time of writing.
    It is not clear why these notes were given to the chaplain and not to the APM, who had responsibility for the conduct of the execution. The likeliest explanation, particularly as Guilford was handed a carbon copy, is that the notes were given to him by the senior chaplain as a copy for his information about what was