The Murder of Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Wolfgang Rosterg at Comrie Camp
Five young German prisoners of war were hanged at Pentonville on Saturday, 6 October 1945. They were:
- Unterscharführer (SS Sgt) Joachim Goltz
- Sturmmann (SS Pfc) Kurt Zühlsdorff
- Rottenführer (SS Cpl) Heinrich-Wernhard Brüning (given elsewhere as Heinz Brüling)
- Oberfähnrich (Senior Cadet) Erich Palme-König
- Matrosengefreiter (Able Seaman) Josef Mertens
They had been convicted of the murder of Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Wolfgang Rosterg on Saturday, 23 December 1944, at Cultybraggan POW camp in Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
A number of fanatical Nazi POWs had been moved to Comrie after an escape attempt was foiled at Camp 23 (Le Marchant Barracks) in Devizes, Wiltshire. Some of these men suspected that Wolfgang Rosterg had betrayed the escape plan.
Rosterg, aged 35, had also been a prisoner at Devizes, where his POW number was A7888778. He arrived at Cultybraggan by bus, along with 30 other POWs, on 17 December 1944. He could read and speak English and was allowed to read the Scottish newspapers. He made the mistake of translating and reading out some of the articles that predicted the failure of a planned German invasion of the Ardennes. This cast suspicion on him as an informer or collaborator.
On Saturday, 23 December, he was dragged from his bed in Hut 4, Compound B, and severely beaten. A rope was put around his neck, and he was dragged to the latrines, where he was hanged from a pipe. Possibly it was hoped that the authorities would think he had committed suicide, but an examination of the injuries to his body ruled that out.
Eight men were arrested for the murder—the five mentioned above, plus Rolf Herzig, Herbert Wunderlich, and Hans Klein.
Trial and Sentencing
All eight were tried at Kensington Palace Gardens before a military tribunal between 2 and 12 July 1945. Hans Klein was acquitted on the third day of the trial due to insufficient evidence. Wunderlich was found not guilty at the end of the trial, and Rolf Herzig was convicted but sentenced to life in prison. On 23 July 1945, the five death sentences were confirmed by the Judge Advocate General.
While the five admitted that they had killed Rosterg, they viewed the killing as the execution of a traitor (presumably why they hanged him) rather than as a murder.
Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade and Harry Allen, carried out the executions. It is unclear from surviving records whether there were two double hangings and a single, or whether there were five single executions. They started at 9 a.m., and the notices of execution were posted on the prison gate at 10:30 a.m., so the former scenario seems more likely.
These executions were carried out under military jurisdiction, with Lieut-Col. F. Forbes, the Deputy Provost Marshal for London District, taking the place of the under-sheriff and signing the notice of execution. Army chaplains took the place of the prison chaplain.
Executed and Buried on 6 October 1945 at Pentonville Prison
| Name | Rank | Age | Grave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joachim Goltz | SS Sgt. | 20 | Pentonville |
| Kurt Zühlsdorff | SS Pfc. | 20 | Pentonville |
| Heinrich-Wernhard Brüning | SS Cpl. | 22 | Pentonville |
| Erich Palme-König | Senior Cadet | 20 | Pentonville |
| Josef Mertens | Able Seaman | 21 | Pentonville |
The Murder of Unteroffizier (Sgt) Gerhart Rettig at Sheffield
Two German prisoners of war (POWs) were hanged at Pentonville on Friday, 16 November 1945, after trial by courts martial. They were:
- Gefreiter (Pfc) Armin Kühne, aged 18 according to his birth certificate
- Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Emil Schmittendorf, age 31
They were executed by Albert Pierrepoint and Alex Riley, but again it is unclear whether they were hanged side by side or singly.
The pair suspected that 25-year-old Unteroffizier (Sgt) Gerhart Rettig had given away an escape plan to the British authorities when a tunnel that the prisoners had dug at Lodge Moor POW camp near Sheffield was discovered on Saturday, 24 March 1945.
Rettig had been spotted passing a note to one of the guards, and it was arranged that he and another man should be transferred to a different camp. Before this could happen, Rettig was attacked—beaten and kicked repeatedly. He died in hospital later that Saturday night.
His friend, who witnessed the attack, identified Armin Kühne and Emil Schmittendorf as the ringleaders, and also Heinz Ditzler and Jürgen Kersting as participants. All four were charged with murder and subsequently came to trial at Kensington Palace Gardens from 7–13 August. Ditzler and Kersting were acquitted, and Kühne and Schmittendorf were convicted.
Gerhart Rettig was a regular soldier who did not share the Nazi ideals that his killers fervently held to, and this may well have been why he was singled out—even though the German commanding officer thought he was innocent of betraying the escape plan.
Burial and Aftermath
After the war, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) requested permission to transfer the remains of the seven men from Pentonville to the German Military Cemetery on Cannock Chase. They were told that the British authorities were unable to find the precise location of the graves. Consequently, they remain buried at Pentonville.
Executed and Buried on 16 November 1945 at Pentonville Prison
| Name | Rank | Age | Grave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armin Kühne | Pfc. | 18 | Pentonville |
| Emil Schmittendorf | T/Sgt. | 31 | Pentonville |
Executions Carried Out by the US Military in the European Theater of Operations During World War II
Ninety-six men were put to death after trial by U.S. Courts Martial between 12 March 1943 and 19 October 1945. Of these, 89 were hanged and 7 were shot by firing squad.
Executions were carried out at various locations. In Britain, 18 men were executed at Shepton Mallet Prison in Somerset. In France, a number of locations were used, including 13 at the Loire Disciplinary Training Centre at Le Mans. Three took place at Fort d’Orange, Citadel, Namur, in Belgium. There were two at Oran in Algeria and three at Termini on the island of Sicily—all for the gang rape of a local woman in front of her husband and children. A further 20 took place at the Peninsular Base Section (PBS) at Aversa in Italy.
Of the 89 hanged:
- 39 were executed for murder
- 38 for rape
- 12 for both crimes
A further two men were shot for each of these offences, and one man—Pvt. Eddie Slovik—was executed for desertion.
It has been claimed that nearly 80% of the U.S. soldiers executed in the E.T.O. were African-Americans, while they comprised no more than 10% of the troops. Most held the rank of Private or Private First Class, plus two Corporals, one Sergeant, and four men whose rank was Technician 5th Grade.
Execution Procedures
The methods of executing U.S. troops during World War II fell under the guidance of the 1928 Manual for Courts-Martial. In April 1945, Brigadier General Joseph F. Battley, Deputy Chief of Staff for Service Commands, noted:
“Although the method of execution of a United States Army court-martial sentence of death allowed for either hanging or shooting, at the discretion of the court, almost invariably the court prescribed hanging.”
The Manual for Courts-Martial stated that:
“Hanging is considered more ignominious than shooting and is the usual method, for example, in the case of a person sentenced to death for rape, for murder in connection with mutiny, or for a violation of the June 1920 Articles of War No. 92, which states that: Any person subject to military law who commits murder or rape shall suffer death or imprisonment for life, as a court-martial may direct.”
Shooting was the usual method in the case of a person sentenced to death for a purely military offence.
A detailed list of these executions is provided below.
Legend of Executioners & Assistants
- ( ) = Unknown
- ASI = Arthur S. Imell
- AP = Albert Pierrepoint
- AR = Alexander Riley
- HLP = Henry L. Peck
- HM = Herbert Morris
- JDD = Joseph V. DePaul Dillon
- MHC = Mortimer H. Christian
- PJF = Philip J. Flynn
- Team* = Team of three soldiers
- TP = Thomas W. Pierrepoint
- TR = Thomas Robinson
- W = John C. Woods
- WGN = W. G. Neiswender
Individual Records
Note: I was not able to upload this list because it’s not in a proper format. You can, however, find this data in the excellent book by French MacLean, “The Fifth Field” (Schiffer Publishing 2013).
These 96 soldiers murdered 26 fellow American military personnel (“MP” behind a name referring to Military Police), and killed or raped 71 British, French, Irish, Italian, Polish and Algerian civilians, in addition to the one soldier executed exclusively for desertion.
PBS above refers to Peninsular Base Section, Stockade No. 1.
Major Mortimer H. Christian was commandant of the Seine Disciplinary Training Center, Paris, France and
oversaw five hangings there.
Brigadier General Joseph V. DePaul Dillon was responsible for overseeing executions at Termini on Sicily.
Please see chapter 3, The Hangmen, for information on John C. Woods, Thomas Pierrepoint and their assistants.
Shepton Mallet as an American Military Prison During World War II
During World War II, part of Shepton Mallet Prison in Somerset, England, was taken over by the American government for use as a military prison and as the place of execution for American servicemen convicted under the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act (1942). This act allowed for American military justice to be enacted on British soil.
To enable these executions to take place, a new brick-built extension was added to one of the prison’s wings. The two-story red brick structure looks totally out of place against the weathered stone walls of the original building. A new British-style gallows was installed on the first floor of the building, and two cells within the main building were converted into condemned cells. Thomas Pierrepoint, Britain’s chief executioner at the time, was contracted to carry out the hangings here and was paid by the US Military. It is not known whether he or the military authorities chose his assistant.
Executions and Convictions
Eighteen military executions were carried out at Shepton Mallet, representing 17% of the 96 executions of American servicemen serving in the European and North African Theatres of Operations (ETO). (Figures of 19 and even 21 executions in the UK have been given in some accounts but are definitely not correct.) Of these 18 men, nine were convicted of murder, six of rape, and three of both crimes. Their racial mix was: ten African American, three Latino, and five white—their average age was 21.5 years. Seventeen were privates and one was a corporal. None ranked higher than this.
Much has been made of the ethnic background of these men but very little of what they were convicted of. Also, much is made of the alleged poor quality of the trials that these men received. In at least two cases, men had their death sentences commuted (Thomas Bell, who had been convicted of rape, and George Fowler—see below).
Bear in mind that a conviction for murder in Britain at this time carried a mandatory death sentence, and it was not unusual for civilian murder trials to only take a day or two. Rape did not carry the death penalty in British law but did in US Military law. Execution by shooting was not permitted for murder in Britain but was under US Military law. Rape was punishable by death in most of the southern states of America, and in fact, the last execution for rape in the USA took place in May 1964 when Ronald Wolfe was gassed in Missouri. Just over 300 rape executions (where the victim lived) were carried out in the USA between 1941 and 1964.
Case Summaries of Executed American Servicemen
Pvt. David Cobb
Pvt. David Cobb, a 22-year-old Black G.I., was the first to be hanged, on 12 March 1943. Cobb, from Dothan, Alabama, was stationed at Desborough Camp in Northamptonshire and had been on guard duty on Sunday, 27 December, when he was reprimanded by 2nd Lieutenant Robert J. Cobner. Cobb protested, and Cobner ordered the sergeant of the guard to arrest him. Cobb threatened the man, who backed off, so Cobner attempted the arrest himself. Cobb fired his rifle at Cobner, fatally injuring him. He was tried by US court-martial at Cambridge on 6 January 1943, with his trial lasting less than one day. His death sentence was confirmed and reviewed before he was executed by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint in the new execution facility at Shepton Mallet.
Pvt. Harold Smith
Pvt. Harold Smith, 20, from LaGrange, Georgia, went AWOL in London in January 1943. With another young soldier, he stayed in a hotel enjoying the town until their money ran out. He returned to Chisledon Camp near Swindon, only to find his unit posted elsewhere. He found a loaded pistol and got into an altercation with Pte. Harry Jenkins, whom he shot dead. He also fired at another soldier before escaping to London, where he was arrested by a British policeman and handed over to American authorities. He was court-martialled at Bristol on 12 March 1943. Smith admitted guilt and was hanged on 25 June 1943 by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
Pvt. Lee A. Davis
Lee A. Davis, a 20-year-old Black G.I., was convicted of murder near Marlborough, Wiltshire. Two young women walking back from the cinema were accosted by Davis. He threatened them, and when one tried to run, he shot her dead. He then forced the other into bushes and raped her but did not kill her. She gave a full statement, leading to forensic evidence linking Davis. He admitted to being at the scene but claimed to have only fired over their heads. He was court-martialled at Marlborough on 6 October and hanged on 14 December 1943 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alex Riley.
John Waters
John Waters, 39, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, was older than most. Stationed in Henley on Thames, his relationship with local woman Doris Staples deteriorated. On 14 July 1943, he shot her five times in her workplace. Police arrived during a short siege, ending with Waters shooting himself but failing to kill himself. He was tried at Watford on 29 November 1943, convicted, and hanged on 10 February 1944 by Tom Pierrepoint, assisted by Alex Riley.
J.C. Leatherberry and George Fowler
J.C. Leatherberry, 22, from Hazelhurst, Mississippi, was executed for murdering Colchester taxi driver Henry Hailstone on 5 December 1943. Hailstone’s taxi was found abandoned, and forensic clues led to Leatherberry and fellow soldier George Fowler. Fowler claimed Leatherberry strangled the driver. Both were convicted at Ipswich on 19 January 1944 and sentenced to death. Fowler’s sentence was commuted due to cooperation, but Leatherberry was hanged on 16 March 1944 by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
Pvt. Wiley Harris Jr.
Pvt. Wiley Harris Jr., 25, a Black soldier from Greenville, Georgia, stationed in Belfast, stabbed a pimp, Harry Coogan, 17 times after a dispute at a bar. The court-martial did not accept self-defense due to the number of stab wounds. Harris was hanged on 26 May 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alex Riley.
Alex F. Miranda
Alex F. Miranda, 20, from Santa Ana, California, was the first American serviceman executed by firing squad (referred to by the US Army as death by musketry) at Shepton Mallet. He was convicted of murdering his sergeant, Sgt. Thomas Evison, at Broomhill Camp in Devon. Miranda shot Evison while he was asleep after becoming aggressive. He was executed by an eight-man firing squad on 30 May 1944.
Eliga Brinson and Willie Smith
Eliga Brinson, 25, from Tallahassee, Florida, and Willie Smith, 22, from Birmingham, Alabama, were hanged on 11 August 1944 for the rape of 16-year-old Dorothy Holmes after a dance in Bishop’s Cleeve, Gloucestershire. The pair ambushed Dorothy and her boyfriend; when the boyfriend fled, both raped her. They were caught due to boot prints and tried in Cheltenham over two days, starting 28 April 1944.
Madison Thomas
Madison Thomas, 23, from Arnaudville, Louisiana, was convicted of raping Beatrice Reynolds near Gunnislake, Cornwall, on 26 July 1944. He was identified by witnesses and forensic evidence and was hanged on 12 October 1944 by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
Benjamin Pyegate
Benjamin Pyegate, 35, from Dillon, South Carolina, was the second and last US soldier executed by firing squad at Shepton Mallet. He stabbed James Alexander to death during an argument at Tidworth Barracks on 15 July 1944. He was executed on 28 November 1944, tied to a post, black-hooded, with a target over his heart, and shot by eight soldiers.
Ernest Lee Clark and Augustine M. Guerra
Ernest Lee Clark, 24, from Clifton Forge, Virginia, and Augustine M. Guerra, 20, from Cibolo, Texas, were convicted of the rape and murder of 15-year-old Elizabeth Green at Ashford, Kent, on 22 August 1944. They were tried on 22 September 1944 and hanged side by side on 8 January 1945 by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
Robert L. Pearson and Parson Jones
Robert L. Pearson, 21, from Mayflower, Arkansas, and Parson (also Cubia) Jones, 24, from Thompson, Georgia, were convicted of raping Joyce Brown, who was heavily pregnant, at Chard, Somerset, on 3 December 1944. They were tried on 16 December and hanged side by side on 17 March 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Morris.
William Harrison Jr.
William Harrison Jr., 22, from Ironton, Ohio, sexually assaulted and strangled seven-year-old Patricia Wylie in Killycolpy, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His trial took place on 18 November 1944, and he was hanged on 7 April 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Morris.
George E. Smith Jr.
George E. Smith Jr., 28, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shot Sir Eric Teichman through the head during a confrontation on private property in Norfolk. His trial began on 8 January 1945 and lasted five days. Despite requests for clemency, including from Lady Teichman, Smith was hanged on V.E. Day, 8 May 1945, by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Morris.
Aniceto Martinez
Aniceto Martinez, 23, a Mexican American from Vallecitos, New Mexico, was a guard at a prisoner of war camp near Rugeley, Staffordshire. On the night of 6 August 1945, he broke into the home of 75-year-old Agnes Cope and raped her. She survived and reported the crime. Martinez confessed and was convicted at Lichfield on 21 February 1945. He was the last person hanged for rape in the UK on 15 June 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by his nephew Albert.
Military Trials and Execution Procedures
All these men were tried by military courts-martial and would have been handed over to military authorities after arrest. The 1928 American Forces Manual for Courts-Martial laid down specific procedures.
The court was normally composed of legally trained officers, and usually, the prisoner was defended and prosecuted by officers at the rank of captain. All but two trials lasted just one day. In Smith’s case, the trial lasted about two working days spread over five days due to his repeated hospitalisations. Only Harrison’s trial conformed to modern standards, lasting three and a half days.
Typically, the defense was allowed two to three weeks to prepare. In many cases, they had less time, and the court was usually unwilling to grant defense motions to delay proceedings—only two such motions were granted.
After a guilty verdict, the death sentence could be passed, either by hanging or shooting, at the court’s discretion. The sentences were reviewed by the commanding general and later by the US Army Commander in Europe, who had the authority to commute sentences.
Executions were carried out in Shepton Mallet’s new gallows chamber on the first floor. Thomas Pierrepoint, Britain’s chief executioner, carried out the hangings, assisted by various assistants, including his nephew Albert Pierrepoint and Alex Riley. Two prisoners were executed by firing squad in a specially constructed area nearby.
Karl Hulten – “The Cleft Chin Murder”
Karl Gustav Hulten was a 22-year-old Swedish-American army deserter from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had a wife named Rita. While on the run, he passed himself off as 2nd Lieutenant Ricky Allen and claimed to be a gangster from Chicago.
Hulten was the first and only G.I. to be tried and condemned to death in an English civil court (under a special dispensation signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt). It is assumed he was not court-martialed by the US Army under the terms of the Visiting Forces Act because his girlfriend and co-defendant was a British citizen.
On 3 October 1944, Hulten met and fell for 18-year-old Elizabeth Maude (also given as Marina) Jones. He picked her up after work in a stolen US Army truck.
Jones came from Neath in South Wales and had worked as a barmaid, waitress, and cinema usherette before becoming a striptease artist in London under the stage name “Georgina Grayson.”
The duo went on a six-day crime spree, engaging in several robberies and other more minor crimes. But in the early hours of Saturday, 7 October 1944, Hulten and Jones got into a taxi driven by 34-year-old George Edward Heath at Chiswick in London. Heath had a cleft chin, hence why his murder was dubbed “The Cleft Chin Murder” by the press.
Hulten ordered Heath to drive around before shooting him in the back and stealing his money and the car. Heath’s body was thrown into a ditch at Knowle Green near Staines but was easily identified by documents found on the body. A description of the Ford V8 car was circulated. Two days later, police found the car on London’s Fulham Palace Road and lay in wait to see whether anyone would come for it.
A little later, a man dressed as an American officer approached the car and was arrested. He gave the name Richard John Allen. He was initially interrogated by American Army detectives, to whom he revealed his correct name. He had gone absent without leave and had stolen a .45 calibre Remington pistol.
Hulten denied the shooting and implicated Jones, who had told a friend that, “If you had seen somebody do what I have seen done you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.” This was reported to the police, and she too was arrested, making a statement saying Hulten had shot Heath. He, in turn, stated that she had been an active and willing participant in the crime.
They both stood trial at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Charles, commencing on 16 January 1945 and lasting six days. The jury found them equally guilty, and the inevitable death sentences followed on 23 January.
Hulten was hanged at Pentonville prison on Thursday, 8 March 1945, by Albert Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell. Outside the prison, Mrs. Violet Van der Elst and some 200 protestors demonstrated against the death penalty. “You let the girl off, but you let the man hang,” Van der Elst shouted. “It’s a damned shame.”
Jones was sent to the Condemned Cell at Holloway and would presumably have been hanged at the same time that Thursday had she not been reprieved two days earlier. Her sentence was commuted to life, and she remained in prison until 1954. It is thought her age was a major factor in the decision to spare her.
The reprieve of Jones caused widespread public indignation and telegrams to the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison. “SHE SHOULD HANG” was chalked on the walls beside pictures of a figure dangling from a gallows in her hometown of Neath.
German Prisoners of War in US Custody
After the end of World War II, the United States Army executed fourteen German prisoners of war (POWs) by hanging at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. These men had been convicted by general courts-martial of the murders of three fellow German POWs, who were believed by their fellow inmates to be traitors for collaborating with the United States military authorities.
President Harry Truman declined clemency in all cases, as they were seen as fanatical Nazis. It was decided to delay the hangings until after the war ended, as it was feared Hitler would order executions of US prisoners of war in reprisal.
The Execution Site and Procedure
With thanks to Kelvin D. Crow, Command Historian, CAC and Fort Leavenworth, writing on 26 October 2006 on the United States Army Combined Arms Centre website, for allowing us to reproduce the following:
“There is some confusion over the execution site. Vincent Green in Extreme Justice and Richard Whittingham in Martial Justice both say the execution took place in building 466. But their narratives, and that of the other witness, say the execution took place in an elevator shaft, and 466 does not now and did not in 1945 have an elevator or shaft.
The MPs teach their new soldiers it took place in 465 because that building does have an elevator. They even point to handprints in the cement and scratches in the walls said to be made by the condemned men as they were executed.
The witnesses to the executions do not say where it took place, but their writings give us the following clues. They say the building was:
- One of the oldest buildings on post
- Once a warehouse, tailor shop, electrical shop, and salvage warehouse
- It had an elevator shaft 8 feet square
- Three stories high with a basement
- Had room inside for a large crowd of people (7 reporters, three executioners, Col. Priest, Minister, military observers, at least 15)
- You could get to the basement by going out the front door, around the corner and downhill
- It was 300 feet or 250 yards from the Castle depending on the source
I believe it was building 467. This building was built in 1887 (58 years old at the time of the executions) and one of the older buildings on post. It has seen use as a warehouse, shoe shop, and was at the time the salvage warehouse. It had large open bays, was three stories high with a basement, and it has a back door around the corner and downhill from the main entrance.
While it does not now have an elevator, the architectural drawings on file with the post engineers show that it did have an elevator, in an 8-foot square shaft, in 1945.
Building 465 was built in 1929, making it just 16 years old at the time of the execution. It is four stories high and was built for and in use as the medical and dental clinic in 1945. It has an elevator, but it is only 7 feet across and is placed in such a way that no more than a few persons could observe the goings-on, not the crowd the observers record. Finally, it is just too close to the main entrance of the Castle.
LTC Raymond Orr, Quartermaster for the prison, had to design a system that was inside because of the weather and the need for privacy, and that could be quickly set up and torn down. He chose to use an elevator shaft.
To operate the gallows, the elevator was placed on the 3rd floor, and a platform was set up on the 1st floor with a 7-foot drop into the basement. Rope used was ⅞” hemp looped around a 4 x 10″ beam swung over the site from the 2nd floor. The trap door was a 3-foot square opening with a black circle painted on it to show the condemned man where to stand. It was operated by a 4-foot lever.
The condemned man was marched out from the main door of the prison (some say with a 13-man guard detail) in as full a German uniform as could be made available. He was placed on the scaffold and the charges (89th and 92nd articles of war – riot and murder) and sentence were again read to him. He was given the chance to make a last statement.
Then his headgear was removed, his arms bound behind him, and his feet tied together. A black bag was placed over his head and the noose fitted to his neck.
The Commandant of the DB, Colonel William S. Easley, said, “May God have mercy on your soul,” and gave a signal to the executioner who pulled the lever to release the trap door.
The post surgeon, Major Roy Cram, and two other doctors were stationed in the basement to certify death. After the priest had cut a portion of the bag away to anoint the dying man with oil, one of the doctors would climb the stepladder every five minutes to check for heart function. This took an average of 19 minutes.
The whole execution, from the time the group left the front door, took only about 30 minutes. Each could begin immediately after the removal of the body because a hangman’s knot was tied in the opposite end of the rope while waiting for the previous man to expire. After he died, the old knot was cut away and the process repeated.
The bodies were subsequently buried in a row along a wall in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.”
The Tonkawa Case: The Murder of Gefreiter (Pfc) Johannes Kunze
Johannes Kunze was born on 5 March 1904. Prior to the war, he had been a machinist in Hamburg, Germany. He was drafted into the German Army in 1940 and fought with the Afrika Korps in Tunisia, North Africa, as a Private 1st Class. Kunze was captured on 13 May 1943 at Bone, Tunisia, and sent to the POW camp in Tonkawa, Oklahoma.
Here he passed information on prisoner activity and on camouflaging measures to protect vulnerable targets (e.g., the Hamburg railway station) from being bombed, to a US doctor. On 4 November 1943, one of the notes was passed to another doctor who couldn’t read German and gave it to a German inmate, who realized that Kunze was spying on them.
This man took the note to the camp senior leader, Hauptfeldwebel (SGM) Walter Beyer.
Beyer called all prisoners to the mess hall and told the assembly that there was a traitor in their midst, identifiable by his handwriting: Kunze. All hell broke loose and Kunze was beaten to death to the shouts of “traitor.”
Authorities discovered the body and examined some 200 POWs, finding blood on the tunics of five who were arrested and charged with murder. They were Walter Beyer, Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Berthold Seidel, Unteroffizier (Sgt) Hans Demme, Unteroffizier Hans Schomer, and Obergefreiter (Cpl) Willi Scholz.
They were tried at Camp Gruber near Muskogee, Oklahoma, on 17 January 1944 under the provisions of Articles of War 89 and 92. All were convicted and sentenced to be “hanged by the neck till dead.” The sentences were confirmed by President Truman on 5 October 1944.
Executed and Buried on 10 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth
| Name | Rank | Age | Grave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Beyer | SGM | 33 | Plot 10, Grave 31 |
| Berthold Seidel | T/Sgt | 31 | Plot 10, Grave 30 |
| Hans Demme | Sgt | 28 | Plot 10, Grave 29 |
| Hans Schomer | Sgt | 28 | Plot 10, Grave 28 |
| Willi Scholz | Cpl | 23 | Plot 10, Grave 27 |
The Independent Record of 10 July 1945 reported that “All went to their deaths clad in their German uniforms, their only request. Their last meal consisted only of the regular issued rations. Beyer, the highest ranking member of the group, was the first to go to the gallows. Col. William S. Eley, commandant of the disciplinary barracks, read the execution order, relayed to the prisoner through an interpreter.”
Johannes Kunze is buried in the Fort Reno Post Cemetery, WWII POW Section, Plot A, Grave 15.
The Camp Aiken Case: The Murder of Gefreiter (Pfc) Horst Günther
Horst Günther was born on 23 September 1920. He had served in the Afrika Korps and was captured on 9 May 1943 in Tunisia. He was shipped to Camp Aiken prisoner-of-war camp in South Carolina.
On April 6, 1944, the 24-year-old Günther was found hanging by a noose from the cross-arm of a telephone pole. His death was initially ruled a suicide, but further investigation revealed that he had been murdered. He was thought to be a traitor because he liked jazz music and spoke in favour of the US.
He was attacked by a group of six fellow POWs, four of whom held him down while Gauss and Staub strangled him with a rope before hanging the body to make it look like a suicide. Unteroffizier (Sgt) Erich Gauss and Grenadier (Pvt) Rudolf Staub were tried at Fort McPherson in Georgia under Articles of War no. 92 and sentenced to hang. The sentences were confirmed by the President on 13 November 1944.
Günther was buried at Fort Gordon, in Richmond County, Georgia, Grave no. 4.
Executed and buried on 14 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth:
| Name | Rank | Age | Grave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erich Gauss | Sgt | 31 | Plot 10, Grave 26 |
| Rudolf Staub | Pvt | 39 | Plot 10, Grave 25 |
Note: Correct spelling of Staub, not Straub, as given elsewhere.
The Papago Park Case: The Murder of Werner Drechsler
Werner Drechsler was born on January 17, 1922, in Mühlberg on the river Elbe, Germany. He joined the Kriegsmarine (German navy) and was posted to Unterseeboot (submarine) U-118, on which he held the rank of Obergefreiter (leading seaman).
On June 12, 1943, planes from the aircraft carrier USS Bogue attacked and sank U-118 near the Azores in the mid-Atlantic. Sixteen of the 59-man crew survived and were taken prisoner. Drechsler gave US naval authorities valuable information about the U-boats and initially was segregated from other prisoners.
Due to an administrative error, he was later transferred to a camp at Papago Park in Arizona on 12 March 1944, where other U-boat prisoners were held. Here, several of the POWs suspected that he was a collaborator, as each had spent time in a cell with him at the Fort Hunt, Virginia interrogation center. On 13 March 1944, he was beaten and then hanged in a shower room.
The seven suspects were tried and convicted of Drechsler’s murder on 15 March 1944 under the provisions of Articles of War no. 92. Their death sentences were approved by President Truman on 28 July 1945 and carried out singly from just after midnight until 3 a.m. on 25 August 1945. These seven hangings constituted the largest number of hangings carried out in America in a single day in the twentieth century.
| Name | Rank / Crew of Submarine | Age | Grave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helmut Fischer | Cpl / U-615 | 25 | Plot 11 Grave 24 |
| Fritz Franke | Pfc / U-615 | 21 | Plot 11 Grave 23 |
| Günter Külsen | Sgt / U-615 | 26 | Plot 11 Grave 22 |
| Heinrich Ludwig | Pfc / U-199 | 23 | Plot 11 Grave 21 |
| Bernhard Reyak | Cpl / U-615 | 26 | Plot 11 Grave 20 |
| Otto Stengel | Cpl / U-352 | 23 | Plot 11 Grave 19 |
| Rolf Wizny | Cpl / U-615 | 25 | Plot 11 Grave 1 |
Drechsler was buried at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso, Texas, Grave 6-G.
German Prisoners of War in Canada
Canada housed over 34,000 German prisoners of war, with the first 10,000 arriving in 1942 after the Allied defeat of German forces in North Africa. All of these men had been transferred from Britain, which feared they would assist the enemy in the event of a Nazi invasion.
Two large prison camps were built at Lethbridge and Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, each with a capacity of 12,500 men. Camp 133 at Lethbridge was completed in November 1942 and Camp 132 at Medicine Hat opened in early 1943.
Prisoners considered to be “hard core” Nazis were held at Medicine Hat and in many ways controlled the camp. It was here that the murders of two of their fellow POWs were committed.
The Murder of August Plaszick
40-year-old Soldat (private) August Plaszick (also given as Plaszek) was born in Lünen in January 1903 and later became a farmer at Nordlünen in Germany. He was also a former member of the French Foreign Legion, as were several of his fellow POWs.
On 2 July 1943, the German Camp Leader, Eilstermann, and his sub-leaders convened a kangaroo court to try four of the main members of the French Foreign Legion group, including Plaszick. They suspected these men of conspiring to overthrow the camp leadership.
Plaszick was murdered on July 22, 1943. He was dragged out of an interrogation hut where he was being questioned by camp leaders, beaten, battered over the head with a rock, and then hanged to death from a beam in the west recreation drill hall.
The 26-month-long RCMP investigation eventually led to the arrests on 10 October 1945 of 31-year-old Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Werner Schwalb, together with 24-year-old Adolf Kratz and 30-year-old Johannes Wittinger. Although Plaszick’s murder had been witnessed by other prisoners, none of the POWs were willing to talk to the police for fear of reprisal; it was only after the war ended that the situation changed.
Werner Schwalb was tried for murder by a civil court at Medicine Hat between 25 February and 5 March 1946. His trial was followed by that of Kratz, both resulting in death sentences. Johannes Wittinger was acquitted, principally on the evidence of Schwalb, who maintained that he had not been present at the scene.
Kratz was reprieved two days before his scheduled execution and his sentence commuted to life in prison. He was released in 1955.
Schwalb was hanged at the Provincial Gaol in Lethbridge at 12:07 a.m. on 26 June 1946. His last words were reportedly: “My Führer I follow thee.”
Werner Schwalb was born on 11 June 1915 at Sausenheim in the Palatinate, a region 20 miles west of the Rhine. He was single and a baker and cook in civilian life. He was captured in Egypt by a South African unit attached to the British Eighth Army.
The Murder of Dr. Karl Lehmann
The second murder victim was Dr. Karl Lehmann. The 38-year-old Unteroffizier (Sgt) had been a university professor at Erlangen in Bavaria before joining the army and held a doctorate in languages. He was suspected by his fellow inmates of being a Communist and was, in fact, an informer according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and had been for some months.
Communism was an ideology hated by the Nazis. After Lehmann was captured in Tunisia, he was held at a POW camp at Oldham in England and then transferred to Canada—ironically for his own safety because of his anti-Nazi views. Once at Medicine Hat, he continued to propound his views and was considered the Communist leader.
On the night of 10/11 September 1944, Lehmann was asked to go to the hut where he gave lectures to meet someone who wanted to talk to him. When he arrived, he was ambushed by four men: Bruno Perzonowsky, Willi Müller, Heinrich Busch, and Walter Wolf. They beat Lehmann and then hanged him in Barracks D6. The next day, all four were transferred to another POW camp at Neys in Ontario.
Trials and Executions of Perpetrators
Obergefreiter (Cpl) Bruno Perzonowsky was a 34-year-old former bomber crew member whose plane had crashed in Wales. He was born in Johannisburg in East Prussia (now Pisz, Poland) on 31 December 1911.
Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Willi Müller was another bomber man whose plane had been shot down by a Spitfire over Glasgow in May 1941. He was born at Klein Gorschütz (now Gorzyczki, Poland) on 18 February 1914.
Feldwebel (T/Sgt) Heinrich Busch was born at Bergen, Germany, on 22 June 1916. He was also a bomber crew member whose plane had come down in Norfolk, England.
Unteroffizier (Sgt) Walter Wolf was born at Schwannenbach, Germany, on 29 October 1917 and had been captured by the Allies in North Africa.
All four were arrested on 6 April 1946 and faced separate trials in the civilian courthouse at Medicine Hat. Perzonowsky’s case began on 24 June 1946 before Chief Justice Howson, followed by the trials of Wolf, Busch, and finally Müller.
The defense in all cases was that the accused were following orders and that Lehmann was a traitor. All four were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Their appeals were dismissed on 16 October 1946, although there would be two stays of execution before they were finally hanged in the early hours of Wednesday, 18 December 1946, at the Provincial Gaol in Lethbridge.
All four asked to be shot by firing squad but this was denied, as hanging was the only form of capital punishment allowed in Canada. Perzonowsky, Busch, and Müller attempted suicide by cutting their wrists with razor blades the night before execution. They were prevented from succeeding by guards and went to the gallows with bandaged wrists. Wolf said he “did not wish to die that way.”
The Edmonton Journal recorded that Perzonowsky and Busch were hanged at 12:10 a.m., followed by Müller and Wolf at 12:42 a.m. At 1:05 a.m., Canadian Donald Sherman Staley was hanged for the murder and rape of six-year-old Donnie Goss in Calgary. This was the largest number of hangings in Canada on a single day since 27 November 1875, when eight men were executed for their part in the Reil Rebellion at Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Burial of Victims and Perpetrators
Initially, the bodies of both the victims and the perpetrators were buried in a yard within the prison. In 1970, they were exhumed and re-interred in the German section of the town cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, at the request of the German War Graves Commission.
Perzonowsky was buried in grave 33A, Busch in grave 32A, Müller in grave 32B, and Wolf in grave 34A. The remains were buried with appropriate ceremony, two-to-a-grave, with suitable granite headstones. Plaszick and Lehmann were buried separately in a different part of the cemetery.
No details of the form of gallows or the identity of the hangman were released by the Canadian authorities. It is possible that Franco-Canadian Camille Branchaud was the hangman. He was the official hangman for the Province of Quebec but worked “freelance” for other provinces.
Branchaud was one of two men to succeed Arthur Ellis after the botched execution of Thomasina Sarao in Montreal in 1935, in which she was decapitated. One of these men adopted the pseudonym Ellis, and the other the pseudonym Camille Branchaud. Between them, they carried out 180 hangings in Canada up to abolition.
British Soldiers Hanged for Murder in Britain
Twelve British soldiers and one airman were hanged for murder at several British prisons after trial and conviction in civilian courts.
| Name | Age | Date of Execution | Prison | Victim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanley Ernest Boon | 27 | October 25, 1939 | Wandsworth | Mabel Maud Bundy |
| Arthur John Smith | 26 | October 26, 1939 | Wandsworth | Mabel Maud Bundy |
| Samuel Morgan | 28 | April 9, 1941 | Walton | Mary Hagan |
| David Miller Jennings | 21 | July 24, 1941 | Dorchester | Albert Farley |
| Harold Hill | 26 | May 1, 1942 | Oxford | Doreen Hearne |
| Gordon Cummins | 28 | June 25, 1942 | Wandsworth | Four women |
| Terrence Casey | 22 | November 19, 1943 | Wandsworth | Bridget Mitton |
| Sidney Delasalle | 39 | April 13, 1944 | Durham | F/Sgt Ronald Murphy |
| Ernest Kemp | 21 | June 6, 1944 | Wandsworth | Iris Deeley |
| John Davidson | 19 | July 12, 1944 | Walton | Gladys Appleton |
| Arthur Heyes | 37 | March 13, 1944 | Norwich | Winifred Evans |
| James McNicol | 30 | December 21, 1945 | Pentonville | Sgt. Donald Kirkaldie |
| Reginald Johnson | 24 | December 29, 1945 | Wandsworth | John Ritchie |
Privates Stanley Ernest Boon and Arthur John Smith
These two soldiers were serving in the North Staffordshire Regiment in the summer of 1939 and were based at Thursley in Surrey, together with Private Joseph William Goodwin.
On the evening of Thursday, 4 July 1939, the three men decided to go drinking together. They caught the bus into Hindhead and went to the Royal Huts hotel. Here they met 44-year-old Mabel Maud Bundy, who was a maid at the Moorlands Hotel at Hindhead and had come in for a drink with a female friend.
By closing time, the friend had already left, and the three soldiers offered to walk Mabel back to the Moorlands Hotel where she lived.
Mabel left with them and appeared to be quite happy. As the group neared the Moorlands, things turned nasty. The soldiers decided to rape Mabel and then kill her.
Her body was found the next morning, and it was clear she had been sexually assaulted. The autopsy, carried out by Professor Keith Simpson, found that her nose had been broken and that she had died from asphyxiation, probably caused by a hand being held over her mouth and nose. One of her earrings was missing and later found near the scene of the crime, together with a soldier’s cap. From these clues, police were able to identify the three soldiers and arrest them.
All three were tried at Surrey Assizes in Guildford in September 1939. Boon and Smith were convicted and sentenced to death. Goodwin was acquitted. The two men were hanged side-by-side at Wandsworth Prison at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 25 October 1939.
Samuel Morgan
On the early evening of Saturday 2 November, 1940, 15-year-old Mary Hagan popped to the corner shop to fetch her dad’s evening paper and a packet of cigarettes. When she hadn’t returned half an hour later, her father, James, raised the alarm.
Soon after, her body was discovered by one Richard Browne, in a concrete blockhouse near Brook Vale Bridge in the Waterloo area of Liverpool. The police pathologist found that she had been raped and strangled. A piece of blood-stained bandage was found by the body and this was identified as part of an army field dressing.
A witness told police that he had seen a soldier by the bridge at 5.45 p.m. Fifteen-year-old Thomas Todd said he had seen a soldier at the same spot on the previous afternoon and was able to identify the man as 28-year-old Samuel Morgan. Morgan had gone AWOL from his regiment, the Irish Guards, some two months earlier.
He was picked up in London for loitering on 13 November, 1940, by PC Harvaker, who wanted to know what he was doing there and whether he had a leave pass from his unit. Morgan tried to make a run for it but was soon recaptured. Once identified, he was sent to Liverpool’s Seaforth police station for questioning.
He offered an alibi but later admitted to having met Mary on the bridge and persuading her to go with him to the blockhouse. However, he denied raping and murdering her. The piece of bandage matched a larger one in Morgan’s field kit, having been used by Morgan to bind a cut thumb. Samples of soil from the blockhouse matched samples taken from his uniform.
Morgan was tried at Liverpool before Mr. Justice Staple between 10 and 17 February, 1941. He appealed on the basis that the killing was manslaughter and, unsurprisingly, this was dismissed. He was hanged at Walton Prison on Wednesday 9 April, 1941, by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Morris.
It appears that this was not Morgan’s first offence. On Friday 4 October, 1940, he had tried to rape 18-year-old Anne McVitie, who was cycling home from work along the footpath of the local canal. She had seen him along the canal before. Fortunately, Anne was able to escape before anything happened but could not identify her assailant.
David Miller Jennings
David Jennings was a 21-year-old soldier based at Dorchester in 1941. He had served in France and been evacuated from Dunkirk.
On Monday 27 January, 1941, he received a letter from his girlfriend ending their relationship. After this, he went on a pub crawl. Returning to barracks, he changed out of his army boots and put on gym shoes, telling his fellow soldiers that he was going to commit a robbery. He took his rifle and left. His comrades reported his words to an officer.
He first went to a business where he knew the location of the safe. He attempted to shoot the lock off the safe but only managed to injure himself by being hit with a small piece of shrapnel. After this, he went to the NAAFI canteen in Princess Street, Dorchester, where he intended to steal the cash box.
Sixty-five-year-old Albert Farley was the night watchman there and, depending on which version of events you believe, was either shot by Jennings as he made his escape or shot by Jennings when he was trying to shoot the lock off the door behind which Farley was standing. Either way, Jennings stole the cash box and was arrested on his return to barracks.
He came to trial at Dorchester on 2 and 3 June, 1941, before Mr. Justice Charles. The jury were presented with the two scenarios outlined above and chose to believe the first. Jennings’ appeal was dismissed, as were the petitions for mercy, and he was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alex Riley, on Thursday 24 July, 1941. This would be the last execution at Dorchester Prison.
Harold Hill
Doreen Hearne, aged 8, and Kathleen Trundell, aged 6, left school as usual at 4 p.m. on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 November, 1941. The pair started their journey home on foot, but at around 4.15 p.m. were seen by fellow students climbing into an army truck. One of the more observant ones, 13-year-old Gordon Page, noted the truck’s identification number and also that it had a Remembrance Day poppy in the grille. A huge search was mounted by police and volunteers.
On 22 November, the girls’ bodies were found in Rough Wood in Penn, Buckinghamshire, some four miles from their home. Both had been strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the throat and chest, but had not been sexually assaulted.
Police investigations showed the truck was based at an army camp at Haselmere Lodge in Suffolk. One of the child witnesses was able to pick out 26-year-old Harold Hill at an identity parade as the driver of the truck. Hill was overheard to tell another soldier, “You saw me at 4.20 p.m.” At this point, the officers had made no mention of the time of the abduction.
The investigation uncovered more evidence against Hill. There were 20 miles more on the truck’s odometer than he could account for. There was a tunic with blood stains and a handkerchief found at the crime scene which bore the same laundry mark as other items of Hill’s clothing. His fingerprints matched those found on one of the little girls’ gas masks. Tyre tracks found at the crime scene matched those of the truck Hill had been driving.
Hill was arrested and subsequently tried at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Humphreys from 2 to 5 March, 1942. His counsel put forward a defence of schizophrenia, but the jury didn’t accept this.
Hill was hanged at Oxford Prison on Friday 1 May, 1942, by Thomas and Albert Pierrepoint.
Gordon Frederick Cummins – The “Blackout Ripper”
A serial killer stalked the streets of London in February 1942 who murdered four women over a six-day period. He was dubbed the “Blackout Ripper” by the press.
The first victim was 40-year-old Evelyn Hamilton, whose body was discovered in an air raid shelter at Montagu Place on Sunday, 9 February. Evelyn had been strangled and robbed.
The corpse of 35-year-old prostitute, Evelyn Oatley, was discovered in her flat in Wardour Street the following day. She too had been strangled and sexually assaulted and had her throat cut.
A prostitute named Margaret Florence Lowe was the next, the following day. Her mutilated body was also found in her flat, and she too had been strangled and seriously sexually assaulted.
Doris Jouannet was the final victim, her body being discovered in her Paddington flat, also strangled and mutilated.
The killer struck again on Friday, 14 February, but the intended victim, Greta Hayward, was saved by a passing delivery boy as she was about to be strangled. Her attacker left behind his gas mask, which enabled identification.
Another prostitute, who went by the name of Kathleen King, was attacked a few days later but managed to fight off her assailant.
The perpetrator was soon traced through the number on the gas mask (number 525987) and arrested on 16 February. He was a 28-year-old Leading Aircraftman named Gordon Frederick Cummins.
The police had some good fingerprints from the crime scenes and found various items of the women’s property in Cummins’ possession, which helped to ensure a conviction at his Old Bailey trial on 27 and 28 April, before Mr. Justice Asquith.
The prosecution proceeded only with the murder of Evelyn Oatley, and it took the jury just 35 minutes to bring in a guilty verdict. His appeal was dismissed, and he was hanged at Wandsworth by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk, on Thursday, 25 June 1942, during an air raid.
On the morning of execution, he wrote to his wife asking her forgiveness and saying, “Although I don’t know, I think I must be guilty – the evidence is overwhelming.” Other than a hatred of women in general and prostitutes in particular, his motives for this killing spree seem unclear.
It is thought that he may have killed two other women in late 1941, although this cannot be proven.
Terence Casey
22-year-old Terence Casey was a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. On the evening of Tuesday, 13 July 1943, he was on leave and staying with relatives in Fulham. He decided to go to a popular local pub in Quill Lane in Putney, but he wanted more than just a drink—he wanted an older woman too.
Freda Gibbons, a barmaid at the pub, was the first to catch his attention. She told him not to be so silly, as she was old enough to be his mum. This did not deter Casey, who said he would wait for her after work.
45-year-old Bridget Nora Mitton came into the pub about 9:30 that evening to buy a bottle of stout, and Casey turned his attention towards her. Freda saw her leave around 11 p.m. and Casey follow her out.
John Walton, an air raid warden, was on patrol in Gwendolen Street in Putney around 11:25 p.m. He heard noises coming from the garden of No. 8 and went to investigate. Shining his torch, he saw Casey on top of a partly clothed woman and shouted for the police, who were able to arrest Casey at the scene.
He would later tell them, “She cut up rough so I bashed her.” In fact, he had strangled Bridget. It is not clear whether he had actually managed to rape her.
Casey appeared at the Old Bailey from 22 to 24 September 1943, before Mr. Justice Singleton. His defence was that he had no memory of committing the offence.
Dr. Nelson Hill had examined him whilst on remand and gave evidence showing that Casey had an abnormality of the brain that, combined with alcohol and the stress of wartime living, could cause a form of epilepsy.
The jury didn’t buy this but did make a recommendation to mercy, presumably on account of Casey’s age.
On Friday, 19 November 1943, Terence Casey was hanged at Wandsworth by Albert Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell.
Sidney James Delasalle
Sidney Delasalle was a 39-year-old Leading Aircraftman serving at Brunton Aerodrome in Northumberland. He had served in the army from 1921 to 1933 and had been called up again in 1941.
On 2 February 1944, there was a camp inspection led by Flight Sergeant Ronald Murphy. Murphy commented on the unsatisfactory nature of Delasalle’s room and was met with a hostile response. Delasalle complained about his rations and was generally aggressive towards Murphy. This resulted in him being reported to the Commanding Officer and, on Friday, 4 February, receiving a 14-day sentence.
However, before he was locked up, he spotted Murphy queuing at the NAFFI van with several others. He shouted at them to get out of his way and aimed his rifle at Murphy, firing two shots, killing him and wounding four others. He was tackled to the ground and arrested at the scene.
Delasalle was tried at Leeds before Mr. Justice Hallett on 22 March 1944. He claimed to have no recollection of the crime, and Dr. Macadam testified that it was possible for someone to commit murder in an automaton state.
Testimony was admitted regarding Delasalle’s long service, but also about his violent temper. Given this and the several eyewitnesses to the crime, the jury rejected the automaton notion and simply saw it as a revenge killing.
Delasalle was hanged at Durham at 8 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, 13 April 1944, by Thomas Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell.
Ernest James Harman Kemp
In 1944, Britain was still deep in the war, and a lot of people who, in better times, would not be in the armed services had enlisted to help protect their country.
One such was 21-year-old Iris Miriam Deeley, who was a Leading Aircraftwoman at Kidbrooke Camp in the borough of Greenwich in London. Iris was engaged to Radar Mechanic William Quill, whom she had met while both were serving at an airbase in Cornwall.
On the night of Sunday, 13 February 1944, having spent the weekend together, William had walked her back to Charing Cross Station to catch the train back to Kidbrooke. They arrived too late, so Iris decided to wait for the next train to Lewisham and walk from there to her unit.
On Monday, 14 February, her body was discovered on an allotment by Arthur Belcher. She had been strangled with a scarf that was still knotted around her neck. The post-mortem determined that the murder had taken place in the early hours of that morning.
Police investigations showed that Iris had got to Lewisham and had been seen by witnesses in the company of a soldier in the High Street who had an impressive collection of medals on his tunic. They were walking in the direction of Sherard Road in Eltham toward where her body was found.
On 22 February, Charles Memory, a railway policeman on duty at St. Pancras, noticed a man in an army sergeant’s uniform kissing a W.A.A.F. girl goodbye and that he was wearing medals from World War I, which he could not have been awarded.
The man was taken in for questioning and, when searched, was found to have some clothing coupons in the name of William Quill.
21-year-old Ernest Kemp was found to be a deserter from the Royal Artillery. Under questioning, he agreed that he was the man seen with Iris in Lewisham High Street, but maintained that when they had parted, she was still alive and well.
However, his shoes matched boot prints at the crime scene, and he finally admitted that he had strangled Iris, having tried unsuccessfully to rape her.
Kemp was tried at the Old Bailey on 18 April 1944, before Mr. Justice Cassels. No evidence was presented by the defence, and the jury found him guilty of Iris’s murder, but added a recommendation to mercy, presumably on account of his age.
He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint and Herbert Morris on Tuesday, 6 June 1944.
John Davidson
John Gordon Davidson was a 19-year-old soldier in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, based at Rainford Camp on Merseyside. On the evening of Sunday, 19 March 1944, he and Private John Sanderson went AWOL from their camp and visited a couple of pubs, ending up in the Rifle Corps Hotel in St. Helens sometime after 8 p.m. There, they met up with two other soldiers and stayed drinking until around 10 p.m. The pair left with two girls whom they had met in the hotel. Sanderson got lucky, but Davidson didn’t.
Twenty-seven-year-old Gladys May Appleton had been out for the evening with her boyfriend, George Barker, and left his home in Knowsley Road to walk home at about 10:45 p.m. Sadly, she didn’t make it. Her body was discovered the next day in the grounds of The Elms in Cowley Hill Lane, St. Helens, by the postwoman, Betsy Barnes. The post-mortem revealed that Gladys had been raped and strangled.
Jeannie Galvin told the police that she had been accosted by a young soldier with a Scottish accent the night before but had managed to escape from him. She showed police footprints in her garden at Gamble Avenue, and they were able to get good casts of both Jeannie’s shoes and someone else’s.
The investigation now focused on the nearest army camp, Rainford. Police were given the names of two young soldiers who had been absent without leave on the Sunday night and interviewed both of them. Prints were taken of Davidson’s shoes, and they matched those taken from Jeannie’s garden. She was later able to positively identify him. John Sanderson had spent the rest of the evening with his girl and told police that he didn’t see Davidson again until the Monday morning.
Faced with a significant amount of evidence, Davidson admitted strangling Gladys.
He was tried at Manchester before Mr. Justice Hilberry on 8 May 1944. His defense was insanity and that he killed Gladys in a state of post-epileptic automatism. The jury didn’t accept this, as no firm evidence could be adduced to prove it. They did recommend mercy, presumably on account of Davidson’s age. His appeal, on the grounds that he was drunk at the time of the crime, was dismissed, and he was hanged at Walton Prison on Wednesday, 12 July 1944, by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Alex Riley.
Arthur Heys
Thirty-seven-year-old Heys was executed for the rape and murder of 27-year-old WAAF Winifred Mary Evans at Ellough, near Beccles in Suffolk, in the early hours of Thursday, 9 November 1945.
Winifred had been to a dance with WAAF Corporal Margaret Johns. They returned to base just before midnight, parting company a few minutes later. Corporal Johns went to use the women’s toilets and discovered a man in RAF uniform who was apparently drunk and lost. She pointed him in the direction of Camp No. 1, where he said he wanted to return.
Winifred’s body was found the next morning, face down in a ditch. She had been raped and suffocated in the mud at the bottom of the ditch.
The police interviewed the men in Camp No. 1, and it soon came to light that Heys had come in after 1 a.m. that morning and had stayed up cleaning his uniform. He admitted that he had met Corporal Johns but denied any involvement with Winifred.
Hair samples were recovered at the crime scene and matched samples found on Heys’ uniform. However, as they also matched Heys’ wife, he might have gotten away with the crime on the basis of reasonable doubt—had he not done something very stupid. While on remand, he wrote an anonymous letter to the Commanding Officer of Camp No. 1, claiming that Heys was innocent and that the writer was the real killer. However, he included details of the crime that were only known to the police.
Heys was tried at Bury St. Edmunds before Mr. Justice MacNaghten on 22–24 January 1945 and was hanged at Norwich Prison on Tuesday, 13 March 1945, by Thomas Pierrepoint.
James McNicol
James McNicol was born in Motherwell, Scotland, in 1918. He joined up at the beginning of the war, in July 1939, and served with some distinction in the Royal Artillery. He was quickly promoted and had reached the rank of sergeant by August 1944.
He fought in Africa and the Middle East, and while in Africa he contracted malaria, for which he was prescribed quinine—one of the standard medications at the time for this disease, but not one that reacts well with alcohol.
By early 1945, McNicol was serving at an anti-aircraft battery, called NAN1, at Thorpe Bay near Southend in Essex. He shared a hut with fellow sergeants Leonard William Cox and Donald Alfred Richard Kirkaldie. He and 26-year-old Don Kirkaldie became firm friends, and it seems he got along well with Len Cox too.
The Night of the Dance
After the Allies’ victory over Japan (VJ Day) on 15 August 1945, it was decided to hold a dance at Thorpe Bay Camp on the following evening (16 August). McNicol had been drinking at a pub called the Halfway House that afternoon and had consumed a very large amount of beer—perhaps as much as 14–16 pints during the afternoon and evening.
At the dance, some sort of altercation ensued between McNicol and Jerry McKay, presumably over his dancing with McNicol’s former girlfriend, Jean Neale. Cox was told about this and came out of the NAFFI to see what was going on. McKay and Cox saw Jean and her friend back to her hut, and Cox returned to the sergeants’ sleeping hut, where fellow sergeants Kirkaldie, Dixon, and Thompson were all in their beds.
A little later, the occupants of the hut were woken by the sound of the door being rattled, followed by the sound of a windowpane being broken. Cox recalled seeing the light being switched on from outside and saw a hand withdrawing back through the broken window. He then heard a shot and felt “something hit his chest.” He heard a second shot a few seconds later. He remained conscious and was given medical treatment for his injuries.
The second shot is thought to have fatally injured Kirkaldie, striking him in the throat and passing right through his neck from one side to the other. According to the Army Medical Officer who examined both sergeants at the scene, Kirkaldie died instantly from this wound due to shock.
McNicol was tried at the Essex Assizes in Chelmsford before Mr. Justice Lewis on 13 November 1945. The trial lasted only two days. The appeal was heard on Wednesday, 5 December. The defense submitted that James was so under the influence of drink as to be incapable of forming any intention to murder.
McNicol was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, 21 December 1945, within Pentonville.
Reginald Douglas Johnson a.k.a. Robert Blaine
On the night of Friday, 14 September 1945, Police Sergeant John Dimsey and Constable Charles Pearce were on foot patrol in Bourchier Street in London’s Soho district. They had just passed two soldiers when they came upon the body of Captain John Alexander Ritchie of the Canadian Army, lying on the pavement in a pool of blood.
The officers turned to see the two soldiers running away and gave chase. Dimsey managed to catch Johnson, who gave the name of Robert Blaine.
Johnson told the police that the other soldier was known to him as Jack Connolly and that it was he who had attacked Ritchie, hitting him over the head with a brick they had picked up earlier.
Johnson was arrested and taken to the station, where bloodstains were found on his clothes, together with £5 in cash, and Ritchie’s bank book and chequebook. He admitted going through Ritchie’s pockets and was charged with murder. He still maintained that it was Connolly who had assaulted Ritchie.
Johnson was tried at the Old Bailey from 13 to 16 November 1945, before Mr. Justice Humphreys. He had a long record of theft, and the jury believed the prosecution case.
His appeal was dismissed on 13 December, and he was hanged at Wandsworth on Saturday, 29 December 1945, by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Kirk.
Jack Connolly was never traced, so it is impossible to know what part, if any, he took in the attack.
British Soldiers Hanged for Murder at Hameln in Germany
Only two British soldiers would be hanged in Germany for murders committed on German soil after World War II. They were Frank Upson and Charles Patrick.
Driver Frank Upson
Francis John (“Frank”) Upson was born on the Channel Island of Guernsey on 18 December 1919. In 1940, with a German invasion of the Channel Islands looming after the defeat of France, the family was evacuated to Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Upson was already in the army by then.
Upson was convicted of murdering a 60-year-old German woman in the French Zone of Berlin, whom he had battered to death with a table lamp in 1946.
Upson was tried by court-martial in August 1946 in Berlin and pleaded not guilty. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was confirmed, and his appeal rejected.
On 22 January 1947, Frank Upson was hanged in Hameln prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by RSM Richard O’Neill and Sergeant James Hunter of the Royal Military Police.
Serjeant Charles Edward Patrick
Charles Patrick was a 28-year-old married man with three children who had voluntarily transferred from the Dorsetshire Regiment to the Military Police Special Investigation Unit, based in Goslar in the Harz district of Lower Saxony in Germany.
On 11 January 1947, he was requested to collect a leave party from Brunswick railway station by 21-year-old ATS Pvt. Georgina Kelty, who was staying in a hotel. Later, she and Patrick set off for a party organised by the Provost. They then went back to Patrick’s room where she was last seen around 11:30 p.m.
On the Monday morning, a waitress bringing breakfast to the room noticed a person lying on the bed covered by a blanket. At around 12:30, she heard what sounded like a shot. She saw Patrick leave his room and noted that he spent the rest of the day in the Sergeants’ Mess.
Patrick telephoned his Company Sergeant Major and asked him to send someone to investigate a double homicide. He also phoned a colleague and told him that he had shot his girlfriend and was going to shoot himself.
When other military policemen searched Patrick’s room, they discovered Georgina’s body on the bed, with a pistol beside her. She had been shot in the head. Patrick was questioned and claimed the shooting was an accident. The real motive, if there was one, is not known.
He was tried by court-martial on 28 and 29 March 1947. Convicted of Georgina’s murder, he was sentenced to death. In due course, the sentence was confirmed, and he was hanged at Hameln prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Edwin Roper, on 5 September 1947. His was the first of 14 hangings carried out on that day.
Canadian Soldiers
Six Canadian soldiers were hanged in Britain for murder, after civil trials rather than courts-martial. The Visiting Forces Act only applied to US soldiers and not Canadian ones.
Executions Summary
| Name | Age | Execution Date | Prison | Victim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August Sangret | 30 | April 29, 1943 | Wandsworth | Joan Wolfe |
| Charles Raymond | 23 | July 10, 1943 | Wandsworth | Marguerite Burge |
| Charles Gauthier | 25 | September 24, 1943 | Wandsworth | Annette Pepper |
| Mervin McEwen | 38 | February 3, 1944 | Armley (Leeds) | Mark Turner |
| Horace Gordon | 29 | January 9, 1945 | Wandsworth | Dorothy Hillman |
| Howard Grossley | 37 | December 30, 1945 | Cardiff | Lily Griffiths |
August Sangret – “The Wigwam Murder”
August Sangret was a 29-year-old French Canadian soldier based at Witley camp in Surrey, serving in the Royal Canadian Military Corps. He was in a relationship with 19-year-old prostitute Joan Pearl Wolfe, who lived close to the military base in a tent encampment (hence “wigwam murder”). In the autumn of 1942, she had told Sangret that she was pregnant by him.
On 7 October 1942, two marines discovered a badly decomposed body on Witley Common. The police found Joan’s identity card and a letter to Sangret revealing her pregnancy.
Home Office pathologist Dr. Keith Simpson determined that she had been stabbed and battered to death. A distinctive knife wound to her head matched a knife later found by soldiers and linked back to Sangret.
He was tried at Kingston upon Thames on 24 February 1943 and found guilty, despite a jury recommendation to mercy. He was hanged on 29 April 1943 at Wandsworth Prison by Albert Pierrepoint and Henry Critchell.
Charles Arthur Raymond
Raymond, 23, was stationed near Goodwood in Sussex. On 30 January 1943, 22-year-old WAAF member Marguerite Burge was found fatally injured in a field.
Eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidence pointed to Raymond. He later attempted to implicate another soldier, but that alibi was disproven.
He was tried at the Old Bailey in May 1943 and found guilty. He was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Tom Pierrepoint and Steve Wade on 10 July 1943.
Charles Eugene Gauthier
Gauthier, 25, was involved with married woman Annette Pepper, who later resumed her relationship with another Canadian soldier. In a jealous rage, Gauthier shot and killed her after she told him to leave.
His first trial failed to reach a verdict, but a second trial at the Old Bailey resulted in conviction. Gauthier’s appeal and a request from the Canadian government were both denied. He was hanged at Wandsworth on 24 September 1943 by Albert Pierrepoint and Alex Riley.
Mervin Clare McEwen
McEwen, 35, befriended 82-year-old Mark Turner while AWOL in Halifax. After a night of drinking, Turner was found bludgeoned to death. McEwen fled and lived under an alias in Manchester until he was caught.
He was tried at Leeds Assizes in December 1943, convicted, and hanged at Armley Prison in Leeds on 3 February 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Steve Wade.
Horace Beresford Gordon
Gordon, 28, of Jamaican origin, served in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. On 7 September 1944, he fatally stabbed 18-year-old Dorothy May Hillman, who was heavily pregnant.
Gordon initially denied guilt, later offering implausible explanations. Dorothy identified him from her hospital bed before dying on 22 September. Gordon was tried and convicted. He was hanged at Wandsworth on 9 January 1945 by Albert Pierrepoint and Steve Wade.
Howard Joseph Grossley
Grossley, 37, had been living with Lily Griffiths in Porthcawl. On 12 March 1945, he told her he intended to kill himself, and during a struggle, shot her. Lily later died but confirmed it was accidental.
Despite her statement, Grossley was charged with murder. He was convicted and hanged at Cardiff on 5 September 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Steve Wade.
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