Today I drove past the church in Walem, 97 years ago it was the scene of one of the horror shows of WW1.
On the morning of Monday September 21 1914 the Belgian army executed four men, three ofthese men, two Belgian – and one German soldier were executed against the church of Walem.
First infront of the firing squad were the two Belgian soldiers, Jean Raes and AlphonseVerdickt.
Several witnesses wrote down what happened on that morning and the conclusion is thatthe execution was a horrible mess!
- The firing squad was made up out of 15 soldiers of the local garrison, they stood less then seven passes away from the victims, that is less then 23 feet; but despite the short distance to the target the fire was far from accurate, the soldiers were very shaken and some of them even deliberately missed the target, one of the victims was still alive after the initial volley, the officer that commanded the firing squad was so upset that he couldn’t give the final shot with his pistol, eventually the pistol was pushed in the hands of a corporal and this corporal, with his head averted and his eyes closed shot the dying soldier in the head and thus ending his struggle.
The second executions, this time of a German soldier, went more smoothly; all the bullets fired on Otto Hoffmann, who was accused of murdering a woman a month ago, did hit him and a large cheer came from the public after he was shot and it is said that five Belgian soldiers danced on his grave afterwards.
What were the crimes the Belgian soldiers committed to warrant there execution?
First I’ll explain the bigger picture; in the second part of September the Belgian army was in trouble, it just had executed two offensive actions which had cost a lot of casualties for very small gains, which in typical WW1 style were given up immediately afterwards; after the last offensive the German army had taken the initiative again and was building up the pressure on the Belgian frontline to break in to fortress Antwerp, the Belgian national redoubt.
The highcommand of the Belgian army now took drastic measures to keep the discipline inthe ranks of the soldiers, specially the commanding general, General Baix of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division was won for the idea of executing soldiers asan example to keep a strict discipline in the ranks.
Three victims were easily found; the first was Elie De Leeuw (°1893) a soldier with along criminal record he previously had served in a penal unit, during the night of September 12/13 1914 he had deserted his post on the frontline and wascaught by the military police several days later; a clear case of desertion,after a trial by a military court in Malines he was found guilty and executed.
The cases of the two soldiers that were executed in Walem are less obvious to say the least.
- Alphonse Verdickt from Ghent was a conscript of the class of 1906; in 1914 he was 31 years old and married during the summer he mobilized and had joined his old unit the 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]Line Infantry Regiment of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division.
On September 20 1914 his CO opens a case against him for desertion and insubordination, according to his CO Alphonse Verdickt had deserted twice,first on September 12 1914 and secondly on September 18 1914 and for an act of insubordinationon August 18 1914.
Desertion is a big word in the case of Alphonse Verdickt on the two days of his alleged desertions his company was on the retreat and in the confusion on the roads he had lost his unit for several hours but he always reported himself to the nearest command post, reporting oneself to the nearest command post aren’t theactions of a hardcore deserter.
Even the military prosecutor found his desertions to be negligible, but because the general needed a scapegoat the military prosecutor used his act of insubordination to ask for a dead sentence.
What horrible act of insubordination had Alphonse Verdickt committed so that it justified his execution?
On August18 1914, a hot summer day, Alphonse Verdickt had left the ranks to look for drinking water!
Yes, you read it correct; he had taken personal initiative, which wasn’t tolerated inthe Belgian army of 1914. His CO had opened a disciplinary case against him for this act of insubordination but had got no result from it.
Now a month later he used it again, to according to his words to punish an undisciplined soldier that is a bad example for his company.
This time he had success, the military court of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division found him guilty of insubordination on the frontline and ordered his immediate execution.
- Jean Raes from Brussels was also conscript soldier and reservist in the 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] Line Infantry Regiment of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division.
His criminal record is lost but most likely the case against him would also havebeen very light.
Nevertheless General Baix had found his three victims.
The first intention was to execute Raes and Verdickt in front of the troops on the yard of fort Walem, the key stronghold in his defensive sector.
In the last instance this plan was a changed, the army command feared that a mutiny might break out if a large number of troops would be watching the execution of two basically innocent soldiers, therefore the two soldiers would be executed behind the church of Walem (less then a mile from the fort) directly on the cemetery wherethey would be buried.
Then the news of there execution would be made public to scare the soldiers.
The case of Verdickt and Raes aren’t unique in the history of WW1, many more soldiers were executed to set examples but what makes this case unique is that one today still can see three bullet impacts on the wall of the church of Walem, the place where at least one innocent soldier was executed.
On the morning of Monday September 21 1914 the Belgian army executed four men, three ofthese men, two Belgian – and one German soldier were executed against the church of Walem.
First infront of the firing squad were the two Belgian soldiers, Jean Raes and AlphonseVerdickt.
Several witnesses wrote down what happened on that morning and the conclusion is thatthe execution was a horrible mess!
- The firing squad was made up out of 15 soldiers of the local garrison, they stood less then seven passes away from the victims, that is less then 23 feet; but despite the short distance to the target the fire was far from accurate, the soldiers were very shaken and some of them even deliberately missed the target, one of the victims was still alive after the initial volley, the officer that commanded the firing squad was so upset that he couldn’t give the final shot with his pistol, eventually the pistol was pushed in the hands of a corporal and this corporal, with his head averted and his eyes closed shot the dying soldier in the head and thus ending his struggle.
The second executions, this time of a German soldier, went more smoothly; all the bullets fired on Otto Hoffmann, who was accused of murdering a woman a month ago, did hit him and a large cheer came from the public after he was shot and it is said that five Belgian soldiers danced on his grave afterwards.
What were the crimes the Belgian soldiers committed to warrant there execution?
First I’ll explain the bigger picture; in the second part of September the Belgian army was in trouble, it just had executed two offensive actions which had cost a lot of casualties for very small gains, which in typical WW1 style were given up immediately afterwards; after the last offensive the German army had taken the initiative again and was building up the pressure on the Belgian frontline to break in to fortress Antwerp, the Belgian national redoubt.
The highcommand of the Belgian army now took drastic measures to keep the discipline inthe ranks of the soldiers, specially the commanding general, General Baix of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division was won for the idea of executing soldiers asan example to keep a strict discipline in the ranks.
Three victims were easily found; the first was Elie De Leeuw (°1893) a soldier with along criminal record he previously had served in a penal unit, during the night of September 12/13 1914 he had deserted his post on the frontline and wascaught by the military police several days later; a clear case of desertion,after a trial by a military court in Malines he was found guilty and executed.
The cases of the two soldiers that were executed in Walem are less obvious to say the least.
- Alphonse Verdickt from Ghent was a conscript of the class of 1906; in 1914 he was 31 years old and married during the summer he mobilized and had joined his old unit the 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]Line Infantry Regiment of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division.
On September 20 1914 his CO opens a case against him for desertion and insubordination, according to his CO Alphonse Verdickt had deserted twice,first on September 12 1914 and secondly on September 18 1914 and for an act of insubordinationon August 18 1914.
Desertion is a big word in the case of Alphonse Verdickt on the two days of his alleged desertions his company was on the retreat and in the confusion on the roads he had lost his unit for several hours but he always reported himself to the nearest command post, reporting oneself to the nearest command post aren’t theactions of a hardcore deserter.
Even the military prosecutor found his desertions to be negligible, but because the general needed a scapegoat the military prosecutor used his act of insubordination to ask for a dead sentence.
What horrible act of insubordination had Alphonse Verdickt committed so that it justified his execution?
On August18 1914, a hot summer day, Alphonse Verdickt had left the ranks to look for drinking water!
Yes, you read it correct; he had taken personal initiative, which wasn’t tolerated inthe Belgian army of 1914. His CO had opened a disciplinary case against him for this act of insubordination but had got no result from it.
Now a month later he used it again, to according to his words to punish an undisciplined soldier that is a bad example for his company.
This time he had success, the military court of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division found him guilty of insubordination on the frontline and ordered his immediate execution.
- Jean Raes from Brussels was also conscript soldier and reservist in the 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] Line Infantry Regiment of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army Division.
His criminal record is lost but most likely the case against him would also havebeen very light.
Nevertheless General Baix had found his three victims.
The first intention was to execute Raes and Verdickt in front of the troops on the yard of fort Walem, the key stronghold in his defensive sector.
In the last instance this plan was a changed, the army command feared that a mutiny might break out if a large number of troops would be watching the execution of two basically innocent soldiers, therefore the two soldiers would be executed behind the church of Walem (less then a mile from the fort) directly on the cemetery wherethey would be buried.
Then the news of there execution would be made public to scare the soldiers.
The case of Verdickt and Raes aren’t unique in the history of WW1, many more soldiers were executed to set examples but what makes this case unique is that one today still can see three bullet impacts on the wall of the church of Walem, the place where at least one innocent soldier was executed.
