The 1902 court-martial of Breaker Morant was a war crimes prosecution that brought to trial six officersLieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton, Henry Picton, Captain Alfred Taylor and Major Robert Lenehanof the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC), an irregular regiment of mounted rifles during the Second Boer War. The trial opened in Pietersburg during January 1902.

The charges, which were in part prompted by a "letter of complaint" which was written by BVC Trooper Robert Mitchell Cochrane and signed by James Christie and 14 other members of the BVC, were that Lieutenant Morant had incited the co-accused to murder some 20 people, including the wounded prisoner of war (POW) Floris Visser, a group of four Boer prisoners of war (POWs) and four Dutch schoolteachers, Boer civilian adults and children, and a Lutheran missionary named Rev. Daniel Heese. Morant and Handcock were acquitted of killing Heese, but were sentenced to death on the other two charges and executed within 18 hours of sentencing. Their death warrants were personally signed by Lord Kitchener.

It was not until 1907 that news of the trial and executions were made public in Australia when Witton published Scapegoats of the Empire. The Australian government subsequently ensured that none of its troops would be tried by the British military during World War I.

Floris Visser ambush, capture and death

Floris J. Visser ( – 11 August 1901) was an Afrikaner and member of the Letaba Commando, which fought for the Republic of Transvaal during the Second Anglo-Boer War. Visser's summary execution while a wounded prisoner of war was one of the alleged war crimes that were prosecuted in the Court martial of Breaker Morant. At the time of his death, Visser was about twenty years of age.

Capture

On the night of 6 August 1901, Floris Visser was wounded in his ankle during an ambush of his Boer Commandos by a patrol of the Bushveldt Carbineers, an irregular unit of the British Army, led by Captain Percy Frederick Hunt. The ambush took place at the Viljoen homestead in Duivelskloof. During the same attack, the Commandos lost field cornet Barend Viljoen, his brother J.J. Viljoen, and F.J. Schell. The Bushveldt Carbineers lost Captain Hunt and Sergeant Frank Eland.

After the ambush, the remnants of the Letaba Commandos was pursued by a BVC patrol led by Lieutenant Morant. Although Morant had only arrived from Fort Edward after Captain Hunt's burial, he had been told rumours that Hunt's body had been mutilated. On the morning of 9 August 1901, Morant led a patrol consisting of both members of the Bushveldt Carbineers and warriors from the local Lobedu people. That evening, after coming upon the Letaba Commando's encampment in a gully, the patrol prepared to attack. Morant's Afrikaner adjutant, Trooper Theunis Botha, later recalled, "I may say here that for Morant's own cowardice the whole of the party would have been caught as every other man in the patrol will testify. Instead of going close up as he could easily have done and so closing the cordon he started firing at 2000 yards and would not go nearer."

Hearing the shots, the Letaba Commando scattered. As his comrades fled, Visser, who was unable to walk or ride, was left behind. The Bushveldt Carbineers found him lying under one of the wagons.

As the patrol continued their pursuit of the Viljoen Commando, Visser was carried along. Trooper Botha continued, "In the morning similar questions were again asked of him by Lieutenant Morant who again promised to spare his life if he answered truthfully. Visser answered every question truthfully as subsequent events proved."

Death

According to BVC Trooper Edward Powell, "After being captured he was conveyed in a cape cart about fifteen miles. When we outspanned I heard that Lieutenants Morant, Handcock, and Picton would hold a court-martial and that Visser would probably be shot. Visser was in the cart all the time to the best of my belief and was not present at the court-martial."

Before taking his place in the firing squad, Trooper Botha told Trooper Christie about Visser, "I know him good. I went to school with him. I don't like to do it, but they will shoot me if I don't."

The letter

On 4 October 1901, a letter signed by 15 members of the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) garrison at Fort Edward was secretly dispatched to Colonel F.H. Hall, the British Army Officer Commanding at Pietersburg, South Africa. The letter that was written by BVC Trooper Robert Mitchell Cochrane, a former Justice of the Peace from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, accused members of the Fort Edward garrison of six "disgraceful incidents":

  1. The shooting of six surrendered Afrikaner men and boys and the theft of their money and livestock at Valdezia on 2 July 1901. The orders had been given by Captains Alfred Taylor and James Huntley Robertson, and relayed by Sergeant Major K.C.B. Morrison to Sergeant D.C. Oldham. The actual killing was alleged to have been carried out by Sgt. Oldham and BVC Troopers Eden, Arnold, Brown, Heath, and Dale.
  2. The shooting of BVC Trooper B.J. van Buuren by BVC Lieutenant Peter Handcock on 4 July 1901. Trooper van Buuren, an Afrikaner, had "disapproved" of the killings at Valdezia, and had informed the victims' wives and children, who were imprisoned at Fort Edward while awaiting shipment to concentration camps, of what had happened to their relatives.
  3. The revenge killing of Floris Visser, a wounded prisoner of war, near the Koedoes River on 11 August 1901. Visser had been captured two days before his death by a BVC patrol led by Lieut. Harry Morant. After Visser had been exhaustively interrogated and conveyed for 15 miles by the patrol, Lieutenant Morant had ordered his men to form a firing squad and shoot him. The squad consisted of BVC Troopers A.J. Petrie, J.J. Gill, Wild, and T.J. Botha. A coup de grace was delivered by BVC Lieutenant Harry Picton. The killing of Floris Visser was in retaliation for the combat death of Morant's close friend, BVC Captain Percy Frederick Hunt, at Duivelskloof on 6 August 1901.
  4. The shooting, ordered by Captain Taylor and Lieutenant Morant, of four surrendered Afrikaners and four Dutch schoolteachers, who had been captured at the Elim Hospital in Valdezia, on the morning of 23 August 1901. The firing squad consisted of BVC Lieutenant George Witton, Sgt. D.C. Oldham, and Troopers J.T. Arnold, Edward Brown, T. Dale, and A. Heath. Although Trooper Cochrane's letter made no mention of the fact, three Native South African witnesses were also shot dead.<br />The ambush and fatal shooting of the Reverend Carl August Daniel Heese of the Berlin Missionary Society near Bandolierkop on the afternoon of 23 August 1901. Heese had spiritually counselled the Dutch and Afrikaner victims that morning and had angrily protested to Morant at Fort Edward upon learning of their deaths. Trooper Cochrane alleged that the killer of Heese was BVC Lieutenant Peter Handcock. Although Cochrane made no mention of the fact, Heese's driver, a member of the Southern Ndebele people, was also killed.
  5. The orders, given by BVC Lieutenant Charles H.G. Hannam, to open fire on a wagon train containing Afrikaner women and children who were coming in to surrender at Fort Edward, on 5 September 1901. The ensuing gunfire led to the deaths of two boys, aged 5 and 13, and the wounding of a 9-year-old girl.
  6. The shooting of Roelf van Staden and his sons Roelf, 16, and Christiaan, 12, near Fort Edward on 7 September 1901. All were coming in to surrender in the hope of gaining medical treatment for teenaged Christiaan, who had recurring bouts of fever. Instead, they were met at the Sweetwaters Farm near Fort Edward by a party consisting of Lieutenants Morant and Handcock, joined by BVC Sergeant Major Hammet, Corporal MacMahon, and Troopers Hodds, Botha, and Thompson. Roelf van Staden and both his sons were then shot, allegedly after being forced to dig their own graves.

The letter then accused the Field Commander of the BVC, Major Robert Lenahan, of being "privy these misdemeanours. It is for this reason that we have taken the liberty of addressing this communication direct to you." After listing numerous civilian witnesses who could confirm their allegations, Trooper Cochrane concluded, "Sir, many of us are Australians who have fought throughout nearly the whole war while others are Africaners who have fought from Colenso till now. We cannot return home with the stigma of these crimes attached to our names. Therefore, we humbly pray that a full and exhaustive inquiry be made by Imperial officers in order that the truth be elicited and justice done. Also we beg that all witnesses may be kept in camp at Pietersburg till the inquiry is finished. So deeply do we deplore the opprobrium which must be inseparably attached to these crimes that scarcely a man once his time is up can be prevailed to re-enlist in this corps. Trusting for the credit of thinking you will grant the inquiry we seek."

Arrests

In response to the letter written by Trooper Cochrane, Colonel Hall summoned all Fort Edward officers and non-commissioned officers to Pietersburg on 21 October 1901. All were met by a party of mounted infantry five miles outside Pietersburg on the morning of 23 October 1901 and "brought into town like criminals". Morant was arrested after returning from leave in Pretoria, where he had gone to settle the affairs of his deceased friend Hunt.

Indictments

Although the trial transcripts, like almost all others dating from between 1850 and 1914, were later destroyed by the Civil Service, it is known that a Court of Inquiry, the British military's equivalent to a grand jury, was convened on 16 October 1901. The President of the Court was Colonel H.M. Carter, who was assisted by Captain E. Evans and Major Wilfred N. Bolton, the Provost Marshal of Pietersburg. The first session of the Court took place on 6 November 1901 and continued for four weeks. Deliberations continued for a further two weeks; the indictments would be as follows:

  1. In what became known as "The Six Boers Case", Captains Robertson and Taylor, as well as Sergeant Major Morrison, were charged with committing the offence of murder while on active service.
  2. In relation to what was dubbed "The Van Buuren Incident", Lieutenant Handcock was charged with murder and Major Lenahan was charged with, "When on active service by culpable neglect failing to make a report which it was his duty to make."
  3. In relation to "The Visser Incident", Lieutenants Morant, Handcock, Witton, and Picton were charged with "While on active service committing the offence of murder".
  4. In relation to what was incorrectly dubbed "The Eight Boers Case", Morant, Handcock, and Witton were charged with "While on active service committing the offence of murder".<br />In relation to the slaying of Heese; Morant and Handcock were charged with "While on active service committing the offence of murder".
  5. No charges were filed for the three children who had been shot by the Bushveldt Carbineers near Fort Edward.
  6. In relation to what became known as "The Three Boers Case", Morant and Handcock were charged with "While on active service committing the offence of murder". had been retained to defend Lenahan. The night before, however, he agreed to represent all six defendants.

The prosecution called Sergeant S. Robinson, who testified about the attack on the Viljoen homestead at Duivelskloof, during which Captain Percy Frederick Hunt and Sergeant Frank Eland were killed. Sgt. Robinson testified that when he returned to the battlefield later, Captain Hunt's body had been stripped. Robinson then took the bodies to the Mendingen Mission Station, where his party was later reinforced by Lieuts. Morant, Handcock, Picton and Witton.

During cross-examination by Major Thomas, Sgt. Robinson "said that Captain Hunt's body bore signs of ill-treatment." Furthermore, Visser, when captured, "had a kind of khaki jacket on." Sgt. Robinson further revealed that he had been told by the late Captain Hunt "that he had direct orders that no prisoners were to be taken". On one occasion, Sgt. Robinson had been "abused" by Captain Hunt "for bringing in three prisoners against orders." Sgt. Robinson further revealed that, prior to Captain Hunt's death at Duivelskloof, "Morant had previously been considerate to prisoners", but that afterwards, "He was in charge of the firing party that executed Visser."

The next witness for the prosecution was Morant's former orderly and interpreteran Afrikaner "joiner" named Trooper Theunis J. Bothawho "corroborated the previous witness, and said that he was one of the firing party who carried out the sentence on Visser, who was carried down to a river and shot." Trooper Botha added that he "had previously lived with Visser on the same farm", and that he "objected to forming one of the firing party."

Although the account written in The Times makes no mention of it, Lieut. Witton alleges that the President of the Court then asked Lieut. Morant whether Visser's "court-martial" had been constituted like Morant's own court-martial, and whether the four "judges" had observed King's Regulations. Morant's reply, according to Witton, was: "Was it like this? No; it was not quite so handsome. As to rules and regulations, we had no Red Book, and knew nothing about them. We were out fighting the Boers, not sitting comfortably behind barb-wire entanglements; we got them and shot them under Rule 303!"

Under cross-examination by Major Thomas, Lieut. Morant alleged "that Captain Hunt's orders were to clear Spelonken and take no prisoners." Morant admitted, however, that "He had never seen these orders in writing", but that "Captain Hunt quoted the actions of Kitchener's and Strathcona's Horse as precedents." Lieut. Morant further explained that his reason for disobeying Captain Hunt was "because his captured were 'a good lot. Lieut. Morant further admitted that he "had shot no prisoners prior to Visser."

When asked about Visser's "court-martial", Lieut. Morant admitted that "No witnesses were called", as all present had been eyewitnesses. During the proceeding, Lieut. Picton had "raised an objection to Visser being shot, on the ground that he should have been shot the night before." When pressed about the reason why, Morant insisted that Captain Hunt had repeatedly ordered him not to take prisoners and that "he never questioned" the validity of those orders.

Morant was found guilty of murder. Handcock, Witton, and Picton were convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter. After observing the trial, Colonel A.R. Pemberton wrote to the War Office, "I consider that Lieut. Morant was properly convicted... The so-called Court was not a Court at all; it may be more justly called a consultation between 4 officers which ended in a party of subordinates being ordered to commit murder. A stronger case of implied malice aforethought has rarely been represented before any tribunal. I fail to understand on what grounds the other 3 prisoners were found guilty of manslaughter only. I disagree with this finding: From the evidence adduced I consider the 4 officers are jointly & severally responsible for the death of Visser & guilty of murder. I do not consider it proved that Visser was wearing British uniform." Bolton vainly requested to be excused, writing, "My knowledge of law is insufficient for so intricate a matter." Meanwhile, Captains Matcham and Brown took the place of Ousley and Marshall.

The deposition of former BVC Corporal Albert van der Westerhuizen, the memoirs of George Witton, and the Transvaal War Museum archives reveal that, after the prisoners were taken, they were marched to a hillside nearby and forced to dig their own mass grave. Then, as planned in advance, Henry Lebeoer and Mr. Schwartz, two local Afrikaners assigned to Captain Taylor's staff, fired three shots to make it appear that the party was under attack by the Zoutpansberg Commando. All eight prisoners were then shot and buried in the mass grave which they had dug. According to South African historian Charles Leach, only five out of the eight victims were members of the Zoutpansberg Commando.

Witton alleged in his account that he shot a Boer who had lunged at him and attempted to grab his rifle. Other sources allege that the same man was a Dutch Reformed Church deacon and member of the Zoutpansberg Commando named C.J. Smit. After the conclusion of the Eight Boers hearing, the prisoners were placed in irons, taken to Pretoria by rail under heavy guard and tried on the third main count.

Heese case

The charge concerned the murder of the Lutheran missionary, Reverend Daniel Heese, who had spiritually counselled the eight Afrikaner and Dutch victims at Valdezia. It opened on 17 February, with Major Bolton alleging that Heese had been ambushed and shot by Handcock on the orders of Morant. Handcock was charged with murder and Morant with inciting.

Three Boers case

Morant and Handcock stood accused of ordering certain troopers and a corporal to shoot Roelf van Staden and both his sons. They were found guilty.

The principle of condonation in military law traces back to the "Memorandum on Corporal Punishment" issued by the Duke of Wellington on 4 March 1832:

Superior orders defence

Major Thomas argued that summary executions of surrendered members of the Boer Commandos were justified under what became known, half a century later, as the Nuremberg Defense: namely, that the defendants could not be held criminally or morally responsible because they only followed orders from Lord Kitchener to "take no prisoners".

In the trial itself, Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Hamilton categorically denied giving Captain Percy Frederic Hunt orders to shoot POWs; he also denied the existence of a coded telegram from him to Lord Roberts. Even so, Thomas still demanded the acquittal of his clients on the grounds that they believed they acted under orders. In response, the prosecutor argued that, even if Kitchener had ordered the shooting of prisoners, they were "illegal orders", and that the defendants had no right to obey them. The judges agreed with the prosecution and found the defendants guilty.

Trial of Peter von Hagenbach

The trial of Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1474 was the first "international" recognition of commanders' obligations to act lawfully. Hagenbach was put on trial for atrocities committed during the Burgundian Wars against the civilians of Breisach. Standing accused of allowing his troops to commit mass murder and war rape, which, "he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent", and of personally committing perjury, Hagenbach replied that he, like Morant, only followed orders from the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, against whose rule the city of Breisach had rebelled. The court, however, rejected the superior orders defence. Peter von Hagenbach was found guilty of war crimes and executed by beheading at Breisgach on 4 May 1474. Despite the fact there was no explicit use of the term command responsibility, the trial of Peter von Hagenbach is seen as the first war crimes prosecution based on this principle. More recently, the trial of Peter von Hagenbach has been cited to argue against ongoing efforts in modern Australia seeking the retrial or posthumous pardon of Breaker Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton, and Henry Picton.

Leipzig war crimes trials

During the Leipzig war crimes trials, however, which prosecuted alleged German war crimes after the end of World War I, the defence attorney's claim that an alleged war criminal "only followed orders" () was taken very seriously and resulted in both acquittals and light sentences.

The Dover Castle trial

Kapitänleutnant Karl Neumann of U-boat , who had torpedoed and sunk the British hospital ship Dover Castle in the Mediterranean Sea on 26 May 1917, stood accused of war crimes on the high seas. Neumann was able to prove, however, that he had acted under orders from his superiors in the Imperial German Navy. The Imperial German Government had accused the Allies of using hospital ships for military purposes and had announced on 19 March 1917 that U-boats could sink hospital ships under certain conditions. The court ruled that Neumann had believed the sinking to be a lawful act and found him not guilty of war crimes.

The Llandovery Castle trial

Oberleutnants Ludwig Dithmar and John Boldt also stood accused of war crimes on the high seas. They were two officers of the submarine SM U-86, which had not only torpedoed and sunk the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle, but had also machine-gunned the survivors in the lifeboats. The sinking had taken place off the coast of Ireland on 27 June 1918 and was the deadliest Canadian maritime disaster of the First World War. 234 doctors, nurses, members of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, as well as Canadian soldiers and sailors died in the sinking and in the subsequent machine-gunning of survivors and ramming of the lifeboats by U-86's crew. Only 24 people, the occupants of a single life-raft, survived.

After the war, three officers from U-86, Kapitänleutnant Helmut Brümmer-Patzig, and Oberleutnants Ludwig Dithmar and John Boldt, were charged with committing a war crime on the high seas. On 21 July 1921, Dithmar and Boldt were found guilty in one of the Leipzig War Crimes Trials and were both sentenced to four years in prison. The sentences of Dithmar and Boldt were later overturned on the grounds that they were only following orders and that their commanding officer alone was responsible. Patzig, however, had fled to Danzig, then an independent city, and thus was never prosecuted as a result. Outside of Germany, the trials were seen as a travesty of justice because of the small number of cases tried and the perceived leniency of the court. According to American historian Alfred de Zayas, however, "generally speaking, the German population took exception to these trials, especially because the Allies were not similarly bringing their own soldiers to justice." (See Victor's justice.)

Ottoman military tribunals

As Turkish war crimes had been far more systematic and heinous than anything done by the Kaiser's Germany, the effort to prosecute Ottoman war criminals was taken up by the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and ultimately included in the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) with the Ottoman Empire. After the war, the British Foreign Office demanded 141 Turks be tried for crimes against British soldiers and 17 for involvement in the Armenian genocide.

The initial prosecution of war criminals was established between 1919 and 1920 by the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress which charged and tried several former leaders and officials for subversion of the constitution, war profiteering, and what is now called genocide against both Pontic Greeks and Armenians. At the same time, the British Foreign Office conducted its own investigation into alleged Turkish war crimes, as they doubted that the process was being adequately dealt with by Turkish courts martial.

The court sat for nearly a year, from April 1919 through March 1920. The judges had condemned the first set of defendants (Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha, et al.) only when they were safely out of the country; but now, the Tribunal did not find anyone guilty. Admiral Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe protested to the Sublime Porte, took the trials out of Turkish hands, and removed the proceedings to Malta. There was an attempt made to seat an international tribunal, but the Turks deliberately mishandled the evidence so that their work could not be used in court.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Republican Government in Ankara was strictly opposed to any attempts to prosecute accused war criminals. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said about the detainees in Malta: "...should any of the detainees either already brought or yet to be brought to Constantinople be executed, even at the order of the vile Constantinople government, we would seriously consider executing all British prisoners in our custody." By February 1921, the military court in Constantinople began releasing prisoners without trials.

Response to the Ottoman trials

Armenian historian Vahakn N. Dadrian commented that the Allied efforts at prosecution were an example of "a retributive justice [that] gave way to expedience of political accommodation".

Peter Balakianreferring to the post-war Ottoman military tribunals, none of which were held in Maltacommented that "The trials represent a milestone in the history of war-crimes tribunals." Although they were truncated in the end by political pressures, and directed by Turkey's domestic laws rather than by an international tribunal, the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–1920 were an antecedent to the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.

US Military tribunal at Caserta

On 8 October 1945, Wehrmacht General Anton Dostler became the first German officer to be prosecuted for war crimes after the end of World War II. The trial took place before an American military tribunal inside the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Italy. General Dostler stood accused of ordering the summary execution of 15 American POWs, who had been captured in March 1944. Like Morant and his co-defendants, Gen. Dostler admitted to ordering the shooting of the POWs but said that he could not be held criminally responsible because he only followed orders.

General Dostler was able to prove that the killing of the 15 American prisoners of war was done in obedience to a direct order from Field Marshal Albert Kesselring and to Adolf Hitler's Commando Order, which demanded the summary execution of all Allied commandos who were captured by German forces. However, the American judges rejected the Superior Orders defence and found Gen. Dostler guilty of war crimes. He was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad at Aversa on 1 December 1945.

Nuremberg trials

The Dostler case became the precedent for the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders beginning in November 1945, namely, that proof of superior orders does not excuse a defendant from the legal or moral responsibility for obeying commands that violate the laws and customs of war. This principle was codified in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles, and similar principles are found in sections of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Conviction and sentencing

right|260px|thumb|Major [[James Francis Thomas|Thomas standing over the joint grave of Morant and Handcock (1902)]]

Morant and Handcock were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on the morning of 27 February, less than 18 hours after the verdict. Witton had also been sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life in prison by Kitchener (he was released by the British House of Commons on 11 August 1904 and died in 1942). Picton was cashiered, and Lenehan was reprimanded and discharged. All charges against the British intelligence officer Captain Taylor (died 1941) were dismissed. The Australian debate was revived in 1907 after Witton returned to Australia and published his story, Scapegoats of the Empire. The Australian government insisted that none of its troops would be tried by the British military during World War I. Morant and Handcock have become folk heroes in modern Australia.

Floris Visser

Even though Floris Visser had revealed information that placed his comrades at risk, his name was posthumously added to the Soutpansberg Commando's Roll of Honour. Visser's name does not appear, however, at the Heroes Acre Monument in Duivelskloof, which lists the names of all local Afrikaners who were killed during the Second Anglo-Boer War. He has, however, been added to the monument to civilian casualties at Fort Edward, the monument at Blas Perreira's Store, and the monument at the Viljoen family homestead.

Many Australians now regard Lts. Morant and Handcock as scapegoats or even as the victims of judicial murder. Attempts continue, with widespread public support, to obtain them a posthumous pardon or even a new trial. South Africans who oppose this effort, however, have cited as precedents the trial of Peter von Hagenbach, the 1813 prosecution of Ensign Hugh Maxwell for murdering French POW Charles Cottier at Glencorse Barracks near Penicuik, Scotland, during the Napoleonic Wars, and the United States Army's court martial of the servicemen responsible for the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War. The fact that Major James Thomas' superior orders defence argument was also infamously used by so many of those prosecuted for Nazi war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials that it is now called the Nuremberg Defense, has also been cited as an argument.

In a 1999 interview, Bruce Beresford said about his award-winning film adaptation of the court-martial proceedings, "I read an article about it recently in the Los Angeles Times and the writer said it's the story of these guys who were railroaded by the British. But that's not what it's about at all. The film never pretended for a moment that they weren't guilty. It said they are guilty. But what was interesting about it was that it analysed why men in this situation would behave as they had never behaved before in their lives. It's the pressures that are put to bear on people in war time. Look at the atrocities in Yugoslavia. Look at all the things that happen in these countries committed by people who appear to be quite normal. That was what I was interested in examining. I always get amazed when people say to me that this is a film about poor Australians who were framed by the Brits."

See also

  • nullum crimen sine lege
  • Nulla poena sine culpa

Footnotes

Citations

Notes

References

Press citations on Internet

(Chronologically arranged)

  • Contemporary treatments:
  • Executed Officers: Detailed Reports of the Trial: Five Main Charges, The Brisbane Courier, (Saturday, 24 May 1902), p.6.
  • Isaacs, I.A., "Opinion of the Hon. Isaac A. Isaacs K.C., M.P., re the case of Lieutenant Witton", (Melbourne), 28 August 1902.
  • 'L.', "Australian Military Legislation", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 1 July 1903), p.5.
  • Petition for clemency, pardon, and the immediate release from incarceration of George Ramsdale Witton, addressed to King Edward VII, and signed by 37 citizens of Colebrook, Tasmania, c.1904.
  • Retrospectives:
  • Copeland, H., "A Tragic memory of the Boer War: When Two Australian Officers Were Shot by Lord Kitchener's Orders", The Argus Week-End Magazine, (Saturday, 11 June 1938), p.6.
  • Paterson, A.B. ("Banjo"), "An Execution and a Royal Pardon", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday, 25 February 1939), p.21.
  • Burke, A., "Melodrama of Boer War", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday, 7 August 1954), p.14.
  • "Bartle Frere", "Harry Morant", The Townsville Daily Bulletin, (Friday, 10 December 1954), p.9.

Other periodicals, and books

Further reading

  • "Evidence in New Zealand: An Eye-Witness's Account of a Brutal Deed", The (Wellington) Evening Post, (10 April 1902), p.&nbsp;5: the account of James Christie of Clutha, formerly of the Bush Veldt Carbineers (1).
  • "The Bush Veldt Horrors: Revelations of a Former Clutha Resident", The (Wellington) Evening Post, (14 April 1902), p.&nbsp;5: the account of James Christie of Clutha, formerly of the Bush Veldt Carbineers (2).
  • 3 April 1902 Newspaper article, The Court-Martialled Australians
  • "The Trial of Officers for the Murder of Boer Prisoners" 17 April 1902 Newspaper article, Reuters,
  • "Move to Bring Morant Home", The Canberra Times, (Friday, 26 September 1980), p.&nbsp;3.