Saturday July 20th, 1918
Sixth day defaulters. Nice day. Commanding Officer’s parade morning. Rained hard in afternoon. Digging afternoon and night. Wrote home. Orders for moving camp tomorrow. Raining hard.
The Last Laugh
Illtyd Davies described his second stint of Field Punishment No 1 in quite glowing terms:
‘Whilst at this camp, I was placed under arrest by a Sergeant Higgins for insubordination. …
In due course I was paraded before the battery commander. I was remanded to the colonel and award 28 days No 1 Field Punishment and also told that I was the worst character in the Brigade. I was really pleased that I had achieved such prominence at last I had something to boast about.
So began another session of two hours a day on the wheel. The worst part was being unable to brush off the numerous flies and mosquitoes. In addition, I spend one hour per day before reveille wheeling stones about one hundred yards up a hill and in the evening wheeling the same stones back down the hill.
I really thrived whilst serving my sentence. The bombardier cook, who sympathized with me, saw that I received liberal rations, about double what normally would have been my share. Also, on pay day, the men of the battery, to show their appreciation passed around the hat. Many NCOs contributed , so my loss of pay was more than made up. When my sentence was completed I had gained several pounds in weight, had money in my pocket and was the fittest man in the brigade.’ †
So when he was sentenced for a third time, he was quite ready for it:
Next morning I was paraded before the colonel and awarded twenty-one days No 1 FP and marched out by the Regimental Sergeant Major. We were not fifty yards from the colonel’s tent, when I was recalled before him, orders had come through that No 1 FP was abolished, so my sentence was reduced to twenty one days No 2. I could not resist a smile and was promptly told to take the smile from my face. It really hurt the old bugger, being forced to reduce the sentence, all that I had to do was a few extra fatigues, such as digging holes for latrines. For me that was just a mile exercise, having become very adept at performing with a pick and shovel.’ ‡
The Bigger Point
What Illtyd Davies account shows is that:
a) his fellow soldiers and some NCO felt great sympathy for the treatment he received – implying it was arbitrary or heavy handed or both; and
b) the furore in Britain led to much more circumspect use of Field Punishment No 1 from 1917 onwards.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 20th July 1918 – Abancourt, France
Training as in programme. Order stocks move to Haudricourt received 23:30 hrs.
References & Further Reading
† ‘A Little Account’ by Illtyd Davies, page 23, from a collection of Salonika Campaign Society
‡ ‘A Little Account’ by Illtyd Davies, page 29, from a collection of Salonika Campaign Society