June 1944 - 25 July 1944
POLICY
While the units and formations of 21 Army Group were stationed in the UK the responsibility for the detailed administration of discipline was placed on the Home Commands but all matters of policy affecting them were the responsibility of HQ 21 Army Group.
The Commander-in-Chief received from His Majesty a warrant to convene General Courts Martial and to confirm findings and sentences in the field. Delegated warrants were issued to the Commanders of First Canadian Army, Second Army, and to Corps Commanders and Commander L of C.
It was the policy of 21 Army Group to retain in the theatre any soldiers who were convicted of a military offence and sentenced to detention, imprisonment or penal servitude and to hold them in 21 Army Group penal establishments. It was considered essential, however, that up to the time these penal establishments arrived in the theatre, soldiers under sentence should be evacuated, and by the middle of July the following numbers had been despatched under escort to the UK:
• Sentenced to penal servitude - 48
• Sentenced to imprisonment of over one year - 19
• Sentenced to punishment other than the above - 38
The escorts were provided from the theatre and the soldiers were handed over to Garrison HQ SOUTHAMPTON who became responsible for their disposal.
A certain number of troops absented themselves from their units prior to D-day. The policy of HQ 21 Army Group in dealing with these absentees was to despatch them when they were apprehended to a Reinforcement Holding Unit and to ensure that they were sent overseas with their unit or with an early reinforcement draft.
MILITARY PRISONS
One Military Prison large enough to hold 500 soldiers under sentence and five Field-Punishment Camps each to hold 150 were allocated to 21 Army Group. First Canadian Army was to establish its own field punishment camp but was not to have a military prison as all soldiers sentenced to one year’s detention or more were to be evacuated from the theatre. No. 5 Field Punishment Camp arrived on the Continent on 2-3 June, opened on 18 July and held forty-six soldiers under detention on 26 July.
COURTS MARTIAL
HQ 21 Army Group had planned to have two Court Martial Centres at its disposal.
The objects of these centres were:
• To relieve units in the line of the responsibility of paper work in connection with trials.
• To hasten the disposal of cases.
• To hold courts which would sit permanently and be presided over by a permanent president.
• To relieve units of the responsibility of guarding soldiers awaiting trial, promulgation or committal.
A centre accommodated 150 soldiers and was designed to try 100 cases a week. fifteen permanent presidents of FGCsM (Field General Court-Martial) were allocated to 21 Army Group.
It was decided to utilise permanent presidents for the following reasons.-
• To relieve fighting units of the responsibility of providing a senior officer as president of FGCsH.
• To ensure that similar sentences were awarded in all formations for similar offences.
• To endeavour to prevent technical errors in procedure which often lead to the quashing of convictions.
Permanent presidents landed with the assault corps and were required to preside at FGCsM almost immediately.
Some of the officers chosen for this responsibility were proved to be too old or of a too low medical category to conduct trials under the battle conditions which prevailed during the early days, and were consequently relieved of their appointments.
26 July-26 September
MILITARY PRISONS, DETENTION BARRACKS AND FIELD PUNISHMENT CAMPS
By 25 September five field punishment camps and one military prison had arrived in the theatre. These were initially established under canvas, but a part of the military prison was later accommodated in CAEN civil gaol. Two FPCS were placed under command Second Army, and one under command First Canadian Army.
During August and September the WE's of these penal units were revised and increases in strength were authorised. Authority was also given for the formation of another military prison to accommodate 500 SUS.
There was a scarcity of buildings suitable for these units, and the problem of covered accommodation was still unsolved at the end of September.
ABSENTEES AND DESERTERS
Difficulty was encountered in returning to their units absentees and deserters who were apprehended in the rear areas. Units taking part in operations were unwilling or unable to spare good NCOs and men to escort an absentee or deserter who would probably be of no use to them in battle. On 17 September over 100 soldiers were under arrest, awaiting trial in the town guard rooms of CAEN and BAYEUX and at 7 FPC.
These were sent forward by rail to Second Army and First Canadian Army on 19 September, escorts being provided from reinforcements.
By mid September the large numbers of absentees and deserters awaiting trial in 21 Army Group made it apparent that special arrangements would have to be made to accommodate them. Consequently it was decided to employ 36 RHU, which opened in a new capacity on 25 September at RYES, as a sorting, holding and despatching centre for absentees and deserters apprehended both in the UK and in the field.
The urgency for setting up a special organisation to deal with this problem is illustrated by the fact that within five days of opening the RHU held 135 men on charges of desertion and absence without leave.
The whole of the original staff of 36 RHU, plus extra personnel to act as guards, was employed on this task, while officers to act for the defence and prosecution of the accused, together with a captain, legal staff, and a permanent president were attached to the RHU for the disposal of cases either summarily or by courts martial.
COURT MARTIAL CENTRE
On 13 September an order was issued for the setting up of a Court Martial Centre which began to function in October.
During the disbandment of 59 Division a permanent president and a captain legal staff, were appointed to deal with all outstanding cases affecting soldiers of 59 Division.
Soldiers awaiting promulgation were sent to 3 Military Prison.
Soldiers of 59 Division who were arrested after the disbandment were handled by 36 RHU.
COURTS MARTIAL
The number of soldiers convicted by courts martial for the period was as follows :—
| Month | Convictions for Desertion | Convictions for Absence |
Convictions for all other Desertion |
Total |
Absence and Desertion as percentage of total |
| July | 217 | 332 | 376 | 925 | 59 |
| August | 505 | 501 | 312 | 1318 | 76 |
| September | 303 | 169 | 243 | 715 | 66 |
The above figures include trials at reinforcement groups which resulted in the following convictions for absence and desertion:
| Month |
Convictions for Desertion |
Convictions for Absence |
Total |
| July | 76 | 236 | 312 |
| August | 112 | 419 | 531 |
| September | 35 | 76 | 111 |
Trials at 103 and 105 Rft Gps in the UK accounted for the vast majority of these cases, these groups being responsible during that period for dealing with absentees and deserters apprehended in UK. The fall in the number of trials at reinforcement groups during September was caused by the movement of both these groups overseas.
SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
Special orders were published setting out the procedure for dealing with cases of self-inflicted injury.
The procedure entailed segregation of these soldiers in one hospital in the theatre, and if for any reason it was necessary to evacuate a soldier to UK very careful documentation was carried out to make certain that be would be returned when fit to undergo trial.
27 September 1944—14 January 1945
MILITARY PRISONS, DETENTION BARRACKS AND FIELD PUNISHMENT CAMPS
When the bulk of the force in the theatre was concentrated NORTH of the SEINE it became necessary to move the penal establishments from NORMANDY.
Accommodation was found for N o. 3 Military Prison at DOUAI and a new Military Prison——No. 25——was formed in BRUSSELS during the first week of November.
The premises of this prison contained a laundry, and soldiers under sentence were employed there in washing blankets and similar stores in bulk for Ordnance. No. 5 field Punishment Camp was moved to a small fort in the ANTWERP area.
In December it became clear that the available penal accommodation was insufficient to carry out the policy whereby all sentences were to be served in this theatre.
Authority was consequently obtained for the setting up of a third military prison. This prison was used for soldiers sentenced to penal servitude and to imprisonment for serious offences, as it was considered essential to segregate those who were committed for such crimes from those who were in prison for minor misdemeanours. During this period all available accommodation was fully occupied.
BLACK MARKET AND CURRENCY OFFENCES
Economic conditions in BELGIUM and HOLLAND lent themselves to illicit trading, stealing of WD property and illegal currency transactions.
On the one hand there was a scarcity of food, coal and clothing amongst the local population and on the other the high prices of luxury goods, such as cosmetics, jewellery, watches and films prevented the troops from buying them.
During the period of inflation which followed, the rate of exchange put these luxuries further out of reach of the BRITISH soldier and tempted him to trade with the civilians in stolen and mis-appropriated WD property.
Every effort was made to check this tendency and many civilians were prosecuted in their own courts for wrongfully possessing military stores and equipment. Gradually, the vigilant searches of the SIB, combined with the actions of the local authorities, helped to diminish these illegal transactions.
REVIEW or SENTENCES
It was usual for courts martial to impose a sentence of three to five years penal servitude for cases of desertion, and it was the policy that the first two years of such a sentence were to be served in a military prison. Many of these cases, however, were occasioned by battle exhaustion arising from long and dangerous contact with the enemy. In order, therefore, to give suitable men a chance of redeeming themselves by sending them back into a fighting unit, and also to help remedy the lack of reinforcements, a board of officers was set up by Second Army to review by personal interview all cases of desertion and kindred offences after three months of the sentence had been served. The board was assisted by a psychiatrist and was empowered to suspend the sentence in suitable cases and to return the soldier to front line duties. Out of 596 cases reviewed, 435 men were returned to the line and of these only 53 failed a second time. So successful was this board that a 21 Army Group board with its own WE was set up to conduct the review of all cases of this type.
COURTS MARTIAL
| Month |
Convictions for Desertion |
Convictions for Absence |
Convictions for all other offences |
Total |
Absence and Desertion as percentage of total |
| Oct 44 | 343 | 143 | 363 | 849 | 57 % |
| Nov 44 | 353 | 304 | 347 | 1004 | 65% |
| Dec 44 | 380 | 261 | 359 | 1000 | 64% |
| Jan 45 | 321 | 353 | 395 | 1069 | 63% |
15 January 1945 - 8 May 1945
MILITARY PRISONS, DETENTION BARRACKS AND FIELD PUNISHMENT CAMPS
All the penal establishments of 21 Army Group were finally concentrated in BELGIUM when 26 Military Prison and 7 Field Punishment Camp Detention Barracks were set up in the ANTWERP area at the end of February.
Although the accommodation at this time was sufficient to hold 2,500 soldiers under sentence it would not have been adequate if sentences approximately 450 soldiers had not been suspended by a “Review of Sentences Board” operated in the Second Army area.
Additional accommodation was provided by increasing the establishment of No. 3 Military Prison to hold an extra hundred and by the arrival from ITALY of a field punishment camp for two hundred men as part of operation GOLDFLAKE.
Towards the end of the campaign much time was spent in re-organising the system of training and education carried out in military penal establishments, for it was then appreciated that the major task was no longer solely to train a soldier to resume his place in the army,but also to give him suitable instruction which would be of use in civilian life. An independent War Office observer visited all penal establishments in the theatre and agreed that the curriculum in each, based on the policy of individual rehabilitation, was correct and being satisfactorily put into practice.
ABSENTEES AND DESERTERS
The resources of the provost staff were not at any time sufficient to organise a thorough and constant comb-out of BELGIAN towns for absentees and deserters.
Apprehension of these individuals was made difficult because the hospitality and credulity of people in liberated countries assisted deserters to avoid detection and capture, while, at the same time, culprits themselves had become expert in forging false passes and documents.
The problem was tackled vigorously in February when a large scale check was organised. All troops in the L of C were confined to their unit locations for a period of twenty-four hours and short leave in BRUSSELS was stopped.
As a result of checking the identity of all service men who were found in the streets and public places during this twenty-four hours more than four hundred absentees and deserters were apprehended.
COURTS MARTIAL
Offences of desertion and absence without leave provided the largest number of trials during this period as the following figures show :-
| Month |
Convictions for |
Convictions for |
Convictions for |
Total |
Absence and desertions as percentage of total |
| February | 310 | 327 | 368 | 1,005 | 64% |
| March | 451 | 333 | 404 | 1,188 | 66% |
| April | 410 | 264 | 312 | 986 | 68% |
The incidence of crime and disorderly behaviour was, however, remarkably low, when the number of troops in 21 Army Group is taken into account as the total of men convicted amounted to approximately only 1 per cent of the force each month.
PERMANENT PRESIDENTS
Recognition that the use of permanent presidents at courts martial resulted in a uniformity of punishment for similar crimes throughout the theatre, and the fact that a large number of cases were awaiting trial at the end of February, led to the pool of permanent presidents being increased from fifteen to twenty officers.
FRATERNISATION
All ranks were given a copy of a letter signed by the Commander-in-Chief 21 Army Group outlining the way in which the BRITISH armed forces were to behave in enemy country.In order to cause them a feeling of shame for the crimes they had committed and condoned, GERMAN civilians were to be ostracised, except when official business made contact with them necessary.
A memorandum was published in the shape of a confidential GRO, suggesting to commanding officers a graded scale of punishments appropriate for various breaches of the non-fraternisation order.
War Crimes and Atrocities
War Crimes and Atrocities
As the armies moved through FRANCE and BELGIUM reports came to light of acts committed by the enemy which were contrary to the laws and usages of war.
Evidence was produced which revealed that PW had been shot, that allied airmen had been ill-treated and killed, and that many acts of inhumanity had been committed against non-combatants.
A standing Court of Inquiry was set up by SHAEF to enquire into these allegations and the responsibility of HQ 21 Army Group was to make preliminary investigations and to forward a report to the SHAEF court.
During the period from October to January sixty cases of this category were reported to SHAEF.
In December a report on German atrocities in BELGIUM was completed.