Firing Squads

Missileer

Active member
Sometimes, I think a little too much but I was wondering how a firing squad was picked. I know they have been around since guns but are the members selected from soldiers who didn't serve with the guy? An enemy would be a little easier to shoot but even then, not by some soldiers. I've wondered if they just asked for volunteers, "hey anybody up for shooting ol' Jake full of holes while he's tied to a post?" Was there a reward of some kind?

I guess, most of all could you do it not knowing the reason you're killing a fellow soldier who fought with you for years?
 
I think you would find in the British Army, it was you, you and you. the way that every one is selected to volunteer.
 
Missileer, I am guessing that the firing squad was picked just like any other detail. There has only been one such execution since the Civil War. Private Eddie Slovik was executed in WWII for desertion. Slovik's was the only one of 49 death sentences carried out in WWII.
 
The much watered down version of this dillema would be the MP... a soldier who's job is to capture other soldiers... mostly dudes who are trying to have fun on a weekend pass.
 
It was originally the role of the corporals. Hence the term corporal punishment. In the Napolean army you would have never faced a firing squad you would have been shot or bayonete dthe moment you ran by the corporal at the rear of your formation.

By 1916 things had changed...

"A member of one of the battalions of the 30th Division was courtmartialled for cowardice. The man was only a recently-arrive reinforcement, but had not been able to explain how he got lost in the attack. He was found guilty. The battalion was paraded; the accused man brought forward and the sentence announced: execution by firing squad.

His comrades were quite convinced that, after the abortive attack, someone in authority had decided to make an example of one man, and that this poor wretch had been chosen.

Six privates had already been given a day's rations and sent to a remote village; they were the firing party. That night the condemned man and his escort of military policemen joined them. Early next morning, the firing party went out to a nearby quarry. Their rifles were taken away and later returned, loaded: one with a blank round, the others with live ones. No one knew who had the blank round.

The condemned man refused to walk to the quarry and had to be dragged there. He was then tied to a chair, blindfolded, and a white hankerchief pinned over his heart. The officer gave the firing party their orders: "Aim straight. I don't want to have to finish him off."

After the crash of the volley, the prisoner was found to be alive, though badly hurt. I watched, sickened as the oficer drew his revolver, put it to the man's head and pulled the trigger. Military justice, 1916 style, had been done."

* Private Paddy Kennedy, 3rd Manchester Pals, 30th Div.

From "The First Day on the Somme", Martin Middlebrook, publ.WW Norton,

ISBN 393 05442-X, 1972.
http://tafkac.org/death/firing_squad_protocol.html

Like Le said in the British Army it was privates chosen but it was the non-com who finished the job when things went sour.
 
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What I find strange is the use of the blank cartridge.

Many believe that by having one blank cartridge. The shooters wont know who fired the killing shot.

But you can easliy tell the difference between a blank and a live round. Blanks produce no recoil and they also sound different from live ammunition.

So in reality, any soldier would know that he fired the blank.
 
I thought only one was a live round...I thought the rest had blanks but the man who was "chosen" to kill him...But still, I guess anyone would be able to tell...
 
If you read that link in my previous post the author makes the same observation and he surmises that this is in fact an urban myth. There is no blank but the troops are told there is in order to lessen the horror of shooting a comrade.
 
It's not a urban myth. It is a true practice within Law Enforcement and the US Military.

Back in the before the US Sumpreme Court made Capital Punishment illegal for that period of time in the 1970s. Many states still used firing squad as a means if capital punishment. The rifles were either Lever Action .30-30s or Bolt Action Rifles in 7.62X51mm or .30-06. Six officer would be issued a rifle and one would have a blank cartridge.

There is one state in the USA that still uses death by firing squad as it's legal means of capital punishment.

And the Military can no no longer use the blank cartridge because of the fact that the standard rifle is the M16, which would require a blank adaptor for it to cycle the round.

Now, most police departments use a semi-automatic rifle. Either the M1A, AR-15, or Mini-14 for it's use. The bolt action rifle as become a sniper's weapon in both law enforcement and the military.
 
Catergorically agree this was a proven method of execution, and as for how the firing squad was drawn there where many methods. If the soldier had let down the lads and there was enough animosity toward the individual then it would be chosen from that unit,if an example was being made to that specific unit then it would be picked from that particular unit by its own commanding officer. If it was a general example i.e for the benefit of that Army then whoever was the duty rear lads got it. It was not as arbitry as we think there where many reasons(believed)why executions where deemed necessary at that time. After all total war means total war.
 
You students of history and little known facts listen up. I was told many years ago, by an Air Force retiree that there was a Tech Sergeant whose sole job was executioner. He would be flown to wherever someone was condemned to death and prepared the hangman's noose and positioned it on the subject for the most effect. Now, I didn't ask if this was Air Force only or the same guy was used by all the branches. The time period was during post wwII occupation of Germany. I'm not sure how long the practice lasted or even if it's true but the guy was a no nonsense type who didn't tell tall stories that I knew of.
 
I heard via family stories that in the German army you were picked by a NCO, who was told by a CO to get a firing squad. You did not say "no" to the order and I don't know whether you received special ratio's for doing the job.
Most of the time certain soldier were picked for their shooting skills. Often this were the members from the village "shooter brigades". Every village had such a group of men and they had a specific function in that particular village. As a matter of fact the are still widely spread. Advice to people who go out and live in a German village is or join the shooters or the volutary fire brigade.... otherwise you'll have a hard time to get fully accepted. (But that is off topic :))
 
Here is the Execution Protocol of the State of Utah: (Utah is the only state that authorizes the use of the firing squad as a method of execution.)


E. Utah's Protocol on Execution by Firing Squad
Utah authorized execution by firing squad before it became a state.29 In recent history, it has executed two offenders by firing squad. In 1977, Utah executed Gary Gilmore, the first offender to be executed in the United States after the reinstatement of the death penalty. In 1996, John Albert Taylor was executed by firing squad. Taylor elected this method of execution instead of execution by lethal injection, another method of execution available to Utah's condemned offenders. Utah's protocol on lethal injection is patterned after Texas' protocol. The following is a partial description of Utah's protocol on execution by firing squad.

Prior to any execution, executioners, "Death Watch" teams, tie- down teams, and escorts are selected and trained and rehearsals are conducted.

The firing squad is composed of six members. One of these members is the squad leader. The Utah Department of Corrections has no set policy on how firing squad members are selected. However, the members of the firing squad are certified police officers selected from a list supplied by a law enforcement agency and are selected by the executive director of the department or his designee. Service on the firing squad is voluntary. The executive director and the warden are ultimately responsible for the execution team. The firing squad is compensated at the discretion of the executive director, though Criminal Justice Committee staff has been informed that the firing squad involved in the Taylor execution received compensation.

At the appropriate time, the condemned offender is led to the execution area or chamber, which is used for both lethal injection and firing squad executions. The offender is placed in a specially designed chair which has a pan beneath it to catch and conceal blood and other fluids. Restraints are applied to the offender's arms, legs, chest and head. A head restraint is applied loosely around the offender's neck to hold his neck and head in an upright position. The offender is dressed in a dark blue outfit with a white cloth circle attached by Velcro to the area over the offender's heart. Behind the offender are sandbags to absorb the volley and prevent ricochets. Dark sheets are draped over the sandbags.

Approximately 20 feet directly in front of the offender is a wall. This wall has firing ports for each member of the firing squad. Each squad member can sight and fire out of the firing port. There is a platform rest attached to the wall and below the firing ports on which each weapon rests. The weapons used are 30-30 caliber rifles. No special ammunition is used. The weapons are owned by the law enforcement agency where the squad member is employed and are serviced and maintained by that agency.

On one side of the execution area is a room for the government's witnesses. On the other side of the execution area are two witness rooms: one room for witnesses selected by the offender; one room for media witnesses. The execution area is well lit with the lighting directed toward the condemned offender.

When the offender is restrained, the warden asks the offender if he has any last statement to make. Following the offender's statement, a hood is placed over the offender's head. The warden leaves the room.

The firing squad members stand in the firing position. They support their rifles on the platform rests. With their rifle barrels in the firing ports, the team members sight through open sights on the white cloth circle on the offender's chest. On the command to fire, the squad fires simultaneously. One squad member has a blank charge in his weapon but no member knows which member is designated to receive this blank charge. Shortly after the shots are fired, death is determined. A physician and medical personnel from the Utah Department of Corrections stand right outside the execution area while the execution is taking place.

The estimated average length of time that elapses from the time that the offender is restrained to the time that death is determined is eight to ten minutes.

Execution team members and all staff participating in an execution participate in a briefing and counseling prior to an execution and a debriefing and counseling are available following an execution.

Individuals authorized to attend an execution by firing squad include witnesses selected by the offender, the victim's family, government witnesses, and administrative staff (as determined by the executive director).

Utah has a written protocol on executions by firing squads which was developed to comply with state statutes and ensure consistency.

This was taken from http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/reports/monitor/methmon.html

I would imagine that a lot of it was taken from the US Army protocol for wartime executions.

Dean.
 
In the world war 2 history section I have pasted a link to all kinds of pictures. If you also scroll through the black and white pics, you'll find one picture of an execution. You see the condemned, on his knees, tied to a pole.... It's actually quite graphic, so I won't paste the direct link. Just open the link and look for it (page 23 I believe..):

http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/black_and_white
 
Ted, look at it again. The condemned has no uniform markings, he is, as you say, on his knees, and most importantly, the execution appears to have taken place in a field at night! The bullets appear to have hit him high, and his hands were very amateurishly tied as the rope flew off towards the front when his hands came free. This might be a partisan execution.
IIRC, there was only one US wartime execution, and his was done in a prison.

Dean.
 
It was a partisan execution. That photo is in one of my many WWII books. It was done in Italy by anti-fascist partisans.
 
Yeah, it got me figuring too. Since he did appear to wear, what looked like a British uniform, I thought it might have been some summary execution. Didn't some Germans get executed in the Ardennes when they were caught wearing American uni's?
So, in short, I was clueless. So thanks for the background info on the picture.
 
I like the chinese way of doing a firing squad. First you shoot them, then you charge the family for the cost of the bullet that killed them
 
Damn, I cna't believe that the Chi-Coms came up with a good idea.

I hate them but that plan actually works.
 
My Grandfather served in the Middlesex Regiment during WW1. I have no idea what battalion, all I remember is, that he was present when the mine under hill 60 was detonated.

This story was related to me by my grandfather during the early 1960's.

My grandfather with his company were at the rear during their rest period from the front line, when one morning an officer came into their billet well before dawn and ordered to don their equipment and carry their rifles. After assembling in front of a brick wall, another officer appeared, calling the men to attention and then to port arms. He went along the line, taking each mans rifle, doing an about turn, so the officer was facing away from the man, loaded the rifle and then handed it back. This was carried out all along the line, when the men were ordered to stand at ease, stand easy. My grandfather immeadiately correctly guessed they were forming a firing squad.

Just before dawn a civilian woman was led to the front of the firing squad, blindfolded then her arms and legs tied. Charges against her were read out that she was found guilty of sabotage, namely poisoning the fresh water supply. The firing squad was called to attention and given the command “Present,” “Take aim,” “FIRE!”

Those who had the live rounds knew by the recoil of the rifle, blanks have no recoil whatsoever. My grandfather never told me whether he had the blank or live ammunition.
 
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