An ‘old time sergeant’ in Stephen Graham’s Scots Guards battalion approached his officer, who was ‘a poet, and wrote some very charming lyrics and had a taste in art,’ saluted and asked: ‘Leave to shoot the prisoners, sir?’
He declared that it was to avenge his brother’s death, and duly shot the Germans one after the other. Some men approved, but others were clearly shocked.
Source:
Holmes, Richard. "Heart and Soul." Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 552. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Graham Private in the Guards p. 218.
Further Reading:
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