Scapegoats of the Empire eBook George Witton
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Scapegoats of the Empire by George Witton
Scapegoats of the Empire eBook George Witton
Scapegoats of the Empire is the true story of the murder trial of three Australian army officers during Britain’s Boer War, a court martial made famous to modern movie goers by the film Breaker Morant. Its author, George Witton, was one of those officers and the only one to avoid a firing squad.Witton was a young enlisted artilleryman in the Australian Army when he volunteered for active service in the southern African war. There are many similarities between the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century and the Iraq War a hundred years later. Both began as conventional wars with set-piece battles, then eroded into guerrilla warfare. In 1901, Witton secured a commission with the Bushveldt Carbineers, an irregular counterinsurgency regiment set up to fight the Boer guerrilla units (called commandos) on their own level.
Shortly before Witton joined his detachment of the Carbineers, its commander, Capt. Hunt, was killed and his body apparently abused by the Boers. Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant, an expert horseman as well as a published poet, took over command. Bereaved over the death and mutilation of his senior officer and close friend, Morant decided to follow Hunt’s earlier orders to execute prisoners, including some who took part in Hunt’s death. Hunt had previously told his men that Lord Kitchener, the commanding British general, had issued orders not to take Boer prisoners. According to Morant’s own testimony, the Carbineers had avoided following those orders until after Hunt’s death.
Witton never knew Hunt, and barely knew Morant and Lt. Peter Handcock when the summary executions of prisoners they were charged with took place. Witton sets forth his version of the facts in plain, unelaborated writing. He shows with quotes from pre-trial and court martial testimony that Capt. Hunt had repeatedly ordered his men to shoot prisoners, saying the order came from as far up as Kitchener. Many other incidents involving the shooting of prisoners on both sides had occurred at this stage of the war, and no British soldier was ever tried for let alone convicted of murder. Kitchener’s testimony was never admitted into evidence, and the general was conveniently out of the country when the three men’s verdicts were handed down so their fates could not be appealed directly to him. Morant and Handcock were sentenced to death by firing squad. Witton’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison. He was released and returned to Australia three years later.
While reading this book, it occurred to me Kitchener may very well have lead some junior officers to believe he wanted prisoners summarily shot without actually meaning to give such an order. It wouldn't be the only time in warfare when a senior officer’s blustering lead to war crimes. During WWII’s Sicilian Campaign, there were several incidents of American soldiers shooting German and Italian prisoners, and even civilians. When questioned, they all said they believed the order to shoot prisoners came from Gen. George Patton during one of his many firebrand speeches (as seen at the beginning of the movie, Patton). Patton quickly ordered a cease and desist order, but never took responsibility for the meaning of his own words.
Ironically, at the same time the British were fighting the Boer War the United States was involved in its first empire-building, counter-insurgency conflict in the Philippines. Many of the same crimes that Witton and his comrades were accused of also occurred during the so-called “Philippine Insurgency.”
In Australia, it was and still is widely believed that Witton, Morant, and Handcock were indeed scapegoats for the British Empire. At the time of their courts martial, Germany was considering entering the war on the side of the Dutch Boers because of alleged British atrocities, which included the first use of concentration camps. Convicting the three Australians mitigated the only substantial excuse the Germans had to side with the commandos. No British officer was ever tried for shooting Boer prisoners, though such executions were known to have occurred. As late as 2013, petitions were made to have all three men posthumously pardoned. None have succeeded—so far.
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Scapegoats of the Empire eBook George Witton Reviews
I first heard of this book after seeing the movie "Breaker Morant" in 1980. I tried finding a copy of the book for a number of years (including searching for me).
I'm not sure what I expected of this book but, in short, it reads like a diary. I have read many autobiographies and memoirs and they can frequently "read" like a story. This read more like a list of statements of the author's experience. I've no complaints with the style -- it's to the point (although facts are frequently repeated) and gives a clear picture of the experience the author had with being accused of murder during wartime, convicted to death, commuted to life imprisonment, and ultimately being released after three years.
Rarely would I recommend a movie along with a book -- but, as excellent as I thought "Breaker Morant" was in 1980 -- I am even more impressed now with how true to the book the movie really was.
An excellent first person account of a very black chapter in Australian and British military history. When this book was reprinted for the first time in 1982, it is alleged that only seven copies existed. It seems that government censorship and a warehouse fire made all the other copies disappear. That, and the fact that so many documents and transcripts from this case have vanished suggest that a major and deliberate miscarriage of justice occurred. Even now, the British government does not want to go anywhere near this case. Witton provides excerpts and contemporaneous media reports as well as his unique insight to document a horrible war time event.
There are many books about the Boer English war. I did not read a single one that satisfy me that the English started it with just cause or fought in a just and fair way. Neither have I found English journalism impartial. Now I read this book and found the English were simply arrogant beyond believe at the time. May be that is a reason why they prefer to blot out this event from their social combined conscious. The book fills a gap if you are interested at history of 1999 to 2005
Have watched Breaker Morant many times and thoroughly enjoy the movie. Finally decided to read the book on which it was based. Enjoyed seeing the similarities between the book and the movie, with only a few discrepancies. As an example, what exactly did Handcock say about the killing of the Rev Hess? In the movie, he admits it to Witton. Not so much in the book. But, certainly allow for theatrical license. That said, and perhaps it was due to when this was written, but there were way too many grueling details of the time Witton served in prison. Okay, we get it - it was prison food and not a banquet, but he seemed to complain about the prison meals more than anything else. All in all, enjoyable to read this.
As far as some of the commenters complaining about the lack of formatting, well, I'll just say you have to be pretty picky and A-R (formatting intended!) not to be able to read this book or complain about it as non-readable. Sure, there are a number of instances where words start on one line and finish on another, but just read it and it flows quite easily. Of those instances, there were very FEW where I actually had to slow down the pace of my reading to make sure I captured the writer's meaning. There are paragraph breaks, chapter breaks, sentences, etc, so it's not totally devoid of formatting and seems just a bit picky to me for a book over 100 years old - and free for your .
Scapegoats of the Empire is the true story of the murder trial of three Australian army officers during Britain’s Boer War, a court martial made famous to modern movie goers by the film Breaker Morant. Its author, George Witton, was one of those officers and the only one to avoid a firing squad.
Witton was a young enlisted artilleryman in the Australian Army when he volunteered for active service in the southern African war. There are many similarities between the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century and the Iraq War a hundred years later. Both began as conventional wars with set-piece battles, then eroded into guerrilla warfare. In 1901, Witton secured a commission with the Bushveldt Carbineers, an irregular counterinsurgency regiment set up to fight the Boer guerrilla units (called commandos) on their own level.
Shortly before Witton joined his detachment of the Carbineers, its commander, Capt. Hunt, was killed and his body apparently abused by the Boers. Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant, an expert horseman as well as a published poet, took over command. Bereaved over the death and mutilation of his senior officer and close friend, Morant decided to follow Hunt’s earlier orders to execute prisoners, including some who took part in Hunt’s death. Hunt had previously told his men that Lord Kitchener, the commanding British general, had issued orders not to take Boer prisoners. According to Morant’s own testimony, the Carbineers had avoided following those orders until after Hunt’s death.
Witton never knew Hunt, and barely knew Morant and Lt. Peter Handcock when the summary executions of prisoners they were charged with took place. Witton sets forth his version of the facts in plain, unelaborated writing. He shows with quotes from pre-trial and court martial testimony that Capt. Hunt had repeatedly ordered his men to shoot prisoners, saying the order came from as far up as Kitchener. Many other incidents involving the shooting of prisoners on both sides had occurred at this stage of the war, and no British soldier was ever tried for let alone convicted of murder. Kitchener’s testimony was never admitted into evidence, and the general was conveniently out of the country when the three men’s verdicts were handed down so their fates could not be appealed directly to him. Morant and Handcock were sentenced to death by firing squad. Witton’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison. He was released and returned to Australia three years later.
While reading this book, it occurred to me Kitchener may very well have lead some junior officers to believe he wanted prisoners summarily shot without actually meaning to give such an order. It wouldn't be the only time in warfare when a senior officer’s blustering lead to war crimes. During WWII’s Sicilian Campaign, there were several incidents of American soldiers shooting German and Italian prisoners, and even civilians. When questioned, they all said they believed the order to shoot prisoners came from Gen. George Patton during one of his many firebrand speeches (as seen at the beginning of the movie, Patton). Patton quickly ordered a cease and desist order, but never took responsibility for the meaning of his own words.
Ironically, at the same time the British were fighting the Boer War the United States was involved in its first empire-building, counter-insurgency conflict in the Philippines. Many of the same crimes that Witton and his comrades were accused of also occurred during the so-called “Philippine Insurgency.”
In Australia, it was and still is widely believed that Witton, Morant, and Handcock were indeed scapegoats for the British Empire. At the time of their courts martial, Germany was considering entering the war on the side of the Dutch Boers because of alleged British atrocities, which included the first use of concentration camps. Convicting the three Australians mitigated the only substantial excuse the Germans had to side with the commandos. No British officer was ever tried for shooting Boer prisoners, though such executions were known to have occurred. As late as 2013, petitions were made to have all three men posthumously pardoned. None have succeeded—so far.
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