The Killing of the Iron Twelve: An Account of the Largest Execution of British Soldiers on the Western Front in the First World War
de Hedley Malloch

critiqué par Phil SMT, le 20 septembre 2020
( - 63 ans)

La note: étoiles

Le plus grand crime de guerre de 14-18

Une enquête très fouillée et passionnante sur le plus grand crime de guerre commis pendant la première guerre mondiale : 11 soldats britanniques prisonniers des allemands et l'héroïque civil français qui les a cachés Vincent Chalandre), tous fusillés au château de Guise en 1915. Les autres membres de la famille Chalandre, déportés en camp de représailles en Allemagne sont les ancêtres de Sophie CHALANDRE (voir cette auteur).

"Why did the Germans brutally and illegally execute a group of British soldiers who had been trapped behind the lines during the retreat to the Marne in 1914? Hedley Malloch, in this gripping and meticulously researched account, vividly describes the fate the soldiers on the run, and of the French civilians who sheltered them. He tells a dramatic and tragic story of escape, betrayals and punishment that also gives a fascinating insight into the life stories of the soldiers and civilians involved and the mind-set of the German army on the Western Front. The book names the German officers responsible for this atrocity, and explores their motivations."