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Death row in wartime: British Pathe releases harrowing archive footage of executions during conflicts across the world

Death row in wartime: British Pathe releases harrowing archive footage of executions during conflicts across the world




With his sweaty hands bound behind his back and his face covered with a blindfold, the man's body convulsed as bullets riddled his torso.

He was one of several Germans killed by a US military firing squad just outside the town of Braunschweig, Germany in 1945 because he deemed a spy.

However two of the spies lined up in the disused quarry were in fact simply members of the Hitler youth, aged just 16 and 17 years old

They were gunned down and then dragged into the coffins which were in the ground nearby.

The harrowing scene is just one of several images of death row in war time released by British Pathe.




The film archive states: 'While Pathe didn’t shy away from screening very real and very harrowing footage of say the Holocaust; films showing someone’s life end by execution were not generally shown to the public.

However, on occasion these events were filmed but went straight to archive.

'Capital punishment has been carried out in almost all societies and although these films of execution may make for shocking viewing, they still provide a raw, unedited account of events from a certain time.'

Another scene shows British officers and soldiers escorting General Shampei of the Japanese Army to his execution post.

Shampei was charged with crimes of murdering Australian prisoners of war.

The firing squad were volunteers of the Northamptonshire Regiment.

British Pathe
The prisoner and his crimes are unknown but whatever they were, he was found guilty. The camera rejoined the prisoner and a firing squad in a wooded area where the prisoner was allowed to smoke his last cigarette before being shot dead

In their archives another historical clip shows the hanging of  the Nazi General Kurt Daluege

He was found guilty of war crimes and he was hanged in 1946 at Pankrác prison in Prague in front of a crowd of people.

Daluege became Vice-Proctector of Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation

He was responsible for carrying out the orders of razing the village of Lidice to the ground, plus having all the adults in the village of Ležáky murdered.

Many of the women and children were deported to Nazi concentration camps.

One of the most graphic scenes is from 1911 footage during the Italo–Turkish War which shows 12 lifeless bodies hanging from the gallows in a mass execution.

There is not any information on what crimes these men were supposed to have committed or their identity, but the Italian authorities adopted many tyrannical methods against the rebels, such as public hangings as a retaliation for ambushes.

you can click here to watch the video
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