Brit has proof of 'Crucified Canadian'
New evidence shows Germans impaled soldier during First World War
Michael Petrou, with files from Joanne Laucius
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, December 15, 2002
CREDIT: Lynn Ball, The Ottawa Citizen
This bronze sculpture, called Canada's Golgotha, reportedly depicts the crucifixion. It was withdrawn from exhibition in 1920 after Germany demanded proof the crucifixion had really happened.
A British historian says he has come up with new evidence that German soldiers crucified a Canadian soldier during the First World War, impaling the sergeant on a barn door with bayonets.
The horrifying story of the Canadian soldier allegedly crucified by German soldiers in Belgium in 1915 has become one of the most enduring mysteries of the war.
The story, which was circulated widely at the time to outrage, helped fuel the allies' resolve to win the war.
But some insisted that the incident was propaganda. At the height of the war, the German government even lodged a formal protest, demanding the story be disavowed.
After the war, there was flap about a bronze sculpture called Canada's Golgotha, which depicted the crucifixion.
The German government demanded proof that the crucifixion had really happened.
While two reliable witnesses with similar stories came forward, there were discrepancies about the barn's location. Canada's Golgotha was withdrawn from exhibition in 1920.
But in a televised history documentary, British historian Iain Overton says he has unearthed evidence he believes proves Sgt. Harry Band of the Canadian First Division was murdered on April 24, 1915 -- two days after untested Canadian soldiers held fast against the first German chlorine gas attack, near the shattered town of Ypres.
Mr. Overton wrote a PhD thesis on a few of the most well-known myths of the First World War, including that of the crucified Canadian. Mr. Overton now works as a researcher and journalist.
His conclusion combined new and previously discovered evidence, including archival material that has not been combed over by historians.
"They stuck a bayonet through his throat and pinned him to a wall," Mr. Overton told the Citizen. "I don't think he was mowed down with a machine-gun. Somebody looked in his eyes as they killed him."
An investigation launched during the war found several eyewitnesses to the crucifixion, including Pte. George Barrie, who said: "On the 24th day of April at St. Julien I saw a small party of Germans about 50 yards away. I lay still and in about half an hour they left.
"I saw what appeared to be a man in a British uniform. I was horrified to see that the man was literally crucified, being fastened to the post by eight bayonets.
"He was suspended about 18 inches from the ground, the bayonets being driven through his legs, shoulders, throat and testicles. At his feet lay an English rifle, broken and covered in blood."
The investigation failed to name the victim, but Mr. Overton found a letter from a British Red Cross nurse who had treated an eyewitness who named the victim as Harry Band.
Mr. Overton then found army records that confirmed Sgt. Band went missing the same day as the reported crucifixion.
"So what I had were records that Harry Band went missing, eyewitness reports and this subsequent affidavit from the nurse," he said. "I have no doubt the event took place."
Mr. Overton believes Sgt. Band was tortured to death in retaliation for the alleged murder of German prisoners by Canadian soldiers the day before his death.
Canadian soldiers had been horrified by the German use of poison gas on April 22, and some Canadians showed little mercy to German soldiers they captured the next day, on April 23.
"I have letters from the Imperial War Museum from British soldiers saying that the Canadians have lost their rag and have started killing prisoners," Mr. Overton said. "I'm surmising that in retaliation for this terrible atrocity of the gas attack, the Canadians killed a few prisoners. In response to this reality, or to these rumours, the Germans killed Harry Band in this horrendous way."
He added that he is not sure Sgt. Band's death could be classified as a crucifixion in the traditional Christian manner. "I think he was pinioned to a barn door," he said.
During the war, rumours swirling around the death of the crucified Canadian grew to epic proportions. The gruesome story found its way into newspapers from Toronto to Los Angeles, and was retold to inspire civilians to support the war effort.
More than a year after Sgt. Band disappeared, his sister Elizabeth received a letter from one of her brother's comrades.
"I'm sorry to say that it is perfectly true," he said. "Harry was crucified, but whether he was alive at the time, I don't think anyone can say for sure," he said.
The Band family has never doubted the truth of the story. But Peter Buitenhuis, a Vancouver academic who has written about First World War propaganda, still thinks the story is propaganda.
"This is all second-hand reportage. Unless I see rather conclusive evidence, I still think it was a myth thought up by British propaganda," he said. "But I'm keeping an open mind."
The critics who watched Mr. Overton's television program also had their doubts.
"The circumstantial evidence that Band had really been crucified was powerful," said Robert Hanks, a critic with The Independent of London.
"All the same, the identification was nowhere near as watertight as the program pretended."
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