War Criminals: Sentence of Death by Hanging

[David Thompson]

This thread is for the discussion of the practice of hanging war criminals. Posters wishing to discuss whether a particular death sentence was just or unjust should use the forum search engine to check for pre-existing threads on the individual defendant(s).

Here are a couple of reference links on the subject:

WD PAM 27-4 Procedure for Military Executions (1944)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/ ... e-1944.pdf

DA PAM 27-4 Procedure for Military Executions (1947)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/ ... c-1947.pdf

[andrek]

Are you serious about this or are you kidding? Watch the movies, there are a lot on the internet. Landsberg hangings nonstop, czech strangulations without face guard and the full 40 min Amon Göth hanging is also ready for download.

[David Thompson]

andrek -- You asked:

Are you serious about this or are you kidding?

See the exchange of posts beginning at viewtopic.php?p=1311154#p1311154

[Ossian]

For Woods, well he was disgraced and never hanged again in Europe. He stayed in the military and it is variously reported that he was electrocuted while repairing an electric chair in the South Pacific and that he died in the service of his country during the Korean War.

According to information contained in a document known as the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Master Sergeant John Clarence Woods, RA 37 540 591, while assigned to the Hq & Hq Co. of the 7th Engineer Brigade, died in the line of duty on 21 July, 1950, on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The cause of death was accidental electrocution. Woods was repairing a damaged electric cable when another soldier, Corporal Ernest L. Blanchard, RA 11 144 666, accidentally turned on a breaker switch, electrocuting Woods at approximately 2230 hours. In an internal Army inquiry, the death was ruled to be accidental in nature, the result of a tragic mishap which was not attributed to any act of misconduct by Woods or Blanchard.

At the time of his death, Woods had been a member of the Army for approximately seven years, having been inducted into service as a draftee in 1943 and enlisting for regular duty with the Corps of Engineers in December, 1945. He had been awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, a Bronze Star for combat duty in the ETO with an engineering unit. three Good Conduct Medals, a Distinguished Unit Badge, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army Occupation Medal. Woods was buried in Toronto Cemetery, Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas. He was 39 at the time of his death, having apparently been born on the 5th of June, 1911 in Wichita, Kansas (reports claiming that that Woods had been born in 1903 in San Antonio, Texas, are not supported by the IDPF, or by data contained in his reconstructed Official Military Personnel File). He was survived by his wife, Hazel Marie Woods. While Woods was technically a veteran of the Korean War, having died on active duty under honorable circumstances during the early period of hostilities, he never saw combat in that conflict, or even set foot In Korea itself.

[Peter]

On the subject of the US Army hangman John C Woods, here is some material from other threads, mainly here
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35191&p=1312540#p1312540


Pete 26 wrote

I read about Sgt Woods and his bungled execution of the Nazis condemned in the Nuremberg trial. Some of them apparently hit their head on the gallows deck as they fell through the trap door, which caused laceration injuries to their face. Some strangled to death because the rope failed to break their necks. So this means that the condemned were not properly positioned on the trap door and the noose was either placed wrong or the drop was insufficient. In contrast, all those Nazis hanged in Hameln by the British executioner Pierrepoint died a quick death by having their necks broken.

Fredric wrote

Pete26 wrote:

Thanks for the additional info Frederic. Göring of course, had the last laugh, as he cheated the gallows by biting through a cyanide capsule smuggled to him in the prison.

I did not know that the gallows used to hang the Nuremberg trial Nazis did not have a spring loaded catch for the trap doors. I have seen this mechanism on some gallows drawing before. This explains how the condemned hit their heads against the trap doors swinging back on their hinges.

There's a lot of misinformation about the gallows including:
Who designed them... some claim Reichhart (to disparage him?) and others say Woods. The answer: Woods.
Who built them? Woods. He also delivered them to the site and erected/dismantled them.
Were there two gallows or one? Not sure but probably just one. Contradictory reports. Landsberg had two gallows for multiple hangings so this could be the source of the rumor. I think it was just one gallows for Nuremburg.
Did the doors hit the victims? Yes. Was this on purpose? Probably not.
Was a standard drop used or did Woods calculate a victim-specific drop like Pierrepont? Standard drop for all.

Woods also used the "cowboy" hangman's knot instead of the British eyebolt slip knot. Most interesting to me is the defense of Woods by Lt. Tillis who supervised the executions and Woods. Tillis is the source of the claim that Woods invented the spring catch to keep the door from rebounding. Tillis was issuing misinformation to blunt the British criticism of the executions in my opinion and might have be ordered to do so. As it was, Woods was terminated as the
Army's hangman and sent to the Pacific Theater where he was killed in an accident involving a short circuit of an electric chair he was installing in a Philippine prison. But I didn't think executions in the Phillipines were carried out by electrocution so why the chair? If you can find the Tillis book (hard to find) get it. Also, there is a second book by an officer in charge of executions at Landsberg who preceeded Tillis and I think you can find the whole thing on Wiki.

And from the Cemetery Register at Toronto Cemetery, Woodson County, Kansas

Woods, Hazel M., b. 4/19/1913, d. 5/20/2000, Sect. C-2
Woods, John C., b. 6/5/1911, d. 7/21/1950, Sargeant, Sect. C

Which war criminals did Wood hang ?

Is there a listing between him, Pierrepoint and Johann Reichhart

[obie]

Can you tell us where you found, or post to the forum, a copy of the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Sergeant Woods? Seeing the original would be most helpful.
Many thanks.

According to information contained in a document known as the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Master Sergeant John Clarence Woods, RA 37 540 591, while assigned to the Hq & Hq Co. of the 7th Engineer Brigade, died in the line of duty on 21 July, 1950, on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The cause of death was accidental electrocution. Woods was repairing a damaged electric cable when another soldier, Corporal Ernest L. Blanchard, RA 11 144 666, accidentally turned on a breaker switch, electrocuting Woods at approximately 2230 hours. In an internal Army inquiry, the death was ruled to be accidental in nature, the result of a tragic mishap which was not attributed to any act of misconduct by Woods or Blanchard.

At the time of his death, Woods had been a member of the Army for approximately seven years, having been inducted into service as a draftee in 1943 and enlisting for regular duty with the Corps of Engineers in December, 1945. He had been awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, a Bronze Star for combat duty in the ETO with an engineering unit. three Good Conduct Medals, a Distinguished Unit Badge, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army Occupation Medal. Woods was buried in Toronto Cemetery, Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas. He was 39 at the time of his death, having apparently been born on the 5th of June, 1911 in Wichita, Kansas (reports claiming that that Woods had been born in 1903 in San Antonio, Texas, are not supported by the IDPF, or by data contained in his reconstructed Official Military Personnel File). He was survived by his wife, Hazel Marie Woods. While Woods was technically a veteran of the Korean War, having died on active duty under honorable circumstances during the early period of hostilities, he never saw combat in that conflict, or even set foot In Korea itself.

[Ossian]

Can you tell us where you found, or post to the forum, a copy of the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Sergeant Woods? Seeing the original would be most helpful.
Many thanks.

According to information contained in a document known as the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), Master Sergeant John Clarence Woods, RA 37 540 591, while assigned to the Hq & Hq Co. of the 7th Engineer Brigade, died in the line of duty on 21 July, 1950, on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The cause of death was accidental electrocution. Woods was repairing a damaged electric cable when another soldier, Corporal Ernest L. Blanchard, RA 11 144 666, accidentally turned on a breaker switch, electrocuting Woods at approximately 2230 hours. In an internal Army inquiry, the death was ruled to be accidental in nature, the result of a tragic mishap which was not attributed to any act of misconduct by Woods or Blanchard.

At the time of his death, Woods had been a member of the Army for approximately seven years, having been inducted into service as a draftee in 1943 and enlisting for regular duty with the Corps of Engineers in December, 1945. He had been awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, a Bronze Star for combat duty in the ETO with an engineering unit. three Good Conduct Medals, a Distinguished Unit Badge, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army Occupation Medal. Woods was buried in Toronto Cemetery, Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas. He was 39 at the time of his death, having apparently been born on the 5th of June, 1911 in Wichita, Kansas (reports claiming that that Woods had been born in 1903 in San Antonio, Texas, are not supported by the IDPF, or by data contained in his reconstructed Official Military Personnel File). He was survived by his wife, Hazel Marie Woods. While Woods was technically a veteran of the Korean War, having died on active duty under honorable circumstances during the early period of hostilities, he never saw combat in that conflict, or even set foot In Korea itself.

I acquired a copy of Woods' IDPF by filing an FOIA request with the United States Army Human Resources Command in 2008. It took about six months for the file to be sent to me. I was not charged for the request. I have a hard copy only. At the moment, I do not have access to a scanner, so I don't anticipate posting any copies of it online. The file is quite large by the way, about fifty pages long (the pages are unnumbered). This file documents the circumstances of Woods' death and the handling of his remains until they were returned to his family. There is only the most scant biographical information about his life in the file, and nothing regarding his career as an army hangman. I also have a copy of his reconstructed personnel file (OMPF), but this is only a couple of pages long, and contains even less biographical data than the IDPF . His original OMPF was lost in the infamous fire which destroyed most of the Second World War era personnel files. This is a shame, since that file would have been immensely useful in documenting his life, and perhaps helped dispel some of the myths which pass as information about his life and military career.

[iancandler]

One thing that is evident in all the film stock of wood's in action is his positioning of the knot at the back of the neck, I'm almost certain it was deliberately done as it was well known that such positioning would result in the head being thrown forward and in most cases the neck would not be broken, as such the majority died from strangulation.
It is also clear that he didn't pay much mind to positioning on the drop, this and the relatively small size of the trapdoors made injury more likely.
The last note is based on footage of the noose being removed, or I should say assistants trying to remove it, it was embedded in the neck and so tight they had a lot of trouble getting it free, it was clear to see the head had been thrown forward onto the chest and that the war criminal had "died hard".
Albert was a complete contrast to this, exact and fastidious to the extreme, he prided himself on doing a quick, thorough and almost painless job.

[iancandler]

I read about Sgt Woods and his bungled execution of the Nazis condemned in the Nuremberg trial. Some of them apparently hit their head on the gallows deck as they fell through the trap door, which caused laceration injuries to their face. Some strangled to death because the rope failed to break their necks. So this means that the condemned were not properly positioned on the trap door and the noose was either placed wrong or the drop was insufficient. In contrast, all those Nazis hanged in Hameln by the British executioner Pierrepoint died a quick death by having their necks broken.

Woods did indeed bungle the executions, its pretty self evident from watching the footage of the executions with several factors contributing not least of which was wood's consistently placing the "knot" of the noose at the back of the neck, when placed as such it cannot rotate forward under the jaw, throwing the head back and snapping the neck but instead forces the head forward towards the chest, almost always death is due to slow strangulation in such cases.
There were also the failings of the gallows design as well as the use of a fixed length drop rather than calculating the exact drop for each person.

Albert along with others before him honed and refined British hangings to a fine art, I think its fair to say that it reached its zenith with Albert and always ensured a swift & certain death.

Reichhart as far as I'm aware only acted as assistant and not as No 1