Last night when listening to the BBC History Extra podcast, the guest Hugh Sebag-Montefiore mentioned that during the Battle of the Somme that NZ soldiers were killing German POW's and implied this was something little known and almost swept-under-the rug.
Coming from NZ and having more interest in history than the average joe, I've never heard anything about this. I've had a bit of a google, but can only find general stuff about NZ casualities during the battle - nothing about any sort of (presumably) unsantioned shooting of german prisoners.
Does anyone know anything about this, or is able to point me to any resources/articles about it?
It appears that Hugh Sebag-Montefiore (whose work in general should be taken with a grain of salt since he is a popular historian) is referring to an instance he quotes in his own book on the Somme. In a written account by Pvt. William Wilson of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade, Wilson makes the mention of New Zealand soldiers executing German POWs during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of the Somme offensive). As far as I know, checking Sebag-Montefiore's notes for his retelling of this in his book, he only cites "Wilson's account" without any further context (archive? page number? Anything?). If someone is more familiar with William Wilson's account, I'd be curious to know more about it but right now, that appears to be the only source that Sebag-Montefiore is drawing it from and it doesn't appear to be corroborated by any additional primary or secondary sources.