'Drawings

from French and British Newsmagazines'

The Execution of a British Nurse

left : illustration from the British magazine : 'the War Illustrated'

right : from 'the War Budget'

 

Aside from a sitting portrait of Nurse Cavell, there were few photographs available and certainly none of the proceedings and of her execution (though many photos of executions and hangings on the Eastern Front were made. - See section on 'Spies Get Short Shrift'). It was therefore to be expected that news editors would commission illustrations emphasizing the cold-hearted manner in which the nurse was executed. The drawing on the right, used as title page of 'The War Illustrated' depicts Miss Cavell being shot by pistol as she lay in a swoon in the execution yard. It is not established if this is a true rendering of the events of Miss Cavell's execution. In any case it was widely believed to have happened and was so reported in news accounts and similarly depicted in illustrations. In the public's imagination this just added to the brutality of the affair.

from 'Le Pays de France' November 1915

An Illustration by Lucien Jonas

from 'La Guerre Documentée'

*see a collection of illustrations by Lucien Jonas

a color illustration from a French weekly : 'le Petit Journal'

 

thanks to Olivier for the scan

*see also Magazines of the Great War (a French site)

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