The Missing Madonna - Chapter 6 "The Massacre"

The village is silent and in darkness. It is still, no breath of wind. Although the sun has not yet risen, there is a glow in the east and the warmth of the coming day is already seeping into simple homes. The first cock crows will soon be heard and then there will be shadowy movements as men begin to prepare for labour in fields or workshops and woman start preparing food and emerging to fetch water from the village well.

On the outskirts of the village a hundred soldiers have just halted on the Jerusalem road. They have marched in full combat order since they were roused at the third hour and are now being briefed on their mission. Their commander orders a detachment of fifty soldiers to advance into the village, weapons at the ready, and the men move off silently and begin to enter houses in the first street. There are muffled sounds of movement, the occasional shout quickly stifled and figures slowly appear. The second draft of soldiers moves forward to meet them and pens the emerging figures, encircling the increasing number of men, young and old, stumbling into the open. Gradually the narrow road fills with men and youths shuffling into the pre-dawn twilight. They seem confused, frightened. They have not been given any reason for this rude awakening, this apparent military arrest. More and more men appear, escorted by the soldiers, their weapons drawn and threatening any who would seem reluctant. Women start to appear at the doors of their houses, scared women, believing their menfolk to be taken prisoner, fearing perhaps that some act of terrorism has been traced to this village and that all their men are under suspicion and threatened with interrogation and torture.

Eventually, as the first shafts of sunlight suddenly streak the stony ground, the soldiers march their prisoners to the end of the village to the white walled, now pink flushed, synagogue and push the men inside, a hundred men, and more, perhaps nearly two hundred. Once all are crammed inside, the large entrance doors are barred and a detachment of some dozen soldiers are left to guard the entrance. The village men, hitherto mainly silent, now begin to cry out in protest as they find themselves cut off from their guards, shouts more confused than angry, puzzled calls, fearful of what will happen next. Someone calls out that they can see flames and a short-lived panic ensues until another vouches that it is only someone with a lamp. Their calls for explanation meet no answer from the troops guarding the entrance, they maintain their vigilant stance barring exit from the largest building in the village.

Meanwhile the second detachment of fifty soldiers has spread out through the village and taken up strategic positions so that all the streets and lanes are covered and any woman who tries to follow out onto the street is quickly ordered back into her home. These fifty are strengthened by a couple of dozen now released from their round up of the men, while others are ordered to the edge of the village where the refuse is thrown and lies still smouldering where each night it is burnt to deter the vermin that would otherwise infest it. These soldiers now begin to dig a pit in the soft earth alongside the stinking rubbish, then, when it is deep enough, they relax and await their next orders.

The commander now gives the order for all the remaining women and children to be herded into the village square where several of the lanes converge. Many of the children, woken early and suddenly from their slumbers, are crying, and the women are trying to quieten them, fearful of the consequences if the children’s howls offend or upset the sullen troops. By the time all are crowded in a huddle on the square the sun has risen and the sky is a clear deep blue. They await events with trepidation. They have no idea what will happen next. Will their village be torched in retribution for some criminal act perpetrated elsewhere of which they are ignorant? What will happen to their men? Are they in danger of being carried away to execution?

The commander now sends a platoon of troops to go through the village searching every house to ensure no-one has escaped or been overlooked, no children have been left asleep on their beds, no-one is hiding.

Then the order is given to marshal the women with their children in groups of ten, each being attended and watched by a soldier. These soldiers roughly handle the children, pulling to one side all those children who are older, those who do not need their mothers to hold or comfort them. In some cases where a girl is holding a younger child, the baby is separated from the arms of its sister and thrust into the arms of the mother, even if she is already struggling to hold another child. The children are pushed to one side of the square where half a dozen soldiers are adequate enough to keep them under control. Several of the children are weeping, some are calling out for their mothers and all are frightened and cower from the soldiers who have unsheathed their daggers and threaten any child who shows any signs of breaking out from the ranks. The soldiers then go through the women checking on the age of all the children - any aged three or over are turned away and sent to stand with the older children, and more childish screams rend the air as a couple of three year olds are wrenched away from the mothers they have been clinging to.

The women with their babies and toddlers are then forced to walk, surrounded by soldiers, to the refuse tip on the edge of the village and halt in a melée near the gaping pit that has been dug. The women are surrounded by nearly seventy soldiers who now order the women to strip their babies. There is a howl of astonishment and fear at this order and some of the women make a futile attempt to escape but are manhandled back to the tip without any compunction. If the women are slow to comply, soldiers grab the baby or toddler and roughly tear the clothes from the child. As soon as any girl child is exposed, she is thrust back into the arms of one of the women, but boys are passed from hand to hand to the group of soldiers standing round the freshly dug pit. Some of the soldiers try to shield what is happening from the women, but as soon as a glimpse of blood is seen by one of the women as one of the babies has its neck severed by a soldier’s dagger, the howls of rage and pain reverberate through the whole assembled throng, and any semblance of order disintegrates.

Instead of an orderly taking of children and stripping to see the sex, soldiers are now fighting the women who are finding superhuman strength to hold on to their offspring at all costs. The women have not yet realised that the soldiers are selecting only the boy children for slaughter, and each child becomes a human tug of war, as clothes are ripped and children torn from their mothers’ arms. Girl children and babies are now just being dumped by the roadside, dropped even, as the soldiers expose their sex and have lost the appropriate mothers in the fray. Once the soldiers see that their attempt to hide the killings from the women is in vain, some babies are strangled or even dashed against the rocky ground before the bodies are thrown into the pits where a few soldiers are thrusting their daggers into the corpses to ensure death is established beyond doubt.

Order has now been totally lost and in the wrestling with the women, some soldiers have torn clothes off some of the mothers as well as the babies and toddlers. Discipline has broken down and in the bloodlust and panic a few soldiers have taken advantage and after tearing the children away, have violated the modesty of the women and girls present, several being subjected to rape. As the final boy children are murdered and their bodies thrown into the pit, the commander is attempting to restore order to the troops and force them away from the broken and dishevelled women, many of whom are lying in the dust, sobbing or howling in grief at the loss of their children and their own violation. Many female babies are lying on the ground screaming, a couple with bones broken in the struggle, other naked toddlers are wandering around in total shock looking for their mothers. Several women have broken through the protecting lines of soldiers and are howling in grief and rage as they stare down at the bloody corpses of their children lying on top of each other where they’ve been thrown, twenty, thirty tiny lifeless bodies, it is not even possible to count the twisted limbs entangled with each other. Then a couple of women, wild in their despair, plunge past the harassed soldiers and throw themselves into the pit, scrabbling at the mound of innocent flesh into which they’ve fallen. They are immediately hauled out, now running with the blood of the children and other women hold them and smear themselves with the blood, their faces and hair, in mourning.

The soldiers are ordered to form a protective shield around the pit and the women are forced back and start trying to reunite themselves with their female children. The commander is noting which of his soldiers is in disarray and has some outward sign of having been involved in violations and rapes. He is aloof, seems from his look of disdain to have been less than enamoured with the order he has had to carry out, there are other soldiers too who are exhibiting signs of shock while some now are looking sheepish or guilty as the enormity of their behaviour and the displeasure of the commander seeps into their consciousness. The order is given to fill the pit and soldiers begin to throw the fresh earth to cover the corpses of the children and the women are left to return to their homes. Slowly they begin to drift in that direction, most are now sobbing, even those whose children, being female, were spared. They are reunited with the older children in the village centre and there are fresh screams and tears as the children see the state of their mothers and begin to learn what has happened to their tiny brothers. The soldiers now round up the women and children and tell them to go back into their houses. Someone cries out ‘Why, why, what have we done to deserve this?’ but receives no reply. The soldiers are silent now as if shaken by the act that they have perpetrated. A couple of soldiers even seem moved to tears although they turn away and hide any possible sign of weakness from the women and their commanding officer.

When at length the women and surviving children have been shut in their village homes and parted forcibly from each other to reduce the communal tension and suppress any sign of resistance or rioting, the commanding officer gives the order for the troops guarding the exit to the synagogue to fall back into their ranks, and the entire company beats a hasty retreat from the village before the men spill out, and find out what has happened while they’ve been incarcerated in the synagogue. The troops march in rapid time back along the Jerusalem road, a small detachment at the rear covering their back in case any of the men decide to pursue the departing soldiers to attempt to wreak vengeance for the massacre and violations that have taken place.

The soldiers regain their barracks at a little after the ninth hour as the heat of the day is becoming oppressive. Before they can be dismissed however, the Commanding Officer decides to address the men:

“Soldiers of Herod’s bodyguard, you have completed the task entrusted to us by orders of the king himself. What has been done has been done. It was distasteful and against all our instincts, but the king has said that it is to protect the established authority and prevent a more severe repercussion from the Romans which would have an even more horrendous impact on families throughout Judea.”

The officer pauses and then adds in a softer and less confident tone:

“Most of you did what you were ordered to do, that and no more. You were instructed not to tell anyone the reason for the actions you have carried out as Herod will not tolerate the rumours of the birth of a possible usurper of the throne, and I trust that you have obeyed this edict as if the story of a Messiah’s birth continues to go the rounds among the priests and populace, Herod will have his revenge and some of you will not be spared.”

One or two soldiers blanch at this statement and it is possible to surmise that there have been one or two loose tongues.

“However, a few of you lost all discipline during the round up of the women and rapes and violations were committed. I will have no truck with this, such behaviour was both deplorable and inexcusable. I will be carrying out an investigation and those found guilty of such behaviour will suffer a military flogging. I will expect no cover ups and if those who witnessed such obscenities will not give evidence against their guilty colleagues, they too will be sentenced to the same punishment.”

The company stirs uneasily and it is clear that some in the ranks would protest, but the commander raises his arm to pre-empt any expression of mutiny.

“If Herod were informed of your behaviour, I would not attempt to assess his reaction. It could be ridicule, it could be that he would overturn the punishment, but I would not gauge his mood - he could order the execution of those involved, such is the unpredictability of his actions. And if he chose to give such decrees, there is nothing I could do to save any of you. So accept what I have decreed. The orders we had were unpleasant in the extreme, but there was no obligation to inflict the shame of rape and violation on the innocent women of the town. The repercussions of this behaviour will be felt for some time, you have not made our difficult and unpopular role here in Jerusalem any easier. Now go to your barracks and cleanse yourselves so that you are not seen by others with the blood of children staining your apparel. And from the third hour this afternoon, I will speak to each soldier individually about their role in the action carried out today. Dismiss!”

The commander completed his investigation two days later and two soldiers were reduced in rank, for not controlling the men under their command, three were flogged and were thrown out of the company of Herod’s bodyguards altogether, and nine further soldiers were flogged but allowed to retain their occupation and rank.

The commander and the company then hoped that no more would come of it and tried to forget the whole episode. He instructed some of the trusted soldiers who had merely obeyed orders to mingle with the extra militia ordered by Herod to patrol the city. Over the coming days they were to listen to the talk of the populace and try to quell any subversive rumours or unrest that the massacre of the children might have engendered.