Shot at Dawn

The Fifteen Welshmen Executed by the British Army in the First World War

Robert King

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780750956420
• eBook ISBN:
  9780750958820
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Thousands of British soldiers lie in cemeteries clustered around the battle sites of the First World War. Many of these volunteered for war, not realising trench warfare would be far from a grand adventure, nor that they would never return home. But not all of these were killed by the enemy. Over 3, 000 soldiers were sentenced to death by Army Law, for desertion or other petty crimes, and more than 300 of these were blindfolded and shot by their own battalion. Many of the 'men' were still teenagers, and faced judgement in a time where shell shock was seen as an excuse for cowardice. They were branded traitors, their deaths covered up and their names forbidden from memorials. Only in 2006, nearly 100 years later, were they finally pardoned. Robert King was part of the campaign to pardon these forgotten men. Here he touches on the lives of fifteen Welshmen history has tried to ignore, and explores what it really meant to be led out and shot at dawn.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Foreword by Rt Hon. Peter Hain, MP for Neath
• Preface
• Executions of Welsh Soldiers and Those who Served in a Welsh Regiment in Date Order
• Quotations
• Chapter One The Months Leading Up to the War
• Chapter Two The King’s Shilling
• Chapter Three Executed for Leaving His Post
• Chapter Four Executed for Desertion
• Chapter Five The Edwin Dyett Case
• Chapter Six Executed for Committing Murder
• Chapter Seven Granting Posthumous Pardons to the 306 Executed Soldiers
• Chapter Eight The Firing Party
• Chapter Nine The Following Years
• Executed Soldiers in Regimental Order
• Burial Places or Commemorations of the Executed Soldiers
• Bibliography
• Copyright