For the Sake of Example

346 officers and men were summarily executed at dawn following their court martials in the field between the outbreak of war in 1914 and the end of March 1920. Anthony Babington is the only writer who has been allowed access by the ministry of defence to all the files relating to these cases. He found that although the majority of the executed men were guilty, or technically guilty, of the charges laid against them, many were treated with considerable injustice and great inhumanity. This book reveals the grim and sometimes horrific details of the trials and executions. The disclosures it has revealed aroused a widespread sense of shame and have led to frequent parliamentry demands for posthumous pardons.