Blindfold and Alone - British Military Executions in the Great War

Hundreds of men were executed by British Army firing squads between September 1914 and November 1920. By far the greatest number, two hundred and sixty-six were shot for desertion in the face of the enemy. Controversial even at the time, these executions of soldiers among the horrors of the Western Front continue to haunt the history of the war. Using a wealth of new material that has only recently become available, Cathryn Corns and John Hughes-Wilson have brought together all the facts of these executions for the first time. They examine in detail the transcripts of the most contentious Courts Martial, illustrating the realities of soldiering during the First World War. And just as importantly, the authors place the story of these executions firmly in the military, social, legal and medical context of the period. In a world where psychiatry scarcely existed, where the death penalty was still widely applied, and where young men were suddenly exposed to the often terrible shock of the new industrial warfare, this book brings a real understanding to the reader of how and why these sad and bitter executions took place