Shot at dawn experts?

[chrissparrow]

Evening All,

Showing a group around Louez Cemetery near Arras on Saturday and notice that this Shot at Dawn chap is buried there. Any more information on the circumstances etc would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

[Guest]

Hi Chris, am no expert, but found THIS

Hope that helps

Cheers Mike

[chrissparrow]

Skipman - you are hot! This is just the sort of detail I drempt of!

Well done and thanks,

Chris

[truthergw]

It was essential for the prosecutor to show that the accused did not intend to rejoin his unit for him to be guilty of desertion. In practice, it fell to the accused to convince the court that he did intend to return. In this case, it looks as though the court decided that he deliberately avoided the battle. Claiming he had been ill if he had not been, would not have helped his case at all.

[chrissparrow]

Thanks Tom,

I imagine that the court were pretty short with those in front of them. I know that the Black Adder coutr marshall was brilliantly funny (not making a mockery of what happerned in the war), but one can imagine that it is not too far removed from the truth.

Chris

[roughdiamond]

The Public Records Office (PRO) reference for 10018 Peter Giles court papers is WO 71/494.

[Guest Rundberg]

Chris,

Another article about Giles on this site:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news-old/top-stori...15875-17576288/

Regards,

Chris

[depaor01]

I'm currently reading this:

http://www.gillmacmillan.ie/Ecom/Library3....0E?OpenDocument

Although written from an Irish viewpoint (it only examines Irishmen shot at dawn) it has impressive descriptions of the court martial process along with case studies.

Food for thought, and very balanced accounts of the difficulties involved.