This page contains the actual postscript as published at the end of the novel.
The 'Shot at Dawn Memorial' near Alrewas, Staffordshire, England
It is the work of sculptor Andy DeComym.
Photographed by the sculptor and reproduced with his permission.
Author’s Postscript for A Dawn with no Birdsong
While this book is essentially a work of fiction it is inspired by the system of military field justice under which British Empire soldiers fought and died during the First World War. About 200,000 men were court-martialled by the British Empire military authorities during that war, 20,000 of them for ‘crimes’ that could have carried the death sentence and of these slightly more than 3000 were actually sentenced to death. Most of these subsequently had their sentences commuted but up until 11 November, 1918, a total of 346 men were actually executed, largely for breaches of military discipline such as deserting their posts, cowardice, striking an officer, disobedience, sleeping on duty or casting away their arms. In round figures the British military authorities were executing one man approximately every four and a half days for the entire period of the war.
Today we know that these breaches in military discipline were usually cases of either combat stress reaction or post-traumatic stress disorder. In short, shell-shock, and those men who suffered from this terrible trauma should never have been forced to face a firing squad. Indeed, they should have been removed from the front lines and given both medical and compassionate psychological care and should never have been allowed to return to the front.
The first soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed was a private named Thomas Highgate who was court-martialled without any defence or witnesses being called and shot at dawn on 8 September, 1914. He was just nineteen years of age at the time of his death. Senior officers had pressed aggressively for his execution to be carried out, ‘… at once and as publicly as possible’. The condemned man was informed at 6.22 a.m. on the morning of 8 September that he was soon to be executed. At exactly 7.07 a.m., just forty-five minutes later, he was shot. He has no known grave.
A man named Peter Goggins was another of the soldiers executed by the British during the war and his death is a clear example of how terrible, unforgiving and unjust the military system could be. Goggins was with a soldier named Corporal John McDonald during a German attack on the British lines at Arras in November 1916 when, under intense enemy fire, a sergeant named Joseph Stones came running frantically past shouting, ‘Run for your lives, the Huns are on top of you.’ Goggins and McDonald quickly retreated to a reserve trench just twenty yards behind their post where they took up defensive positions. This, however, was sufficient for the British authorities subsequently to charge both men with cowardice. They were court-martialled and sentenced to death despite the clear testimony given by Sergeant Stones that he had ordered Goggins and McDonald to retreat. Stones too was charged and at a separate court-martial was also sentenced to death. All three men were executed on 18 January, 1917. The chaplain who had attended to them spiritually later remarked that he had never seen braver men go to their deaths.
These are just examples of the many instances of blind and bitter justice meted out to soldiers, many of whom had volunteered their services during the war and later found themselves tied to a wooden stake or seated on a chair facing a firing squad.
The executions were not only restricted to serving military personnel. Twenty-one civilians who had been subject to military law were also executed, including Chinese labourers.
A total of 121 Australians were sentenced to death by firing squad during the war but not one of these was carried out because the Australian Government refused to allow the executions of men who had volunteered their services. Only three Australians were actually executed during the conflict and all three had been serving with the forces of other nations: two with New Zealand and one with South Africa.
Of all the men executed in this way, most were subsequently pardoned posthumously by the British Government including the three Australians. The executed men had finally been exonerated for the perceived 'crimes' that had led to their deaths.
Those not pardoned had been executed for crimes such as murder and would have been sentenced to death under normal civil law.
Additionally, it wasn't just the condemned men who suffered as a result of the harsh system of capital punishment. Little has been written about those who were forced to form the firing parties. These men were not volunteers but had been specifically ordered to carry out the executions. They knew that to refuse the order, however odious, would result in themselves being punished for disobeying orders - a charge that could also bring extremely harsh penalties. Having carried out their orders to execute one of their own comrades, these soldiers were often left with the guilt and horror of what they had been forced to do. It was the kind of guilt that could remain with them for the rest of their lives.
A memorial to all these pardoned men, known as the Shot at Dawn Memorial, is housed at the National Memorial Arboretum located near Alrewas, Staffordshire, England. It was opened in June 2001.
The memorial was designed by British sculptor and public artist, Andy DeComyn, who gave it as a gift to the relatives of the men who had been executed.
The memorial was unveiled by Gertrude Harris, the daughter of Private Harry Farr who had been shot for disobeying orders and cowardice on 18 October, 1916, aged twenty-five years. Farr had been suffering from severe inner ear damage which had made loud noises such as shell explosions completely unbearable and had refused to return to the front lines. His court-martial had lasted just twenty minutes. His widow initially believed that her husband had been killed in action but when her war-widow’s pension was subsequently withdrawn she learned the terrible truth – or part of it. Decades later it was revealed from previously secret documents that Farr had been sent back to the fighting in the front lines when he was actually in need of urgent medical attention. He should have been in hospital. Another person present during the unveiling ceremony of the Shot at Dawn Memorial was Marina Brewis, the great-niece of Lance Corporal Peter Goggins. The memorial features a sculpture of a youthful soldier, blindfolded and tied to a post as he waits for the firing squad to execute him. It is based upon the likeness of Private Herbert Burden who had lied about his age in order to enlist but was subsequently charged with desertion and shot, aged just seventeen years. The sculpture is surrounded by a semi-circle of stakes upon each of which is the name of one of the soldiers executed in this way.