BOOK REVIEWS

Death for Desertion Leonard Sellers

If you have read Leonard Sellers's earlier book on the case of Sub-Lieut. Dyett, "For God's Sake Shoot Straight" then don't buy this one because it's the same book re-issued under a new title. (Why do they do that?)  

I haven't read the book in its earlier incarnation so I was quite happy to read it in this one. It's a very well-researched book, with ample references given. The case of Sub-Lieut. Dyett is a complex one. For one thing Dyett was an officer, of course, but he was also an officer in the Royal Naval Division, a Division which was something of a thorn in the side of the military establishment. It was a Division of sailors who had no ships, of infantrymen who were not soldiers. Leonard Sellers records well how the whole Division was, in a sense, being watched. The early part of the book is devoted to this aspect of the case.

The main part, though, concerns the circumstances under which Dyett's military crime was committed, and the subsequent investigation and trial. Working from the remaining official documents, the author gives a clear account of what happened and of special interest is the transcript of the Court Martial proceedings.  Of course, the outcome of the trial is well known, resulting in the execution of Dyett on the morning of 5th January, 1917.

The remaining part of the book considers the repercussions of the execution - the almost immediate newspaper coverage given to the case, the reulting questions in parliament, and so on. Finally Leonard Sellers brings the case up to date (in 1995) by considering the post-war changes to the regulations covering military crime and the continuing parliamentary debate right up to the 1993 decision by the Prime Minister, John Major, that a review of "Shot at Dawn" cases, individual or collective, was not considered a useful or practical exercise. (This was a significant decision which many of us will remember and in some ways it is a pity that this new edition couldn't include a commentary on the most recent developments in this area, since, of course, a great deal has happened in the last ten years.)

In his foreword, Anthony Babington suggests that the reader should consider Sub-Lieut. Dyett's case by reference to two questions. Was he guilty of the faults he was accused of?  If so, did he deserve to be executed?  Leonard Sellers invites us to consider the evidence and then make up our own minds. A book like this is hardly likely to be completely dispassionate and there is no doubt where Leonard Sellers's sympathies lie, but I do think that both sides of the argument are given fair treatment.

Death for Desertion

is published by:

Pen & Sword Books

Soft Covers

179 pages, 20 black-and-white photographs

ISBN: 0-85052-977-8

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