The Last Campaign of World War One: 1990–2006

Followers of the Brexit saga will recognise the following as the establishment’s way of blocking something that it does not want and does not agree with – stifling stories, hiding its mistakes through methods ranging from leaked stories to the press, prevarication, using procedures to delay and stifle initiatives, utilising precedents established hundreds of years ago, making things seem more difficult than they really are, embargoes on documents and records, use of “Project Fear” and even destroying records.

They were equally familiar to those who for sixteen years battled to win pardons for 306 soldiers executed in WW1.

Following a long career in the public sector and higher education, David Johnson has had two books published on WWI. The first, The Man Who Didn’t Shoot Hitler, is a biography of Private Henry Tandey who was the most decorated private soldier to survive the war. He has been wrongly identified as the soldier who spared Hitler’s life in September 1918. The second book, Executed at Dawn: British Firing Squads on the Western Front 1914-18, discusses how the executions were organised, the abolition of the death penalty in the military and the Shot at Dawn Campaign. This book tells the story in more detail of the Shot at Dawn Campaign to obtain pardons for 306 soldiers who were executed and the establishment’s efforts to thwart it.

David lives in Warwickshire with his partner.

Customer Reviews

5.0

1 reviews

Kindle Customer

This is a very good niche book that has been well researched. The author tells the story well and the use of Andrew Mackinlay's letters show the pain of the friends and families of those executed and the anger at the politicians who did nothing for many years. It also gives the reader an insight into the workings of Parliament. The author is right to point out that none of those involved in the campaign have received any honours - I wonder why.
This books follows on from David's previous book Executed at Dawn - also a fascinating read.

Write a Review

5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star

Your post will be reviewed and published soon. Multiple reviews on one book from the same IP address will be deleted.