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Description

More than 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed 'for the sake of example' during the First World War, for crimes from desertion to striking a superior officer. In this episode, we look at the background to military discipline, the process of Field General Courts-Martial, and what was involved when a soldier was executed by firing squad. And we discover how the inscription on an executed soldier's grave - 'Shot At Dawn' - remains as powerful as when his father chose it in the 1920s. 

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