Jim, have you ever seen the Indian Rope trick performed by a street entertainer? Hundreds, thousands possibly millions have heard stories about it and know of the trick - yet nobody has ever seen it performed.

Jim, have you ever heard of a thing called an "Urban Myth", hundreds, thousands possibly millions have heard them and believe them - yet none of them are true.

Do I think Harry Patch was lying? What about? Never having seen anybody suffering from Shell Shock? Or about having witnessed Officers summarily executing men frozen to inaction because of shell shock? Now as Harry Patch was only in France for three months at a time when it was the British Army that was on the offensive (late summer 1917) I would say that it was highly likely that Harry Patch never saw anyone suffering from shell shock and that he himself never suffered from it. Now if he telling the truth about that how could he possibly have witnessed the summary execution by an officer of a man suffering from shell shock - it is a contradiction, so what could account for it? The link so smugly supplied by Raggy is to the BBC History website, Harry Patch came back from the First World War and kept steadfastly silent about his experiences for 80 years, he then gave an interview to the BBC as a 100+ year old man. Who thinks that the article linked to is the complete article? It would be utterly remarkable if it was, everything is edited prior to publication, now how do we know what was left out? How do we know where the gaps were? It is undisputed that the French Army carried out summary executions on the western front, could they have been the stories that British troops heard about?

Ever since you and the Musktwats introduced alleged summary executions I have looked long and hard for any substantive evidence of them ever happening in the British Army - I have found NONE

I find it incredibly difficult to believe that you talked to and recorded a man who you say was a WWI veteran over the course of three days and not once in all that time did he mention what theatre of war he served in or what regiment or corps he served in. Most common experience in talking to veterans of that period the first thing they will tell you is what branch of the armed forces they served in (Army, Navy or Air Force), where it was they served and saw action, and for ex-Army men they will ALWAYS tell you what regiment or corps they served with. Your man didn't and you made no attempt whatsoever to find out. If that is your approach to gathering "history" then any work you have produced can only be viewed as being highly speculative and unreliable.

Your inattention to detail is staggering Jim:

306 British Soldiers were executed for desertion - the word according to Jim Carroll

Here is a summary, all documented, all recorded of the Courts Martial undertaken during the First World War:

The outcomes of Courts Martial

In all, 5,952 officers and 298,310 other ranks were court-martialled. This amounts to just over 3% of the total of men who joined the army. Of those tried, 89% were convicted; 8% acquitted; the rest were either convicted without the conviction being confirmed or with it being subsequently quashed. Of those convicted, 30% were for absence without leave; 15% for drunkenness;***14% for desertion (although only 3% were actually in the field at the time***); 11% for insubordination; 11% for loss of army property, and the remaining 19% for various other crimes. The main punishments applied were : 3 months detention in a military compound - 24%; Field Punishment Number 1 - 22%; Fines - 12%; 6 months detention - 10%; reduction in rank - 10%; Field Punishment Number 2 - 8%.

3.080 men (1.1% of those convicted) were sentenced to death. Of these, 89% were reprieved and the sentence converted to a different one. 346 men were executed. Their crimes included desertion - 266; murder - 37; cowardice in the face of the enemy - 18; quitting their post - 7; striking or showing violence to their superiors - 6; disobedience - 5; mutiny - 3; sleeping at post - 2; casting away arms - 2. Of the 346, 91 were already under a suspended sentence from an earlier conviction (40 of these a suspended death sentence)."

YOUR 306 does not represent those executed for desertion they include all of the above minus those charged with and found guilty of murder. The Court Martial process and proceedings for every single one of those courts martial are available for you to read, study and examine.

***14% for desertion (although only 3% were actually in the field at the time*** the 266 executions were for desertion in the field. Those who deserted whilst in training, on leave, or on duty in the UK were not subject to the death penalty and none were executed in the UK.

Tell me Jim why is it that you can never get Donnellan's name right?

Are you seriously trying to equate a 105 minute long DOCUMENTARY broadcast in 1980 on the British Army covering some 150 years which was quite correctly lambasted and criticised for the biased and poor nature of its content to the extent that it was screened only once and the BBC banned any overseas transmission to a fragment of a BBC Drama that is 100% FICTION as evidence that summary executions took place!!! Utterly ridiculous.