British Ministry Rejects World War I Cowardice Review

Britain’s defense ministry has rejected an appeal by a war veterans’ association to review the cases of soldiers shot for cowardice during World War I.

Lord Trefgarne, junior minister with responsibility for the army, said last week the accepted that some of the executed soldiers, said to number between 18 and 35, may have been suffering from battle shock or exhaustion.

“But it would be unjust to those who fought and died gallantly in equally appalling conditions to give a general exoneration to those convicted of cowardice,” he said.

The request by the annual conference of the Royal British Legion was provoked by a television documentary which described how men accused of cowardice were tried and shot without access to proper legal defense or expert medical opinion.

However, a Legion spokesman said the organization had received requests from some relatives of executed men asking for the issue not to be revived for fear of reopening old wounds.