I know those were different times ... and I know all the arguments "for and against " .... but this still seems so wrong to me ! Grave in Le Crotoy Communal Cemetery Western Somme of Sub- Lt Edwin Leopold Arthur Dyett Nelson Battn Royal Naval Division . Executed 5 Jan 1917 aged 21 for desertion. Headstone bears inscription “If doing well ye suffer this is acceptable with God” 1st Epis Peter. Dyett was serving in Nelson Battalion part of 189 Brigade Royal Naval Division. By October 1916 the high ground of Thiepval Ridge was in the hands of the British but the situation to the north remained unsatisfactory on both sides of the Ancre River with the Germans fixed and unyielding at Grandcourt and across the river at Beaucourt-sur-Ancre and up to Beaumont Hamel and Serre. 189th Infantry Brigade was to take part in the attack on enemy positions north of the Ancre River with Hawke and Hood Battalions in the front line and Nelson behind Hawke and Drake behind Hood. The attack commenced at 0515 am on 13th November 1916 with the 189th Brigade pressing towards the village of Beaucourt. At the insistence of the CO, Dyett had been left in reserve. At about noon when it became known that casualties in the Nelson Battalion were considerable Dyett and Lieutenant Truscott were ordered forward from Hedauville to Brigade Headquarters which were then in Charles Street trench between the villages of Mesnil and Hamel. There they were given orders to join the Battalion which had last been heard of in the Green Line, a trench on the Beaucourt side of Station Road. They arrived together at Beaucourt Station and met a number of men with a Sub- Lieutenant Herring. Herring was in charge of the ammunition supply at Hamel but he had come across a body of men retiring and he had ordered these men to go back towards the firing line and was then with them at Beaucourt Station. Lieutenant Truscott found 25 men of the Nelson Battalion of whom he took charge and marched them towards the Green Line. He left Dyett arguing with Herring. Sub-Lieutenant Herring ordered Dyett to follow in the rear but Dyett said there was such chaos that he thought he should go back and report to Brigade. Dyett followed Herring back to the ammunition dump at Hamel but he did not go back to Brigade Headquarters. By 4 pm on the 13th November Sub-Lieutenant Gardner was the only officer in the Nelson Battalion present in the front line and he reported to Colonel Freyberg of the Hood Battalion about 5pm and was instructed to dig in to extend the left flank. Shortly thereafter he was joined by Lieutenant Truscott with a party of men mostly from the Nelson Battalion and as he was the senior officer he took over command of the Battalion from Gardner. The Battalion remained in this position until 5 pm on the 14th November when they were moved to a position about 50 yards in the rear leaving that position at about 2 am on the 15th November when they were relieved. The Battalion then retired to the original German front line and remained there until 1015 am on the 15th November when the Battalion marched back to billets at Englebelmer arriving there between 1 pm and 2 pm. The first part of the Battalion arrived at about 1 pm on the 15th November with Lieutenant Dangerfield and almost the first person he saw was Dyett standing at the gate of billet 79 Battalion HQ. The second part of the Battalion arrived at about 2 pm. Lieutenant Colonel N O Burge the CO, and 9 sub-lieutenants were killed,9 other officers wounded of whom 2 including Gardner and Dangerfield remained on duty, 24 other ranks were killed, 195 wounded, 120 missing and 1 gassed. The Court Martial was on 26th December 1916 in a farmhouse in the village of Champneuf near the coast at Le Crotoy. It was established that Dyett had not gone back to Brigade HQ and indeed had not been seen at all on the 14th November. and Dyett was convicted of desertion and sentenced to death but the Court Marital recommended mercy. The Divisional Commander Major-General C D Shute recommended that the sentence be commuted, but the commander of V Corps and General Gough the Army Commander both maintained that the sentence should stand and General Haig confirmed the sentence of death. He was shot at 7.30 am on Friday January 5th 1917 at St Firmin.
