It is a soldier's tale cut in stone to melt all hearts" Thus Winston Churchill in his introduction to A.P. Herbert's novel The Secret Battle, a book inspired by and quite clearly based upon the execution of Sub-Lieutenant Edwin Dyett of the Nelson Battalion, 63rd (Royal Navy) Division on 5 January, 1917, for desertion in the face of the enemy. This moving and thought-provoking book cuts a path through the cloud of secrecy which for years has enveloped all the documents relating to First World War courts martial, to tell the tragic tale of the death of one such young man and the truth behind his conviction.