Ken Follett - Fall of Giants

The court-martial took place in a classroom. Fitz sat at the teacher’s desk, with his aide-de-camp, Captain Murray, beside him. Captain Gwyn Evans was there with a notebook and pencil.

Billy was dirty and unshaven, and he had slept badly with the drunks and prostitutes of the town. Fitz wore a perfectly pressed uniform, as always. Billy knew he was in bad trouble. The verdict was a foregone conclusion: the evidence was clear. He had revealed military secrets in coded letters to his sister. But he was determined not to let his fear show. He was going to give a good account of himself.

Fitz said: “This is a field general court-martial, permitted when the accused is on active service or overseas and it is not possible to hold the more regular general court-martial. Only three officers are required to sit as judges, or two if no more are available. It may try a soldier of any rank on any offense, and has the power to impose the death penalty.”

Billy’s only chance was to influence the sentence. The possible punishments included penal servitude, hard labor, and death. No doubt Fitz would like to put Billy in front of a firing squad, or at least give him several years in prison. Billy’s aim was to plant in the minds of Murray and Evans sufficient doubts about the fairness of the trial to make them plump for a short term in prison.

Now he said: “Where is my lawyer?”

“It is not possible to offer you legal representation,” Fitz said.

“You’re sure of that, are you, sir?”

“Speak when you’re spoken to, Sergeant.”

Billy said: “Let the record show that I was denied access to a lawyer.” He stared at Gwyn Evans, the only one with a notebook. When Evans did nothing, Billy said: “Or will the record of this trial be a lie?” He put heavy emphasis on the word lie, knowing it would offend Fitz. It was part of the code of the English gentleman always to tell the truth.

Fitz nodded to Evans, who made a note.

First point to me, Billy thought, and he cheered up a bit.

Fitz said: “William Williams, you stand accused under part one of the Army Act. The charge is that you knowingly, while on active service, committed an act calculated to imperil the success of His Majesty’s forces. The penalty is death, or such lesser punishment as the court shall impose.”

The repeated emphasis on the death penalty chilled Billy, but he kept his face stiff.

“How do you plead?”

Billy took a deep breath. He spoke in a clear voice, and put into his tone as much scorn and contempt as he could muster. “I plead how dare you,” he said. “How dare you pretend to be an objective judge? How dare you act as if our presence in Russia is a legitimate operation? And how dare you make an accusation of treason against a man who has fought alongside you for three years? That’s how I plead.”

Gwyn Evans said: “Don’t be insolent, Billy boy. You’ll only make it worse for yourself.”

Billy was not going to let Evans pretend to be benevolent. He said: “And my advice to you is to leave now and have nothing more to do with this kangaroo court. When the news gets out-and believe you me, this is going to be on the front page of the Daily Mirror-you will find that you’re the one in disgrace, not me.” He looked at Murray. “Every man who had anything to do with this farce is going to be disgraced.”

Evans looked troubled. Clearly he had not thought there might be publicity.

“Enough!” said Fitz loudly and angrily.

Good, Billy thought; I’ve got his goat already.

Fitz went on: “Let’s have the evidence, please, Captain Murray.”

Murray opened a folder and took out a sheet of paper. Billy recognized his own handwriting. It was, as he expected, a letter to Ethel.

Murray showed it to him and said: “Did you write this letter?”

Billy said: “How did it come to your attention, Captain Murray?”

Fitz barked: “Answer the question!”

Billy said. “You went to Eton school, didn’t you, Captain? A gentleman would never read someone else’s mail, or so we’re told. But as I understand it, only the official censor has the right to examine soldiers’ letters. So I assume this was brought to your attention by the censor.” He paused. As he expected, Murray was unwilling to answer. He went on: “Or was the letter obtained illegally?”

Murray repeated: “Did you write this letter?”

“If it was obtained illegally, then it can’t be used in a trial. I think that’s what a lawyer would say. But there are no lawyers here. That’s what makes this a kangaroo court.”

“Did you write this letter?”

“I will answer that question when you have explained how it came into your possession.”

Fitz said: “You can be punished for contempt of court, you know.”

I’m already facing the death penalty, Billy thought; how stupid of Fitz to think he can threaten me! But he said: “I am defending myself by pointing out the irregularity of the court and the illegality of the prosecution. Are you going to forbid that… sir?”

Murray gave up. “The envelope is marked with a return address and the name of Sergeant Billy Williams. If the accused wishes to claim he did not write it, he should say so now.”

Billy said nothing.

“The letter is a coded message,” Murray went on. “It may be decoded by reading every third word, and the initial capital letters of titles of songs and films.” Murray handed the letter to Evans. “When so decoded, it reads as follows.”

Billy’s letter described the incompetence of the Kolchak regime, saying that despite all their gold they had failed to pay the staff of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and so were continuing to have supply and transport problems. It also detailed the help the British army was trying to give. The information had been kept secret from the British public, who were paying for the army and whose sons were risking their lives.

Murray said to Billy: “Do you deny sending this message?”

“I cannot comment on evidence that has been obtained illegally.”

“The addressee, E. Williams, is in fact Mrs. Ethel Leckwith, leader of the ‘Hands Off Russia’ campaign, is she not?”

“I cannot comment on evidence that has been obtained illegally.”

“Have you written previous coded letters to her?”

Billy said nothing.

“And she has used the information you gave her to generate hostile newspaper stories bringing discredit on the British army and imperiling the success of our actions here.”

“Certainly not,” said Billy. “The army has been discredited by the men who sent us on a secret and illegal mission without the knowledge or consent of Parliament. The ‘Hands Off Russia’ campaign is the necessary first step in returning us to our proper role as the defenders of Great Britain, rather than the private army of a little conspiracy of right-wing generals and politicians.”

Fitz’s chiseled face was red with anger, Billy saw to his great satisfaction. “I think we’ve heard enough,” Fitz said. “The court will now consider its verdict.” Murray murmured something, and Fitz said: “Oh, yes. Does the accused have anything to say?”

Billy stood up. “I call as my first witness Colonel the Earl Fitzherbert.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Fitz.

“Let the record show that the court refused to allow me to question a witness even though he was present at the trial.”

“Get on with it.”

“If I had not been denied my right to call a witness, I would have asked the colonel what was his relationship with my family. Did he not bear a personal grudge against me because of my father’s role as a miners’ leader? What was his relationship with my sister? Did he not employ her as his housekeeper, then mysteriously sack her?” Billy was tempted to say more about Ethel, but it would have been dragging her name through the mud, and besides, the hint was probably enough. “I would ask him about his personal interest in this illegal war against the Bolshevik government. Is his wife a Russian princess? Is his son heir to property here? Is the colonel in fact here to defend his personal financial interest? And are all these matters the real explanation of why he has convened this sham of a court? And does that not completely disqualify him from being a judge in this case?”