Historian, lawyer and author Andrea Hetherington talks about her recent book on British Army deserters on the British home front during WW1. You can listen here ()
During that war, more than 80,000 cases of desertion were tried at a court martial on the home front. Andrea talks about the many motivations for absence or desertion from camps or barracks in Britain. Some soldiers couldn’t cope with what was thought as poor camp facilities, others had a problem with drink and a number were immature. No deserters were executed for desertion on the Home Front but if they escaped from the Western Front and managed to reach home, then they could be shot at dawn. However, many absentees or deserters would face other punishments which included detention, prison and a period of hard labour.
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