Whist researching the men of my home town who died in the Great War the local papers reported that a certain soldier deserted twice in 1917 and 1918. His mother was fined for harbouring him the second time and he was just sent back to his regiment which was presumably somewhere in the UK. The man in question survived the war and lived on into the 1960's so am I to assume then that execution for desertion only applied to those men who were at the Front and not those based at Home? Regards Peter

A number of men deserted from units on the Western front whilst on leave etc. He could therefore have been with a unit overseas. Not all men who were court martialled for desertion were executed. many of them were given a number of chances and many others only served jail sentences. A tiny proportion were executed - 10% of death sentences, I think. To be honest the man I researched had four chances and after reading his court martial, going by King's Regs of the day - he got what he deserved. Stevem Peter Metcalfe <Peter-redfern@runbox.com> wrote: Whist researching the men of my home town who died in the Great War the local papers reported that a certain soldier deserted twice in 1917 and 1918. His mother was fined for harbouring him the second time and he was just sent back to his regiment which was presumably somewhere in the UK. The man in question survived the war and lived on into the 1960's so am I to assume then that execution for desertion only applied to those men who were at the Front and not those based at Home? Regards Peter ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Researching 9th (service) Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys Regiment) during the Great War. www.ypressalient.co.uk People ask me my religion - my religion is kindness - True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised

Desertion was much more common than is often supposed - In my database of men from the Royal Berkshires I have 303 who are recorded as having absconded. Overall 2004 men were sentenced to death for desertion but only 272 of these were in fact executed. However many men who deserted were also charged with more serious offences eg cowardice , mutiny but again the ratio of sentences to actual executions is pretty much the same - 14/213 for cowardice and 15/55 for mutiny. I have tracked down a few of the Royal Berkshires and many of them volunteered to join another unit (ASC was quite popular) and it seemed a blind eye was often turned. The reasons for desertion were many and varied - quite often it was to get away from the wife and having to send pay home. There certainly did not seem to be any hard and fast rules - each case was judged on its merits if they caught up with offenders. Regards John In message <E1Gin7u-0000Xg-Nl@garm.runbox.com>, Peter Metcalfe <Peter-redfern@runbox.com> writes >Whist researching the men of my home town who died in the Great War the >local papers reported that a certain soldier deserted twice in 1917 and >1918. His mother was fined for harbouring him the second time and he >was just sent back to his regiment which was presumably somewhere in >the UK. > >The man in question survived the war and lived on into the 1960's so am >I to assume then that execution for desertion only applied to those men >who were at the Front and not those based at Home? > >Regards > >Peter > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- John Chapman

Many thanks to all who replied. I had no idea so many deserters go off virtually scot-free. Which begs another question - Where did the term "scot-free" originate? Regards Peter