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Military desertion is regarded as one of the greatest crimes a combatant can be guilty of—and yet soldiers have been deserting their units since antiquity. For centuries, abandoning your post with the intention of not returning was punishable by death. But you could also be flogged, or branded or tattooed to identify you forever as a miscreant unworthy of the uniform. Today, desertion is rare, but the consequences are still severe, usually resulting in a fine, a spell in jail, and a certain dishonorable discharge. So, what are history's ultimate derelictions of duty?
Click through and take a look at those who fled from the battlefield.
Desertion was a crime under Roman military law. In times of war, desertion was made punishable by death, especially if the deserter went over to the enemy.
In 1743, three members of the Scottish Black Watch regiment—Samuel McPherson, Malcolm McPherson, and Farquhar Shaw—were executed for desertion at the Tower of London. They fled their posts fearing the regiment was about to be transferred to North America to fight in King George's War, part of the wider War of the Austrian Succession raging in Europe.
Between 1776 and 1783 during the American War of Independence, there may have been 15,000 cases of desertion by British mariners of the North American squadron. Pictured: British troops landing at Boston.
Desertion by British combatants during the Napoleonic Wars was rife. Between 1803 and 1815 there were 77,696 cases of desertion from the British Army.
Desertion was a problem during the American Civil War. Throughout the conflict, around 200,000 combatants deserted the Union Army.
Over 100,000 deserted the Confederate Army. Desertion in fact was a major factor for the Confederacy in the last two years of the war.
The most famous rebel deserter was Newton Knight. He led the Knight Company, a band of Confederate Army deserters who resisted the Confederacy during the conflict. He further antagonized his earlier paymasters by marrying an African-American former slave. Movies about Knight's exploits include 'Free State of Jones' (2016), starring Matthew McConaughey as the controversial renegade.
Before his writing career took off under his pen name of Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens had deserted the Confederate Army, fearing his profession as a river boat pilot could be misconstrued by Union forces as that of a rebel gunboat captain.
On September 17, 1862, a Union soldier, Private John Thomas Barnett of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was executed for desertion and highway robbery. The sentence was carried out in full view of his regiment.
Both Britain and France took a strong line towards deserters in the First World War, and many were executed for their actions. Pictured is a deserter being marched off under escort after being degraded in front of his comrades.
Despite pressure from the British government and military to do so, the Australian government refused to allow members of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) to be executed for desertion. The proportion of AIF soldiers who deserted was also higher than that of other forces on the Western Front in France during the First World War.
British Army deserter Percy Topliss became a cause célèbre during and after the First World War. He served as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, but regularly posed as an officer while on leave, wearing a monocle. While not technically deserting his post, Topliss nonetheless flouted strict army regulations governing the impersonation of an officer. He was still in the army when he went deserted proper in 1920, killing a taxi driver while on the run. He was shot by police as he tried to make a getaway.
From 1914 to 1918, between 600 and 650 French soldiers were executed for desertion. In this extraordinary 1917 photograph, French Army deserters are seen running towards German lines.
Approximately 150,000 German soldiers deserted during the First World War. Of those who were caught, no more than 18 were executed.
Most German deserters fled to neutral Holland, and to Denmark or Switzerland. Here, German deserters crossing the frigid Meuse river seek sanctuary in Holland in this illustration from the March 18, 1917 edition of French daily newspaper Le Petit Journal.
The British showed little mercy for deserters. During the Great War, 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers were shot for desertion. Of these, 25 were Canadian, 22 Irishmen, and five New Zealanders.
Desertion was still prevalent in the US Armed Forces after America joined the First World War. Military authorities reminded potential absconders of the shame such an act would bring upon their regiment or battalion with posters like this one.
US Navy deserter Henry Holscher became an unlikely hero of the First World World, but he did so under a pseudonym: Leroy West. Jumping ship in Liverpool and posing as a Canadian, he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers. The deserter saw action in Palestine in 1917 during the Second Battle of Gaza. West won the Military Medal for gallantry in the engagement, although his battalion suffered heavy casualties and many were taken prisoner (pictured). His sentence was later commuted for his bravery.
In total, 5,584 US servicemen were charged with desertion during the Great War, with 2,657 convicted of the crime. Fortunately, all managed to avoid execution after President Woodrow Wilson commuted their death sentences to lengthy prison terms.
Mass desertion by Russian soldiers during the Great War was responsible for a huge decline in morale. By August 1917, over 365,000 combatants had been detained. Pictured in 1914 are Russian soldiers halting a lorryload of deserters.
After the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into the German Reich in 1938, all units of the Austrian Armed Forces—the Österreichischen Bundesheer—were taken en masse into the German Wehrmacht. This prompted numerous desertions by Austrian combatants. In 2011, Vienna decided to honor Austrian Wehrmacht deserters with their own memorial.
Stalin's infamous Order No 270 commanded all Red Army personnel to "fight to the last." Superiors were ordered to shoot deserters on the spot.
Over the course of the war, the Soviets executed 158,000 troops for desertion. Pictured are Russian deserters surrendering to a German soldier at Smolensk in 1941. Their fate in captivity would be uncertain.
Despite the fact that nearly 100,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers deserted from the armed forces during the Second World War, none faced capital punishment: the death penalty for desertion had been abolished in 1930.
Over 21,000 American combatants were tried and sentenced for desertion during the Second World War. But only one was executed—Eddie Slovik. The soldier ran off claiming he was "too scared" to be a rifleman. A court-martial found him guilty as charged and he was shot on January 31, 1945.
A hugely unpopular conflict both at home and abroad, the Vietnam War saw 503,926 US servicemen desert their posts between 1966 and 1973. Quite a few fled to Canada, while other countries offered deserters asylum.
According to figures released by the Pentagon, more than 5,500 US military personnel deserted in 2003–2004, following the Iraq invasion and occupation. Most of those deserted while on leave in the United States.
In 2007, NBC News reported that soldiers strained by six years of war were deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980.
US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban after deserting his post in 2009. He was held captive for five years before being released as part of a prisoner exchange in 2014. He was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged.
Sources: (Maritime Museum of the Atlantic) (University of Leeds) (Western Front Association) (BBC) (History) (NBC News) (Veterans for Common Sense) (Los Angeles Times)
Desertion: the ultimate dereliction of duty
Soldiers have been deserting their posts since antiquity
LIFESTYLE History
Military desertion is regarded as one of the greatest crimes a combatant can be guilty of—and yet soldiers have been deserting their units since antiquity. For centuries, abandoning your post with the intention of not returning was punishable by death. But you could also be flogged, or branded or tattooed to identify you forever as a miscreant unworthy of the uniform. Today, desertion is rare, but the consequences are still severe, usually resulting in a fine, a spell in jail, and a certain dishonorable discharge. So, what are history's ultimate derelictions of duty?
Click through and take a look at those who fled from the battlefield.