EK 1914 A deserter gets the EK...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Thee Germans seemed to have viewed it as a harmless action...

These photos MAY be the guy, shoulder numbers match... were with the docs... but there is no mention of a promotion in his papers....

[Chris Boonzaier]

As we can see, him and a friend deserted for a month... seem to have gotten a suspended sentence.

[Chris Boonzaier]

They did not seem to hold it against him, sent him to a regiment where he was involved in the March offensive in 1918 and wounded....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Still got himself an EK.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

pretty cool.... I think the Brits treated their deserters a little bit more severely! ;-)

[censlenov]

pretty cool.... I think the Brits treated their deserters a little bit more severely! ;-)

Like getting shot at dawn or a wicked amount of FP No.1.

Cheers

Chris

[Les]

pretty cool.... I think the Brits treated their deserters a little bit more severely! ;-)

Chris, neat documentation that ties into the matter of WWI era military executions. Figures of reported executions are available, and they are interesting, and not what more than a few might think.

There were internal political reasons based on the "multi-national" and confederated nature of the Imperial Germman state and army that resulted in a hesitancy on the part of the Prussians, to resort to executing men from other "national units" within the army at large, but also members of the Prussian branch of the army.

The highest number of executions for all reasons by any of the combatants during the war, was Britain and the Dominions/colonies/etc, with a total of over 700 men shot. The next highest is the French, with a bit more than 500 executions, but official figures are absent (and are both lacking and highly conjectural) for a very specific part of 1917.

The numbers for Russia are entirely conjectural, and there are no reliable statistics available.

The official German tally of military executions for all reasons, was roughly 110.

During the next late great international debate, the reported and estimated figures are -entirely- different, but that's not the subject of this thread.

[Guest Rick Research]

I assume he and his pal scarpered from a posting back home and not at the front? That probably made all the difference.

Nice of his new unit to have begged him off the punishment once he was theirs... and doubtless running low on replacements as it was.

Even more of a contrast with the French.

But as in so many things, propaganda still trumps reality. :beer: