Deserters in T2K

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by Raellus

The first thing that struck me is how desertion/deserter is defined. One of the figures profiled in the book was separated from his unit and joined a group of French partisans, taking part in combat operations against German troops. Since he was AWOL from his parent unit, he was considered a deserter.

That's very interesting. I had always assumed that troops who were separated from their parent units and who joined whatever allied unit they could to continue the fight were ultimately credited with honorable service. Perhaps that was naive of me. If this is not the case, then many thousands of GIs and Filipino soldiers in the Philippines 1942-1944 who fought on as guerillas were deserters. They even disobeyed orders to do so. I'll have to read more on the subject.