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There were a few reasons why the British troops continued to fight during World War 1. As a member of the armed forced deserting your post, absconding, or refusing to fight was punishable by firing squad. Death by firing squad as a coward was a huge dishonour to his family and even the town he came from. Notwithstanding this, during the 14-18 war there was a wave of national pride in being British. Many of the earlier troops were composed of so called "Pals battalion" (a combat unit of 500to 800 soldiers). These were comprised entirely of soldiers who were volunteers recruited at a specific recruiting drive. These men were proud to be defending the honour of the British Empire against the "Hun" (The German troops). During the early years of the war losses by cowardice was few and far between, but as the full Horror of trench warfare and the invention of the machine gun and mechanised warfare took hold the issue of desertion became more of an issue for the Generals running the war. They are the 306 young men - four of them just 17 who were shot for cowardice during the First World War, but when you put this into perspective of over 37 million: over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded it pales into insignificance. The pain for the families exists to this day, and recently there has been campaigns for these men to be posthumously pardoned.

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Q: Why did British soldiers continue fighting WW1?
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