DODGING CONSCRIPTION

We like to think that men went willingly when called up, even if they didn't rush to volunteer.But there must have been numerous cases of individuals who managed to avoid registration and or eventual call up.I wonder if there have been any books written about them.It can't have been easy but there are always some who wanted to avoid war.I am not talking about consciencious objectors who had a way of officially objecting and offering a different form of service, but others who just didn't comply.

 

It was by no means as easy as you seem to suggest. Any man of apparent military age (18-40, later,18-50) going about obviously not in full correct military uniform was liable to be stopped at any time by a police constable and asked to produce not ony his civilian identity card but also evidence of his status in relation to the National Service (Armed Forces) Act(s). Moreover, any man applying for employment would be similarly questioned about his status, and likewise anyone applying for unemployment benefit.

There are a few recorded cases of men who somehow persuaded friends/family to keep them hidden in an attic or cellar and keep them fed and watered for the duration. It has also been suggested that a few men managed to con doctors into certifying them as medically unfit.

Necessarily, a life "on the run" was hard and lonely.

 

Did not some avoid conscription by going to Ireland and initially the USA?
Tim

 

Not quite dodging as such but one of my Granddads was of military age for the whole war almost (born 1922) and managed to avoid any form of combat. He was called up to the army, but put his occupation down as 'artist' so was told to paint aeroplanes apparently. He declared this an insult to an artist, so instead painted portraits of his fellow servicemen (for a fee). He also managed to get himself injured on a training exercise, and when quizzed by anybody (including me as a child) about what he got up to, he always maintained the war was over before he managed to get to Germany.

I've never actually looked up his service records, but his name was Reginald Albert Aslett if somebody could provide me with any more information? Could be an amusing read.

 

References to the french "deserters.":
France was already occupied and the occupiers ruled that all young french men should be conscripted to work in Germany, in munitions factories etc.
Those who hid formed the Maquis, a branch of the french Resistance.

 

Yes,I would say that this item is not relevant to the debate..it's a reflection of the affects of collaboration of Vichy France with their new masters of Europe.France, the only occupied country to offer Germany,by legislation, its own citizens for what was slave labour in Germany.

These young men were all evading the STO (Service de Travail Obligatoire) Vichy legislation of Laval's and contributed to the swelling of irregular forces in opposition to the occupation of France.....Maquis, FTP and other resistance groups benefited from this Vichy policy.

Laval had earlier launched the La Releve scheme in April 1942 in response to Hitler's promise of one French POW released from a German POW camp for three civilians to work for the German war economy in Germany.The uptake did not draw the manpower totals that the Germans envisaged.

The German thirst for war economy labour was never satisfied, Sauckel demanded more manpower for its war economy and Laval obliged in February 1943 with the STO.....it was recognised as slave labour and led to young males and females leaving their homes for refuge in the rural areas......abundant evidence that many French (including elements of the police and clergy) who were outside the catchment "specification" helped many to evade the STO by providing feed and hiding.

 

Yes I shouldn't have used the word 'deserters' - rather avoiders of conscription.
The mistake came because France treated those who did work in German factories as traitors until recently.Sorry for topic drift!

 

No sure if this is a fact but my Father felt really strongly about it
He said in many cases A landowner would split up his land between his sons(several in some cases ) they would all then become Farmers and not just farmworkers and therefore exempt.

 

France was the only occupied country which conscripted its civilians for work in Germany.However it has to said that deportment to Germany which it entailed was no different to those deported from France when STO proved to have failed in the spring and summer of 1944.To meet manpower demands,people were seized from the streets and deported for work in Germany.

Those eligible who failed to serve in the STO. Vichy categorised as "defaillants".It matters little if they were described as deserters or evaders from STO service.Vichy saw itself as the legitimate power in France as defined by the Armistice terms while the Allies did not recognise Vichy and obviously supported any anti German collaboration. The term "defaillants" (In this context I think it means LMF) was soon replaced with a stronger word to describe these defaulters..."refractaries" which was interpreted as meaning resistants, not necessarily organised.

In June 1943 in the Herault Department,the local office of the STO threw up a power struggle between Vichy and the OT when the former found that its French workers were being detailed for STO. It was settled when OT Groupe Quest sent a letter on 30 June 1943 to the Herault Prefect stating categorically that the STO office had no right to move French workers from OT to any other work whatsoever.To accommodate this insistence, Vichy ultimately agreed that deserters from the STO who found work with OT or from the immigrant labour force,Travail Etranger,who found work with OT,would not be pursued by the Vichy police.

The above extract is taken from H R Kerward's "In Search of the Maquis" where he uses "deserter".

 

Good illustrations of the dire straits that the German war economy was eventually in shown by the concerns quite early in the war.

By 1943 the war economy situation was critical leading to desperate measures by the Germans.Abduction off the streets in the occupied countries and apparently a favourite modus operandi was to cordon off public places such as cinemas,arrest those leaving at the end of the performance,then deport a selection for work in Germany

There was a similar situation with military manpower,the huge losses in Russia were haemorrhaging manpower. Himmler, from about 1943 then changed his ideology regarding the Waffen SS and dropped the high specification for entry he had previously proclaimed for the SS. From 1943,numerous new Waffen SS divisions were formed from those countries overrun by the Third Reich and by 1945 Himmler had to resort to scraping the barrel with various German intakes.

 

There are several issues here.

The main combatant nations had to balance the manpower needs of the armed forces with those of industry. In both world wars Germany released skilled men from the armed forces to go back into industry.

Some drafted into the armed forces deserted. Some were hidden by friends and family. There was a stigma attached to one of my Grandmother's neighbours for hiding her son. My stigma I mean that until my grandmother's death in the 1980s she would remind you of the matter if the woman's name was ever mentioned.

Others disappeared into the criminal underworld. WW2 was a golden time for British criminals. Air raids, bombed buildings, rationing and overstretched police forces. Desertion in liberated Europe was a big problem - at any point there were tens of thousands on the run in Italy and France. Lax equipment security provided plenty of opportunities to steal vehicles and supplies - a good start for a black market business.

In occupied territories Italy and France deserters fleeing conscription into forced labour joined the maquis or partisans.

 

Thank you for the many replies on this subject. I could find no other posts about it on this website. I did not think for one moment that anyone wishing to avoid being called up would find it easy to hide away somewhere, but the newspaper cuttings do suggest that there were some individuals who did try to avoid serving. Clearly moving to Eire or Northern Ireland was one option but there must have been plenty of people who noticed newcomers and reported their presence. I saw that one man suceeded in keeping under the radar for years because he had not registered for a ration card. Then, when discovered he was sent to prison, thus extending his time away from any actual fighting. Still wondering if anyone has written a book about it.