### Clue: Tough English soldiers deserted first and were killed (9)
### Answer: BUTCHERED 
 ### Explanation: Definition: killed
A charade of ~~BITCH~~ BUTCH ('tough') plus E ('English') plus RE (Royal Engineers, 'soldiers') plus D ('**D**eserted first'). I suppose that the plural 'were' can be justified as referring to the wordplay particles.