page_title: Desertion
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Desertion / Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: A cartoon from the first edition of The Dinkum Australian by Cecil Lawrence Hartt (then a soldier in the Australian Imperial Force) making light of the high rate of Australian soldiers going absent without leave.
context_page_description: Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence or absence without leave, which are temporary forms of absence.
context_section_description: During the First World War, the Australian Government refused to allow members of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) to be executed for desertion, despite pressure from the British Government and military to do so. The AIF had the highest rate of soldiers going absent without leave of any of the national contingents in the British Expeditionary Force, and the proportion of soldiers who deserted was also higher than that of other forces on the Western Front in France.
caption: A 1918 cartoon by Cecil Hartt making light of the high incidence of soldiers going absent without leave in the  Australian Imperial Force
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