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Ninety years ago Britain's teenage boys volunteered en masse to fight for King and country. Such was their will to fight that many boys joined up below the legal age.

New research reveals that these boy soldiers were not just a passionate handful but a significant proportion of Britain's army and how the government deliberately turned a blind eye to their enlistment.



At the outbreak of war, the minimum age for volunteers was 18 and soldiers had to be 19 before they could serve overseas. However, the War Graves Commission records shows that among the ranks of the British army as many as 250,000 underage boys, some as young as 14, lied about their age in order to enlist. Desperate for manpower, the government ignored such irregularities, tacitly colluding in the decision to allow children to go to war.



Using interviews recorded with a number of the longest surviving boy soldiers, this moving documentary examines why so many were allowed to join up and fight.

Programme Information

  • Genre: History

  • Subgenre: Factual

  • Producers: TESTIMONY FILMS LTD

  • Broadcaster: n/a

  • Duration: 1 x 50'

  • Tags: War WWI History

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