For many boys who were born at the end of the 19th century, the First World War was an event that left its mark on all their youth. The first group to be called to arms consisted of those who were born in 1896 and these youths were gradually followed by all the other groups until finally it was the turn of the famous "class of 99" who were the protagonists of the battles of 1918 on Mount Grappa, Montello and along the Piave. But as happened in other cases, even this war had its deserters and those who failed to report for military service, men who were reluctant to join the army and take part in the war and instead chose to escape.
Those who chose this road had no other option but to flee abroad, possibly beyond the ocean, where the chances of being captured were lesser. It is estimated that out of some 470,000 persons who were reluctant to serve, at least 370,000 chose to migrate and never to return to Italy. In the south, however, where rural zones were more abundant and the presence of the State was less widespread, youths who escaped conscription organized themselves in the countryside and survived by using their wits.
Others instead decided to desert. At first 2000 youths would show up regularly for their medical checks but once they were enlisted, they would not be found. The number of these youths increased considerably during the war; desertion in fact on many occasions meant surrender to the enemyand hoping to find living conditions in prisons camps at the hands of Austro-Hungarian forces (and later German forces) that would be better than those in the trenches.
But there were other ways how to try to escape. In fact there are thousands of testimonies of soldiers who, upon arriving in Friuli or in Veneto, feigned sickness or pretended to be insane or else inflicted wounds upon themselves. The most common ones involved gunshot wounds on one's foot or hand in order to obtain a release from the frontline for at least a few weeks. Bur there were also more serious cases such as burns, injuries to the eyes and ears, swellings that were caused by injections under the skin and the intake of medicines that could cause allergic reactions. Obviously, as these cases multiplied, most medical commissions which judged them became stricter and refused to issues releases from active duty. Many people, therefore, tried to deceive army doctors by simulating mental illness. "Mental illness represented a form of escape, the last refuge for soldiers who had no other means of escape from the relentless machinery of war, from the arbitrariness and the harassment of their superiors and from the threat to their lives." (Antonio Gibelli, La Grande Guerra degli Italiani, BUR, Milan, 2009, page 119). Unlike cases involving wounds, doctors found it much more difficult to identify those who were actually feigning and those who were not. The knowledge of the human psyche that was still superficial at that time and the primitive techniques made it possible for many soldiers to be excused and to go back home. Others who were less able to simulate a disability or who were simply less fortunate remained instead on the battlefield.
