Bantams


One of my favourite stories to tell in the last couple of weeks (okay, I mentioned it twice, but I normally try not repeat myself. Or say the same thing again) is of the Bantam battalions in world War 1. These were battalions of soldiers who were below the usual minimum height, the restrictions having been waived because of the vital need for soldiers. In my version of the story, the one I heard on the radio originally, many of these soldiers were only short because of poor nutrition and actually grew when given army rations until they were too tall to be part of the short army.

References to the battalions here and here and there’s a book about them.