2. The youngest British soldier was 12 years old
Sidney Lewis was just 12 years old when he lied about his age and joined the army during World War One. He was one of thousands of eager underage boys who enlisted and ended up fighting alongside their adult counterparts on the front. Some were motivated by patriotism, but for others it was an escape from their depressingly dull and bleak lives.
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the British Army had 700,000 available men. Germany's wartime army was over 3.7 million.
When a campaign for volunteers was launched, thousands answered the call to fight. Among them were 250,000 boys and young men under the age of 19, the legal limit for armed service overseas.