Soldiers getting dealt with for having withdrawn from battle? (9)
I believe the answer is:
retreated
'having withdrawn from battle?' is the definition.
'soldiers getting dealt with' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'dealt with' becomes 'treated' (I've seen this before).
're'+'treated'='RETREATED'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for retreated that I've seen before include "Withdrew from enemy forces" , "Gave up ground" , "Retired" , "given extra medical care?" , "Left" .)