Soldiers only left an umbrella (7)
I believe the answer is:
parasol
'an umbrella' is the definition.
(I know that Parasol is a umbrella)
'soldiers only left' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 'paras' (para is a kind of soldier).
'only left' becomes 'ol' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'paras'+'ol'='PARASOL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for parasol that I've seen before include "protection from the rays" , "for protection from the elements" , "Light umbrella to ward off the sun" , "Light umbrella giving shade from sun" , "Fair-weather umbrella" .)