Soldiers run away: traitors! (6,4)

I believe the answer is:

desert rats

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'soldiers' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'run away traitors' is the wordplay.
'run away' becomes 'desert' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'traitors' becomes 'rats' (rat can mean a traitor).
'desert'+'rats'='DESERT RATS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for desert rats that I've seen before include "soldiers" , "Body of troops" , "Jerboas -- British 7th Armoured Division, 1940-58" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.

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