soc.history.war.world-war-ii

Tron wrote:
> Hi,
>
> "samos" skrev i melding
> news:6c86a3e2-f11e-46ab-9727-f58e4a89f715@t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>> some airecrew lynching links:
>>
>> Adrian Gilbert, POW: Allied Prisoners in Europe, 1939-1945, John
>> Murray (London, 2006) at 35. After the war, the Allies prosecuted a
>> number of German civilians who had engaged in the lynching of downed
>> Allied aircrews.
>
>
> Can I look up anywhere ...:
>
> Is a downed airman per definition a POW?
> Would he consider himself a combatant?
> Would his own forces expect him to be a combatant (behind enemy lines),
> or to turn himself in as a POW?
> If he is not (yet) taken prisoner, what status will a civilian have if he
> kills the downed airman?
> What status do civilians have vis a vis members of enemy armed forces in
> case of war?
> Can they engage in combat (kill them), or is that murder?
>
> In case of capture (making him a regular POW):
> Can civilians capture a member of enemy armed forces in case of war?
>
>
>
> T
>
I'm going by memory, which always fallible. But I think the
pilots, at least, carried pistols in case they parachuted
into enemy territory. They would become POWs if they
surrendered. Civilians could and did fight against enemy
forces. Those on the Allies' side were called the underground.