soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:10:58 -0400, "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 ...:

Yes.

The Avalon Project (Yale Law School): The Laws of War page

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lawofwar/lawwar.htm

Specifically, you want to read ...

Hague IV (1907): The Laws of Land Warfare
Geneva Convention (1929)

According to Hague IV (1907): Article 4 ...

"Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile Government, but not
of the individuals or corps who capture them.

They must be humanely treated.

All their personal belongings, except arms, horses, and military
papers, remain their property."

Geneva (1929) simply goes into more detail.

>Is a downed airman per definition a POW?

Depends. If he is not armed, yes. If he is armed and surrenders his
weapon, or merely surrenders, yes. If he attempts to resist with any
weapon he may have, he is still, legally, an active combatant. If he
has been rendered hors de combat he is automatically a POW whether he
surrenders or not.

>Would he consider himself a combatant?

Depends. If he comes down in the middle of nowhere with no enemy
troops (or outraged civilians) in sight, and is unwounded, he will,
presumably, want to at least *attempt* to conceal himself and escape
... which makes him a "combatant".

>Would his own forces expect him to be a combatant (behind enemy lines),
>or to turn himself in as a POW?

He is expected to make the attempt to escape, but the assumption is
always (unless you were Russian) that that decision would always be at
your own discretion based on the specific circumstances.

Hague IV (1907) and GPW (1929) spell out the details of what POWs can
be asked/required to do by the capturing power.

>If he is not (yet) taken prisoner, what status will a civilian have if he
>kills the downed airman?

If it was clearly self defence (that is, the airman had a gun, for
example, and was shooting at people and the civilian responded to
defend themselves or others), then it would *be* self defence under
the relevant local criminal statutes.

If it wasn't, then it is clearly, under those same statutes, murder
(or, perhaps, manslaughter) and *should* be tried as such.

In a combat zone (and what constitutes such would be a matter for some
debate), then the civilian could be classed as an unpriviliged
combatant and, of course, subject to trial for murder or manslaughter
as appropriate.

>What status do civilians have vis a vis members of enemy armed forces in
>case of war?

Spelled out clearly in Hague IV (1907).

(Note: The mental gymnastics performed to justify Guantanamo had not
yet been thought of ... though, of course, the Germans *did* behave
illegally towards POWs in specific circumstances, and were called to
account for it, largely, at the end of the war)

>Can they engage in combat (kill them), or is that murder?

Civilians cannot kill them except, one presumes, in immediate self
defence ... that *is*, indeed, murder (or manslaughter) ... only
combatants (which are defined in some detail in Hague IV (1907) have
the privilege of killing people without legal repercussions under most
circumstances),

>In case of capture (making him a regular POW):

>Can civilians capture a member of enemy armed forces in case of war?

Anyone can.

"Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile Government, but not
of the *individuals* or corps who capture them."

And, indeed, this makes it clear why the government of the misbehaving
civilian *should* try them for murder or mistreatment ... they are
committing a crime against the power of said government, in the face
of an international treaty it has signed in (one presumes) good faith.

All governments *should* be pissed off at that!

Phil

Author, Space Opera (FGU); RBB #1 (FASA); Road to Armageddon;
Farm, Forge and Steam; Orbis Mundi; Displaced (PGD)
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Email: aspqrz@pacific.net.au