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War Crimes: War Crimes/Atrocities Are More Prevalent in the Modern Era (1 940-Present) Than in Prior Periods of History

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War Crimes: War Crimes/Atrocities Are More Prevalent in the Modern Era (1 940-Present) Than in Prior Periods of History War Crimes: War Crimes/Atrocities are More Prevalent in the Modern Era (1 940-Present) than in Prior Periods of History by SGMDunn MSG Harris MSGRivera MSG Smith Haines Research Paper USASMA, Class #55, L-Ol 11 War Crimes: W ar Crimes/Atrocities are More Prevalent in the Modern Era (1940-Present) than in Prior Periods ofHistory I. Introduction II. War Crimes of World War II A. The European Theatre 1. German War Crimes 2. Nazi Concentration Camps B. The South Pacific Theatre ill. War Crimes of the Vietnam Era A. MyLai B. Prisoner of War Camps IV. War Crimes After the Vietnam Era A. Operation Desert Storm B. Operation Iraqi Freedom C. Possible US War Crimes V. Counter Argument (War Crimes prior to 1940) A. The Sino-Japanese War 1. The Battle of Shanghai 2. The Nanjing Massacre B. The Southwestern United States 1. The Massacre ofGoliath 2. TheAlamo VI. Closing 2 War crimes/atrocities are more prevalent in the modem era (1940-present) than in prior periods of history. War by its very nature is a murderous affair, and is often an extremely dirty and cold-blooded activity. After all, the goal of war is to kill the enemy, and in doing so, to force ones will upon another. However, whenever an individual, or a country goes too far and commits acts so inhumane, indefensible, and outside the rules ofwar, these acts are considered war crimes. But what is actually considered a war crime? According to the Geneva Convention: Control Council Law No. 10, a war crime is defined as "atrocities or offences against persons or property constituting violations ofthe laws or customs of war, including, but not limited to murder, ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or for any other purpose, ofcivilian population from occupied territory, murder or ill treatment ofprisoners ofwar or persons on the seas, killing ofhostages, plunder ofpublic or private property, wanton destruction ofcities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity" (Friedman 908). The belief that there are rules that apply to war is actually an age-old idea that dates back prior to 2,000 B.C. Initially, the rules for war were a series of primarily unwritten traditions and agreements based upon the principles and social norms ofboth that particular period and the participants. The need for specific written rules for war did not take hold in the US until the 1860s. President Lincoln and the War Department recognized the need for a set offormal written rules due to events encountered during the Civil War, among them the South's routine use of guerilla tactics, and their poor treatment ofNorthern prisoners ofwar. The War Department enlisted Francis Lieber, an immigrant Prussian Napoleonic war veteran turned law professor, working at Columbia University for the task. He created 159 articles to establish 3 General Order No. 100: Instructions for the Government ofArmies ofthe United States in the Field. Europe followed with several Hague and Geneva Conventions convened over a period of roughly 80 years. The conventions initially used General Order No. 100 as a basis for their first articles. The majority of what we know today as the Geneva Conventions came out ofthe Fourth Hague Convention of 1907. However, formal meetings continued between countries delegates as new weapons and munitions were developed, or new situations arose (Taylor 366-367). During World War II the Germans committed numerous, and often horrendous war crimes against both their own citizens and citizens ofneighboring countries alike. At the end ofthe war these men were held accountable for their part in the rampant commission ofthese crimes at the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-1949. Over 3,500 people were tried in a world court, in an open forum. The majority of charges against them were for the mistreatment ofprisoners, or of civilians, in both Germany and the occupied countries. As a result, some 250-death sentences were handed down and carried out (Taylor 370). Without a doubt the largest crime against humanity, classified as a war crime, was conducted during this period. It was the genocide ofthe Jewish people ofEurope at the hands ofGerman forces. In the name ofGerman supremacy, Hitler and his followers ordered the extermination of over 6 million Jews. This murderous act actually began prior to World War II, and continued all the way up until Victory over Europe was achieved in June of 1945. It was carried out in the streets ofGermany, its neighboring countries, and the numerous concentration camps scattered throughout Eastern Europe where over 1,000 Jews were murdered each day. They were killed by countless methods: from individual and mass shootings, beatings, to large-scale asphyxiation in concentration camp gas chambers. Many also died of starvation and sickness brought about by the primitive and squalid living conditions found in the camps. Countless others were used as 4 human guinea pigs in inhumane scientific experiments perfonned at the hands of Gennan doctors. Jewish women were raped, or raped and then murdered by Gennan soldiers on a large scale. On the Pacific front it was just as grim, and due to the nature ofsome ofthe crimes quite possibly even more gruesome. From the end ofthe war through 1948, more than 2,800 Japanese were tried for their part in the commission ofwar crimes (Taylor 370). Some acts were so horrendous that the leaders ofthe conquering nations purposely kept them quiet at the end ofthe war, so as not to inflame world outrage against the Japanese. These crimes included the well-documented abuse and murders ofboth enemy paws and civilian non-combatants alike by Japanese soldiers. One common war crime was the murder of POWs, both at camps, and during forced foot marches. Throughout the war the Japanese routinely moved enemy paws by foot from one camp to another. When paws fell out, and either refused to move, or were unable to move, he or she was murdered on the spot, nonnally at the point ofa bayonet (Tanaka 45-59). Due to the poor accounting ofprisoners, an exact number ofpaws lost in the forced marches will never be reached. However, probably the most outrageous war crime committed in the South Pacific theatre was the incidence ofwidespread cannibalism practiced by many Japanese soldiers. There are numerous accounts ofJapanese soldiers eating their own dead, enemy paws, and Fonnosan workers brought in as construction workers for projects on the islands. Eating the dead to stay alive, due to the lack offood might be understood in a survival situation. However, some Japanese soldiers routinely kept individuals alive for days while they ate them, literally piece by piece (Tanaka 112-125). 5 The Japanese military also forced many women (both captured and brought in from China) into prostitution: the women, known as "comfort women" were forced to work in Japanese rest and recreation areas. As unsettling as this is, the incidence ofrape by the Japanese could not compare to the large-scale rape practiced by the Germans in Europe against Jewish women. All in all from 1945-1950, over 10,000 individuals stood trial for their part in the commission ofwar crimes committed during World War II. The trials continue to this day in Germany, although they have understandably slowed down considerably. This is primarily due to the fact that those involved (from both sides) that are still alive are few, and are becoming fewer everyday. Another case in point is the period from the early 1960s to mid-1970s, during the Vietnam "Police Action". The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, and US soldiers all committed numerous war crimes/atrocities, both against each other, and the Vietnamese civilian populace during this roughly twelve-year period. One ofthe most infamous ofthese acts was the My Lai massacre, which took place in March of 1968, where a US Army unit killed almost everyone in a small village in cold blood. The frustration offacing enemy ambushes and booby traps on a daily basis caused many ofthe soldiers in the unit to turn their weapons on the unarmed old men, women, and children ofthe village. According to eyewitness accounts, members ofa platoon of Charlie Company, commanded by Lieutenant William Calley, which was part ofTask Force Barker, ofthe 11 th Infantry Brigade, killed approximately 500 villagers without cause. The US soldiers executed many villagers on the spot all throughout the village, and at one point lined the remaining villagers up both in a road and in the ditch alongside the road, and shot them at point blank range. They also pillaged the village and burned down the houses. Even more gruesome were 6 their actions hours later, when the wounded villagers' moans and screams were heard coming from the ditch, several soldiers went back to the area and killed them. These acts were in complete disregard ofboth basic human rights, and the established Law of War and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. These acts were not even directed towards the enemy. These were innocent civilians who were caught up in the war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the heat ofbattle. Many years later, three soldiers, Hugh C. Thompson Jr., Lawrence Colburn, and Glenn U. Andreotta received the Soldiers Medal for their actions at My Lai. The helicopter crew put their helicopter in between the firing soldiers and the innocent civilians in order to stop the massacre, and then airlifted several of the rescued villagers to a US field hospital. The three stated that the orders received by Charlie Company from their higher were vague at best. LT Calley understood his orders were to kill everyone in the village and its vicinity.
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