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The War Effort of New Zealand

5—Breaches of the Laws of War

5—Breaches of the Laws of War.

The Conference set up in January a Commission to inquire into the responsibility for the war, and the enforcement of penalties for breaches of the laws of war and humanity. It consisted of fifteen members, and the British representatives were the Rt. Hon. Sir Gordon Hewart, K.C. (Attorney-General) or Sir Ernest Pollock (Solicitor-General) and the Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey, PC. (Prime Minister of New Zealand). The Hon. Robert Lansing, the principal representative of the United States of America, was appointed President of the Commission. The work covered so wide a field that it was found necessary to appoint three Sub-Commissions. The first of these was the Sub-Commission on Facts. It selected Mr. Massey as chairman, and, later, appointed him chairman of the Drafting Committee. The Commission's indictment of the enemy powers has no parallel in history, and "constitutes the most striking list of crimes that has ever been drawn up to the eternal shame of those who committed them." The catalogue of enemy crimes should be included in every Allied history of the great war in order to convince future generations of the immense heritage of freedom gained for them by the Allied armies and navies.

The catalogue (which was not regarded by the Sub-Commission on Facts as complete and exhaustive) is as follows:—

(1)Murders and massacres; systematic terrorism.
(2)Putting hostages to death.
(3)Torture of civilians,
(4)Deliberate starvation of civilians.
(5)Rape.
(6)Abduction of girls and women for the purpose of enforced prostitution.page 209
(7)Deportation of civilians.
(8)Internment of civilians under inhumane conditions.
(9)Forced labour of civilians in connection with the military operations of the enemy, and otherwise.
(10)Usurpation of sovereignty during military occupation.
(11)Compulsory enlistment of soldiers among the inhabitants of occupied territory.
(12)Attempts to denationalise the inhabitants of occupied territory.
(13)Pillage.
(14)Confiscation of property.
(15)Exaction of illegitimate or of exorbitant contributions and requisitions.
(16)Debasement of the currency, and issue of spurious currency.
(17)Imposition of collective penalties.
(18)Wanton devastation and destruction of property.
(19)Deliberate bombardment of undefended places.
(20)Wanton destruction of religious, charitable, educational, and historic buildings and monuments.
(21)Destruction of merchant ships and passenger vessels without visit or warning and without provision for the safety of passengers or crew.
(22)Destruction of fishing boats and of relief ships.
(23)Deliberate bombardment of hospitals.
(24)Attack on and destruction of hospital ships.
(25)Breach of other rules relating to the Red Cross.
(26)Use of deleterious and asphyxiating gases.
(27)Use of explosive or expanding bullets, and other inhumane appliances.
(28)Directions to give no quarter.
(29)Ill-treatment of wounded and prisoners of war.
(30)Employment of prisoners of war on unauthorised works.
(31)Misuse of flags of truce.
(32)Boisoning of wells.

Many of the crimes investigated, and "so vouched for that they admit of no doubt, and cry for justice," were so revolting as to the obscenities practised on men and women by page 210enemy officials, officers, and soldiers, that the Sub-Commission on Facts decided, in the interests of common decency, not to publish the details. The Sub-Commission, however, attached to its comprehensive report an annexure containing particulars of the offences committed by the enemy powers during the war, the various localities and dates, the responsible authors, and references to the sources of facts. It was decided not to publish (for obvious reasons) the names of the responsible authors and perpetrators of the offences enumerated. The most appalling crimes were committed in Belgium, Poland, Serbia, Greece, and in several Turkish provinces, and particularly the Armenian vilayets. In Belgium during the last ten days of August, 1914, German troops, with the consent of their general, massacred over one thousand inhabitants of Tamines, Ardennes (which was deliberately burnt down), Dinant, and Liege. In the Armenian vilayets at different periods during the years of the war, more than two hundred thousand victims were assassinated, burned alive, or drowned in the Lake of Van, the Euphrates, and the Black Sea. The Commission had the names of more than fifty officials who were directly responsible for these wholesale massacres. In Serbia, executions were carried out en masse, gallows having been set up in several places, like flagstaffs for a gala. The Bulgarians favoured degrading tortures of their victims. In every conceivable form—and, from the point of view of civilised communities, in many inconceivable forms—Germany and her allies "piled outrage upon outrage …. and were guilty of the most cruel practices which primitive barbarism, aided by all the resources of modern science, could devise for the execution of a system of terrorism, carefully planned and carried out to the end."

The conclusions of the Commission and its recommendations were briefly these:—"The war was premeditated by the Central Powers together with their allies, Turkey and Bulgaria, and was the result of acts deliberately committed to make it unavoidable. Germany, in agreement with Austria-Hungary, deliberately worked to defeat all the many conciliatory proposals made by the Entente Powers and their page 211repeated efforts to avoid war. The neutrality of Belgium, guaranteed by the Treaty of the 19th April, 1839, and that of Luxemburg, guaranteed by the Treaty of the 11th May, 1867, were deliberately violated by Germany and Austria-Hungary. The war was carried on by the Central Empires and their allies by barbarous or illegitimate methods in violation of the established laws and customs of war and the elementary laws of humanity. All persons belonging to enemy countries, without distinction of rank, including Chiefs of States, who have been guilty of offences against the laws and customs of war and the elementary laws of humanity, are liable to criminal prosecution."

The decision of the Council of the Allied and Associated Powers in respect of responsibilities for the war and the enforcement of penalties for breaches of the laws and customs of war was as follows:—"The Allied and Associated Powers publicly arraign William II. of Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties. The Ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland, and a special tribunal set up composed of one judge from each of the five Great Powers, with full guarantees of the right of defence. It is to be guided 'by the highest motives of international policy with a view of vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the validity of international morality,' and will fix the punishment it feels should be imposed."

The Council also decided that other German criminals who violated the laws of war would have to be surrendered by their Government, and tried before military tribunals in Allied countries, the accused to have the right to name his own counsel.