I came across a reference to this bureau some time ago, and discovered
that the bureau was set up under the Geneva Convention. It followed a
precedent estabished in WW One. There is a mechanism whereby enemy
forces can complan that their opponents are not "playing the game",
and can make a compant. This is done through a neutral power , and a
good example of this is the complaint made in WW One against Germany
regarding the use of the "saw-back" bayonet by Imperial German trops.
The Bayonet was sunsequently withdrawn from use. In the Second EWorld
War, complaints usually referred to atrocities being committed against
enemy combatants or prisoners of war. I hope that this post does not
result in a gegeral argument about German and/or Russian behaviour in
the war - I am simply makig the point that the bureau existed, and
investigated allegations of war crimes committed by and against
members of the German armed forces.
There is an interesting book - see the following internet references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wehrmacht_War_Crimes_Bureau,_1939-1945
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7362616
Finally, was it not Churchill who said that if you have to kill a man,
it costs nothing to be polite?
On Thu, 15 Jan 2015 13:33:20 -0500, Erinnerungen <ugh@bingbam.com>
wrote:
--- snip ---
>The photos showing atrocities against German troops come from an
>organization called the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau which, believe it
>or not, was an actual military/judicial tribunal set up in 1939 by the
>German High Command.
>That this organization even existed was one of the surprising facts we
>dug up.
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