The Malmedy Massacre and the Wereth Eleven

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Such is war unfortunately.

Yes it is. Taking prisoners is always a risky business in a fighting zone, you do not know what they are up to, you have to guard them day and night, you cannot afford to lose some of your men guiding prisoners back behind the frontier, to POW camps. So it happens they get killed "because of the circumstances", now and then.

Said b.t.w. an english colonel, about WW2. What happened in Malmedy was not an isolated war crime, nor was it limited to german troops. I also heard from him such things happened in Burma, a bit later.

If you take partisan action into consideration i wonder what our western troops would do nowadays, e.g. in Afghanistan.

Another thing is what they cynically call "collateral damage", straight from some hundred years before christ, to the modern drone "wars". "Freedom", oh well.

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Yes it is. Taking prisoners is always a risky business in a fighting zone, you do not know what they are up to, you have to guard them day and night, you cannot afford to lose some of your men guiding prisoners back behind the frontier, to POW camps. So it happens they get killed "because of the circumstances", now and then.

yes, reminds me of the Compton incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscari_massacre

What is not mentioned in the article is that Compton was later killed on nov. 8th by Germans who were pretending to surrender.

Killing prisoners in the "heat of the action" or immediately afterwards is easier to understand.

more modern example:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021703382.html

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...y_securit.html

what would any of us do if in Don Ayala's position?

However, these types of cold blooded massacres cannot really be excused:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacr...Acqui_Division