British war crimes

British war crimes are acts by the armed forces of the United Kingdom which have violated the laws and
customs of war since the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Such acts have included the summary
executions of prisoners of war and unarmed shipwreck survivors, the use of excessive force during the
interrogation of POWs and enemy combatants, and the use of violence against civilian non-combatants and
their property.

Contents
Definition
South Africa
Counterinsurgency
Destruction of towns
Concentration camps
The Pietersburg War Crimes Trials
Reaction in Britain
World War I
Chemical weapons usage
German investigation of British war crimes
World War II
Attack on neutral power
Crimes against enemy combatants and civilians
War crimes at sea
Malaya
Kenya
Treatment of detainees
Chuka massacre
Hola massacre
War on Terror
Afghanistan War
See also
Notes
References
Sources

Definition
War crimes are defined as acts which violate the laws and customs of war (established by the Hague
Conventions of 1899 and 1907), or acts that are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Additional
Protocol I and Additional Protocol II.[1] The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 extends the protection of
civilians and prisoners of war during military occupation, even in the case where there is no armed resistance,
for the period of one year after the end of hostilities, although the occupying power should be bound to several
provisions of the convention as long as "such Power exercises the functions of government in such
territory."[2][3]

The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict published by the UK Ministry of Defence[4] uses the 1945
definition from the Nuremberg Charter, which defines a war crime as "Violations of the laws or customs of
war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labour or
for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of
war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of
cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity."[1] The manual also notes that
"violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions not amounting to 'grave breaches' are also war crimes."

The 2004 Laws of Armed Combat Manual says

Serious violations of the law of armed conflict, other than those listed as grave breaches in the
[1949 Geneva] Conventions or [the 1977 Additional Protocol I], remain war crimes and
punishable as such. A distinction must be drawn between crimes established by treaty or
convention and crimes under customary international law. Treaty crimes only bind parties to the
treaty in question, whereas customary international law is binding on all states. Many treaty
crimes are merely codifications of customary law and to that extent binding on all states, even
those that are not parties.

The 2004 publication also notes that "A person is normally only guilty of a war crime if he commits it with
intent and knowledge."[5]

South Africa

Counterinsurgency

As part of the strategy to defeat the guerrilla warfare of the Boer Commandos, farms were destroyed to prevent
the Boers from resupplying from a home base. This included the systematic destruction of crops and
slaughtering of livestock,[6] the burning down of homesteads, poisoning of wells and salting of fields.

Destruction of towns

Ventersburg

On 26 October 1900, the British justice of the peace at Ventersburg (in the former Orange Free State), William
Williams, relayed a secret message to Field Marshal Lord Frederick Roberts alleging that Boer Commandos
were concentrating in the village. Roberts decreed that "an example should be made of Ventersburg".[7] On 28
October, Roberts issued orders to General Bruce Hamilton that all houses belonging to absent males were to
be burned down. After burning down the village and its Dutch Reformed church, Hamilton posted a bulletin
stating: "The town of Ventersburg has been cleansed of supplies and partly burnt, and all the farms in the
vicinity destroyed, on account of the frequent attacks on the railway lines in the neighborhood. The Boer
women and children who are left behind should apply to the Boer Commandants for food, who will supply
them unless they wish to see them starve. No supplies will be sent from the railway to the town."[8]

On 1 November 1900, Major Edward Pine-Coffin wrote in his diary that the remaining civilian population of
Ventersburg had been transported to concentration camps. He admitted to having families divided, with male
and female Afrikaners sent to different locations "so that after the war they will have some difficulty in getting
together."[8] The destruction of Ventersburg was denounced in the House of Commons by Liberal MP David
Lloyd George, who said Hamilton "is a brute and a disgrace to the uniform he wears."[9]

Louis Trichardt

On 9 May 1901, Cols. Johan William Colenbrander and H.L. Grenfell rode into Louis Trichardt ahead of a
mixed force of about 600 men. In addition to Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, the force included elements of the
Pietersburg Light Horse, the Wiltshire Regiment, the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC), a large force of Black
South African" Irregulars", and six members of the War Office's Intelligence Department commanded by
Captain Alfred James Taylor.[10]

Even though Louis Trichardt was "reeling from the annual effects of malaria", British and Commonwealth
servicemen sacked the town and arrested an estimated 90 male residents suspected of links to the
Zoutpansberg Commando.[11]

On 11 May 1901, the remaining residents of Louis Trichardt, including both the Afrikaner and "Cape
Coloured" populations, were ordered to evacuate the town. According to local resident E.R. Smith, British and
Commonwealth servicemen helped themselves to whatever "curios" they wanted and allowed the civilian
population only a short time to gather their things. The town of Louis Trichardt was then burned down by
Native South African "Irregulars" under the supervision of Captain Taylor. The civilian population was force
marched between 11 and 18 May to the British concentration camp at Pietersburg.[12]

According to South African historian Charles Leach, Captain Taylor "emphatically told" the local Venda and
Sotho communities "to help themselves to the land and whatever else they wanted as the Boers would not be
returning after the war."[13]

Concentration camps

As a further strategy, General Lord Kitchener ordered the creation of

concentration camps – 45 for Afrikaners and 64 for Black Africans.

According to historian Thomas Pakenham, "In practice, the farms of

Boer collaborators got burnt too – burnt by mistake by Tommies or in
reprisal by the commandos. So Kitchener added a new twist to farm-
burning. He decided that his soldiers should not only strip the farms of
stock, but should take the families, too. Women and children would
be concentrated in 'camps of refuge' along the railway line. In fact, Lizzie van Zyl, visited by Emily
these camps consisted of two kinds of civilians: genuine refugees – Hobhouse in a British concentration
that is, the families of Boers who were helping the British, or at least camp.
keeping their oath of neutrality – and internees, the families of men
who were still out on commando. The difference was crucial, for at
first there were two different scales of rations: little enough in practice for the refugees, and a recklessly low
scale for the internees."[14]
Of the 107,000 people interned in the camps, 27,927 Boer women
and children died[15] as well as more than 14,000 Black Africans.[16]

The Pietersburg War Crimes Trials

The Boer War also saw the first war crimes prosecutions in British The National Women's Monument at
military history. They centered around the Bushveldt Carbineers Bloemfontein, South Africa,
(BVC), a British Army irregular regiment of mounted rifles active in memorialises those who died in
the Northern Transvaal. Originally raised in February 1901, the BVC British concentration camps.
was composed mainly of British and Commonwealth servicemen with
a generous admixture of defectors from the Boer Commandos.[17]
After more than a century, the ensuing courts martial remain controversial.

The Letter

On 4 October 1901, a letter signed by 15 members of the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) garrison at Fort
Edward was secretly dispatched to Col. F.H. Hall, the British Army Officer Commanding at Pietersburg.
Written by BVC Trooper Robert Mitchell Cochrane, a former Justice of the Peace from Western
Australia,[18][19] the letter accused members of the Fort Edward garrison of six "disgraceful incidents":

1. The shooting of six surrendered Afrikaner men and boys and the theft of their money and livestock at
Valdezia on 2 July 1901. The orders had been given by Captains Alfred Taylor and James Huntley Robertson,
and relayed by Sgt. Maj. K.C.B. Morrison to Sgt. D.C. Oldham. The actual killing was alleged to have been
carried out by Sgt. Oldham and BVC Troopers Eden, Arnold, Brown, Heath, and Dale.[20]

2. The shooting of BVC Trooper B.J. van Buuren by BVC Lt. Peter Handcock on 4 July 1901. Trooper van
Buuren, an Afrikaner, had "disapproved" of the killings at Valdezia, and had informed the victims' wives and
children, who were imprisoned at Fort Edward, of what had happened.[21]

3. The revenge killing of Floris Visser, a wounded prisoner of war, near the Koedoes River on 11 August
1901. Visser had been captured by a BVC patrol let by Lieut. Harry Morant two days before his death. After
Visser had been exhaustively interrogated and conveyed for 15 miles by the patrol, Lt. Morant had ordered his
men to form a firing squad and shoot him. The squad consisted of BVC Troopers A.J. Petrie, J.J. Gill, Wild,
and T.J. Botha. A coup de grâce was delivered by BVC Lt. Harry Picton. The slaying of Floris Visser was in
retaliation for the combat death of Morant's close friend, BVC Captain Percy Frederik Hunt, at Duivelskloof
on 6 August 1901.[22]

4. The shooting, ordered by Capt. Taylor and Lt. Morant, of four surrendered Afrikaners and four Dutch
schoolteachers, who had been captured at the Elim Hospital in Valdezia, on the morning of 23 August 1901.
The firing squad consisted of BVC Lt. George Witton, Sgt. D.C. Oldham, and Troopers J.T. Arnold, Edward
Brown, T. Dale, and A. Heath. Although Trooper Cochrane's letter made no mention of the fact, three Native
South African witnesses were also shot dead.[23]

The ambush and fatal shooting of the Reverend Carl August Daniel Heese of the Berlin Missionary Society
near Bandolierkop on the afternoon of 23 August 1901. Rev. Heese had spiritually counseled the Dutch and
Afrikaner victims that morning and had angrily protested to Lt. Morant at Fort Edward upon learning of their
deaths. Trooper Cochrane alleged that the killer of Rev. Heese was BVC Lt. Peter Handcock. Although
Cochrane made no mention of the fact, Rev. Heese's driver, a member of the Southern Ndebele people, was
also killed.[24]
5. The orders, given by BVC Lt. Charles H.G. Hannam, to open fire on a wagon train containing Afrikaner
women and children who were coming in to surrender at Fort Edward, on 5 September 1901. The ensuing
gunfire led to the deaths of two boys, aged 5- and 13-years, and the wounding of a 9-year-old girl.[25]

6. The shooting of Roelf van Staden and his sons Roelf and Christiaan, near Fort Edward on 7 September
1901. All were coming in to surrender in the hope of gaining medical treatment for teenaged Christiaan, who
was suffering from recurring bouts of fever. Instead, they were met at the Sweetwaters Farm near Fort Edward
by a party consisting of Lts. Morant and Handcock, joined by BVC Sgt. Maj. Hammet, Corp. MacMahon,
and Troopers Hodds, Botha, and Thompson. Roelf van Staden and both his sons were then shot, allegedly
after being forced to dig their own graves.[26]

The letter then accused the Field Commander of the BVC, Major Robert William Lenehan, of being "privy to
these misdeamenours. It is for this reason that we have taken the liberty of addressing this communication
direct to you." After listing numerous civilian witnesses who could confirm their allegations, Trooper
Cochrane concluded, "Sir, many of us are Australians who have fought throughout nearly the whole war
while others are Africaners who have fought from Colenso till now. We cannot return home with the stigma of
these crimes attached to our names. Therefore we humbly pray that a full and exhaustive inquiry be made by
Imperial officers in order that the truth be elicited and justice done. Also we beg that all witnesses may be kept
in camp at Pietersburg till the inquiry is finished. So deeply do we deplore the opprobrium which must be
inseparably attached to these crimes that scarcely a man once his time is up can be prevailed to re-enlist in this
corps. Trusting for the credit of thinking you will grant the inquiry we seek."[27]

Arrests

In response to the letter written by Trooper Cochrane, Col. Hall summoned all Fort Edward officers and non-
commissioned officers to Pietersburg on 21 October 1901. All were met by a party of mounted infantry five
miles outside Pietersburg on the morning of 23 October 1901 and "brought into town like criminals". Lt.
Morant was arrested after returning from leave in Pretoria, where he had gone to settle the affairs of his
deceased friend Captain Hunt.[28]

Indictments

Although the trial transcripts, like almost all others dating from between 1850 and 1914, were later destroyed
by the Civil Service,[29] it is known that a Court of Inquiry, the British military's equivalent to a grand jury,
was convened on 16 October 1901. The President of the Court was Col. H.M. Carter, who was assisted by
Captain E. Evans and Major Wilfred N. Bolton, the Provost Marshal of Pietersburg. The first session of the
Court took place on 6 November 1901 and continued for four weeks. Deliberations continued for a further
two weeks,[30] at which time it became clear that the indictments would be as follows:

1. In what became known as "The Six Boers Case", Captains Robertson and Taylor, as well as Sgt. Maj.
Morrison, were charged with committing the offense of murder while on active service.[31]

2. In relation to what was dubbed "The Van Buuren Incident", Maj. Lenahan was charged with, "When on
active service by culpable neglect failing to make a report which it was his duty to make."[32]

3. In relation to "The Visser Incident", Lts. Morant, Handcock, Witton, and Picton were charged with "While
on active service committing the offense of murder".[33]

4. In relation to what was incorrectly dubbed "The Eight Boers Case", Lieuts. Morant, Handcock, and Witton
were charged with, "While on active service committing the offense of murder".[34]
In relation to the slaying of Rev Heese, Lts. Morant and Handcock were charged with, "While on active
service committing the offense of murder".

5. No charges were filed for the three children who had been shot by the Bushveldt Carbineers near Fort
Edward.[35]

6. In relation to what became known as "The Three Boers Case", Lts. Morant and Handcock were charged
with, "While on active service committing the offense of murder".[34]

Courts Martial

Following the indictments, Maj. R. Whigham and Col. James St. Clair ordered Bolton to appear for the
prosecution, as he was considered less expensive than hiring a barrister.[36] Bolton vainly requested to be
excused, writing, "My knowledge of law is insufficient for so intricate a matter."[37]

The first court martial opened on 16 January 1901, with Lieut.-Col. H.C. Denny presiding over a panel of six
judges. Maj. J.F. Thomas, a Solicitor from Tenterfield, New South Wales, had been retained to defend Maj.
Lenahan. The night before, however, he agreed to represent all six defendants.[30]

The "Visser Incident" was the first case to go to trial. Lt. Morant's former orderly and interpreter, BVC
Trooper Theunis J. Botha, testified that Visser, who had been promised that his life would be spared, was
cooperative during two days of interrogation and that all his information was later found to have been true.
Despite this, Lt. Morant ordered him shot.[38]

In response, Lt. Morant testified that he only followed orders to take no prisoners as relayed to the late Captain
Hunt by Col. Hubert Hamilton. He also alleged that Floris Visser had been captured wearing a British Army
jacket and that Captain Hunt's body had been mutilated.[39] In response, the court moved to Pretoria, where
Col. Hamilton testified that he had "never spoken to Captain Hunt with reference to his duties in the Northern
Transvaal". Though stunned, Maj. Thomas argued that his clients were not guilty because they believed that
they "acted under orders". In response, Maj. Bolton argued that they were "illegal orders" and said, "The right
of killing an armed man exists only so long as he resists; as soon as he submits he is entitled to be treated as a
prisoner of war." The Court ruled in Maj. Bolton's favor.[40] Lt. Morant was found guilty of murder. Lts.
Handcock, Witton, and Picton were convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.[41]

Execution

On 27 February 1902, two British Army Lieutenants — Anglo-Australian Harry Morant and Australian born
Peter Handcock of the Bushveldt Carbineers — were executed by firing squad after being convicted of
murdering eight Afrikaner POWs. This court-martial for war crimes was one of the first such prosecutions in
British military history.

Although Morant left a written confession in his cell, he went on to become a folk hero in modern Australia.
Believed by many Australians to be the victim of a kangaroo court, public appeals have been made for Morant
to be retried or pardoned. His court-martial and death have been the subject of books, a stage play, and an
award-winning Australian New Wave film adaptation by director Bruce Beresford.

Witton was sentenced to penal servitude, and Picton was cashiered.[42][43]

Reaction in Britain
On 1 March 1901,[14] Lloyd George quoted a Reuters report about the lower rations given to the interned
families of Boer Commandos. "It means," declared Lloyd George, "that unless the fathers come in their
children would be half-starved. It means that the remnant of the Boer army who are sacrificing everything for
their idea of independence are to be tortured by the spectacle of their starving children into betraying their
cause."[44] During the same month, Liberal MPs C.P. Scott and John Ellis dubbed them "concentration
camps", after the reconcentrado camps set up by the Spanish during the Cuban War of Independence.[44]

World War I
According to American historian Alfred de Zayas, both sides during the Great War "established, for judicial
and political reasons, special commissions to investigate reported instances of war crimes by enemy
forces."[45] In contrast to their Allied counterparts, German investigators rarely publicised their findings for
propaganda purposes.[46] Furthermore, all except 11 volumes of the German Bureau's World War I archives
were destroyed during the 1945 Allied bombing raids on Berlin and Potsdam.[47]

Chemical weapons usage

The production and use of chemical weapons was strictly prohibited

by the 1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gases and
the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which explicitly
forbade the use of "poison or poisoned weapons" in warfare.[48][49]

Even so, the United Kingdom used a range of poison gases, originally
chlorine and later phosgene, diphosgene and mustard gas. They also
used relatively small amounts of the irritant gases chloromethyl A World War I-era British gas bomb
chloroformate, chloropicrin, bromacetone and ethyl iodoacetate.
Gases were frequently mixed, for example white star was the name
given to a mixture of equal volumes of chlorine and phosgene, the chlorine helping to spread the denser but
more toxic phosgene. Despite the technical developments, chemical weapons suffered from diminishing
effectiveness as the war progressed because of the protective equipment and training which the use
engendered on both sides. By 1918, a quarter of British artillery shells were filled with gas and the United
Kingdom had produced around 25,400 tons of toxic chemicals.

The British Expeditionary Force first used chemical weapons along the Western Front at the Battle of Loos on
25 September 1915 and continued their usage for the remainder of the war. This was done in retaliation for the
use of chlorine by Imperial German Army from April 1915.

Following the Imperial German Army's use of poison gas at Ypres, the commander of II Corps, Lieutenant
General Sir Charles Ferguson, had said of poison gas:

It is a cowardly form of warfare which does not commend itself to me or other English soldiers ...
We cannot win this war unless we kill or incapacitate more of our enemies than they do of us, and
if this can only be done by our copying the enemy in his choice of weapons, we must not refuse
to do so.[50]

Mustard gas was first used effectively in World War I by the German army against British and Canadian
soldiers near Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 and later also against the French Second Army. The name Yperite
comes from its usage by the German army near the town of Ypres. The Allies did not use mustard gas until
November 1917 at Cambrai, France, after the armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard-gas shells. It
took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard gas weapon, with production of the chemicals
centred on Avonmouth Docks.[51][52] (The only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–
Guthrie process). This was used first in September 1918 during the breaking of the Hindenburg Line with the
Hundred Days' Offensive.

SM U-27

According to the Hague Convention of 1907, it is defined as a war

crime to kill unarmed enemy sailors after their ship has been sunk.
Even so, after the sinking of RMS Lusitania by the German
submarine SM U-20 in May 1915, Lieutenant-Commander Godfrey
Herbert, commanding officer of the Q-ship HMS Baralong, was
visited by two officers of the Admiralty's Secret Service branch at the
HMS Baralong Royal Navy's base at Queenstown, Ireland. He was told, "This
Lusitania business is shocking. Unofficially, we are telling you ... take
no prisoners from U-boats."[53] Since April 1915, Herbert had
ordered his subordinates cease calling him "Sir", and to address him only by the pseudonym "Captain William
McBride."[54]

On 19 August 1915, the German submarine U-27 sighted the British freighter Nicosian, 70 nautical miles off
the coast of Queenstown. Unlike the German submarine commanders who had recently sunk the Lusitania
and the S.S. Arabic, the U-27's commanding officer, Kapitänleutnant Bernhard Wegener, decided to obey
international law as codified in the Prize Rules. U-27 surfaced, stopped and boarded the Nicosian, and
checked her cargo manifest.

After finding the Nicosian loaded with war materiel and mules bound for the British Expeditionary Force in
France, Wegener realized that the Nicosian was a legitimate target of war and allowed the Nicosian's Captain
and crew to take to the lifeboats.

As Wegener and his boarding party remained aboard the otherwise empty Nicosian, the Baralong arrived,
flying the neutral American flag as a ruse of war. After steaming into firing range, lowering the American flag,
and raising the British White Ensign in its place, Baralong's crew opened fire and sank the U-27.

Twelve German sailors survived the U-27's sinking: the crews of her two deck guns and the sailors who had
been on the conning tower. They swam to Nicosian and attempted to join the six-man boarding party by
climbing up her hanging lifeboat falls[note 1] and pilot ladder. In response, Herbert ordered his men to open fire
with small arms on the men in the water.[55][56][57][58]

Meanwhile, Nicosian's crew were cheering wildly from the lifeboats. Captain Manning was heard to yell, "If
any of those bastard Huns come up, lads, hit 'em with an oar!"[59]

After a few German survivors managed to climb aboard the Nicosian, Herbert sent Baralong's 12 Royal
Marines, under the command of a Corporal Collins, to board the sinking vessel. As they departed, Herbert
ordered Collins, "Take no prisoners."[60] The German sailors were discovered in the engine room and shot on
sight. According to Sub-Lieutenant Gordon Steele: "Wegener ran to a cabin on the upper deck – I later found
out it was Manning's bathroom. The marines broke down the door with the butts of their rifles, but Wegener
squeezed through a scuttle and dropped into the sea. He still had his life-jacket on and put up his arms in
surrender. Corporal Collins, however, took aim and shot him through the head."[61] Collins later recalled that,
after Wegener's murder, Herbert threw a revolver in the German captain's face and screamed, "What about the
Lusitania, you bastard!"[61]
In Herbert's report to the Admiralty, he alleged the German survivors were trying to board and scuttle the
Nicosian, so he ordered the Royal Marines on his ship to kill the survivors. The Admiralty, upon receiving the
report, vainly ordered that the incident be kept secret.

After the Nicosian's crew arrived at Liverpool, however, the American members of the crew gave sworn
testimony to the United States Consul about the massacre of U-27's crew. After their return to the United
States, they repeated their testimony to American newspapers and before a notary public at the Imperial
German Consulate in New Orleans. As a result, the US State Department forwarded a formal protest by the
German Empire to the British Foreign Office.[62]

The memorandum demanded that "Captain William McBride" and the crew of HMS Baralong be court-
martialed and threatened to "take the serious decision of retribution" if the massacre of U-27's crew went
unprosecuted.[63]

Rather than admit that Lt.-Comm. Herbert only followed orders, the
Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, replied through the U.S. State
Department in a textbook example of diplomatic effrontery. He wrote,
"His Majesty's Government do not think it necessary to make any
reply to the suggestion that the British navy has been guilty of
inhumanity, according to the latest figures available, the number of
German sailors rescued from drowning, often in circumstances of
great difficulty and peril, amounts to 1,150. The German navy can
show no such record – perhaps through want of opportunity."[64]

Sir Edward further argued that the alleged massacre of U-27's SMS U-27 with members of her crew
unarmed sailors could be grouped with the Imperial German Navy's
sinking of SS Arabic, their attack on a stranded British submarine in
neutral Dutch territorial waters, and their attack on the steamship Ruel. In conclusion, Grey suggested that all
four incidents be placed before a tribunal chaired by the United States Navy.[65]

The U.S. State Department also vainly protested that the American flag had been used as a false flag, as this
placed American ships in danger. Walter Hines Page, the U.S. Ambassador in London, was telegraphed by
Secretary of State Robert Lansing and ordered to not ask Sir Edward Grey any questions about whether the
American flag had been used in the case. "The fact," he was told, "is established.[64]

The massacre of U-27's unarmed survivors and the Royal Navy's refusal to court-martial the perpetrators led
the Imperial German Navy to cease adhering to the Prize Rules and to adopt unrestricted submarine warfare.
During the Second World War, it was cited by Admiral Karl Dönitz as a reason for the Kriegsmarine to do the
same. A German medal was issued commemorating the victims of the masacre.[66]

Lieutenant Commander Herbert and the crew of HMS Baralong were awarded a bounty of £185 for sinking
U-27.[67]

SM U-41

On 24 September 1915 HMS Baralong also sank U-41, which was in the process of sinking the cargo ship
Urbino. According to the two German survivors, Baralong continued to fly the American flag after opening
fire on U-41 and then rammed the lifeboat carrying the German survivors, causing it to sink.[68] The only
witnesses to the second attack were the German and British sailors present. Oberleutnant zur See Iwan
Crompton, after returning to Germany from a prisoner-of-war camp, reported that Baralong had run down the
lifeboat he was in; he leapt clear and was shortly after taken prisoner. The British crew denied that they had
rammed the lifeboat.[69] Crompton later published an account of U-41's exploits in 1917, U-41: der zweite
Baralong-Fall (Eng: "The second Baralong case").[70]

Baralong's new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Commander A. Wilmot-Smith, and his crew were awarded a
£170 bounty for sinking U-41.[71]

German investigation of British war crimes

According to historian Alfred de Zayas, the Prussian Ministry of War established the "Military Bureau for the
Investigation of Violations of the Laws of War", (German: Militäruntersuchungstelle für Verletzungen des
Kriegsrechts) on 19 October 1914. The Bureau's stated purpose was "to determine violations of the laws and
customs of war which enemy military and civilian persons have committed against the Prussian troops and to
investigate whatever accusations of this nature are made against by the enemy against members of the Prussian
Army."[72]

The Military Bureau "had wide competence to establish facts in a judicial manner and to secure the evidence
necessary for legal analysis of each case. Witnesses were interrogated and their sworn depositions taken by
military judges; lists of suspected war criminals were compiled, which would probably have led to criminal
proceedings if Germany had won the war. The material remained largely secret, though some excerpts from
witness depositions were used in German white books."[72]

By the summer of 1918, the Military Bureau had documented 355 separate incidents of violations of the laws
and customs of war by British servicemen along the Western Front.[73]

The Military Bureau also compiled a thirteen-page "Black List of Englishmen who are guilty of violations of
the laws of war vis a vis members of the German Armed Forces" (German: Schwarze Liste derjenigen
Engländer, die sie während des Krieges gegenüber deutschen Heeresangehörigen völkerechtwidringen
Verhaltens schuldig gemacht haben). The list, which survived the Allied firebombing of Berlin and Potsdam
during the Second World War, contains a total of 39 names, including "Captain McBride" of HMS Baralong.
In contrast, however, nine similar lists survive of alleged French war criminals and consist of 400 names.[74]

Following the Armistice, investigation continued, particularly into crimes against German POWs, and
culminated in a five volume report entitled International Law during the World War (German: Völkerrecht im
Weltkrieg). The report was never translated, however, and had minimal effect outside of Germany.[75]

Also following the Armistice, the victorious Allies pooled their reports, compiled a joint list of alleged German
war crimes, and demanded the extradition of 900 alleged war criminals for trial in France and the United
Kingdom. As this proved unacceptable to the German electorate, the Government of the Weimar Republic
agreed to try them domestically in the Leipzig War Crimes Trials.[76]

According to de Zayas, however, "Generally speaking, the German population took exception to these trials,
especially because the Allies were not similarly bringing their own soldiers to justice."[72]

World War II

Attack on neutral power

Crimes against enemy combatants and civilians

Looting

In violation of the Hague Conventions, British troops conducted small scale looting in Normandy following
their liberation.[77] On 21 April 1945, British soldiers randomly selected and burned two cottages in Seedorf,
Germany, in reprisal against local civilians who had hidden German soldiers in their cellars.[78] Historian Sean
Longden claims that violence against German prisoners and civilians who refused to cooperate with the British
army "could be ignored or made light of".[79]

Torture of POWs

An MI19 prisoner of war facility, known as the "London Cage", was utilised during and immediately after the
war. This facility has been the subject of allegations of torture.[80] The Bad Nenndorf interrogation centre, in
occupied Germany, managed by the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, was the subject of an
official inquiry in 1947. It found that there was "mental and physical torture during the interrogations".[81]

Rapes

Rape took place during the British advance towards Germany.[82] During late 1944, with the army based
across Belgium and the Netherlands, soldiers were billeted with local families or befriended them. In
December 1944, it came to the attention of the authorities that there was a "rise of indecency with children"
where abusers had exploited the "atmosphere of trust" that had been created with local families. While the
army "attempted to investigate allegations, and some men were convicted, it was an issue that received little
publicity."[79] Rape also occurred once British forces had entered Germany.[82] Many rapes involved alcohol,
but there were also instances of premeditated attacks.[79] For example, on a single day in April 1945, three
women in Neustadt am Rübenberge were raped.[82] In the village of Oyle, near Nienburg, two soldiers
attempted to coerce two girls into a nearby wood. When they refused, one was grabbed and dragged into the
woods. When she began to scream, in according to Longden, "one of the soldiers pulled a gun to silence her.
Whether intentionally or in error the gun went off hitting her in the throat and killing her."[79]

Sean Longden highlights that "Some officers failed to treat reports of rape with gravity." He provides the
example of a medic, who had a rape reported to him. In cooperation with the Royal Military Police, they were
able to track down and apprehend the perpetrators who were then identified by the victim. When the two
culprits "were taken before their CO. His response was alarming. He insisted since the men were going on
leave no action could be taken and that his word was final."[79]

Bombing of Dresden

The British, with other allied nations (mainly the U.S.) carried out air
raids against enemy cities during World War II, including the bombing
of the German city of Dresden, which killed around 25,000 people.
While "no agreement, treaty, convention or any other instrument
governing the protection of the civilian population or civilian
property" from aerial attack was adopted before the war,[83] the
Hague Conventions did prohibit the bombardment of undefended
towns. The city, largely untouched by the war had functioning rail
The city centre of Dresden after the
communications to the Eastern front and was an industrial centre.
bombing
Allied forces inquiry concluded that an air attack on Dresden was
militarily justified on the grounds the city was defended.[84]
When asked whether the bombing of Dresden was a war crime, British historian Frederick Taylor replied: "I
really don't know. From a practical point of view, rules of war are something of a grey area. It was pretty
borderline stuff in terms of the extent of the raid and the amount of force used."[85] Historian Donald Bloxham
claims that "the bombing of Dresden on 13–14 February 1945 was a war crime". He further argues that there
was a strong prima facie for trying Winston Churchill among others and that there is theoretical case that he
could have been found guilty. "This should be a sobering thought. If, however it is also a startling one, this is
probably less the result of widespread understanding of the nuance of international law and more because in
the popular mind 'war criminal', like 'paedophile' or 'terrorist', has developed into a moral rather than a legal
categorisation."[86]

The bombing of Dresden has been politicised by Holocaust deniers and pro-Nazi polemicists—most notably
by the British writer David Irving in his book The Destruction of Dresden—in an attempt to establish a moral
equivalence between the war crimes committed by the Nazi government and the killing of German civilians by
Allied bombing raids.[87]

War crimes at sea

Unrestricted submarine warfare

On 4 May 1940, in response to Germany's intensive unrestricted submarine warfare, during the Battle of the
Atlantic and its invasion of Denmark and Norway, the Royal Navy conducted its own unrestricted submarine
campaign. The Admiralty announced that all vessels in the Skagerrak, were to be sunk on sight without
warning. This was contrary to the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty.[88][89]

Shootings of shipwreck survivors

According to Alfred de Zayas, there are numerous documented cases of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force
deliberately firing upon shipwreck survivors.[90]

In July 1941, the submarine HMS Torbay, under Lieutenant Commander Anthony Miers, was based in the
Mediterranean where it sank several German ships. On two occasions, once off the coast of Alexandria,
Egypt, and the other off the coast of Crete, the crew fired upon shipwrecked German sailors and troops. Miers
made no attempt to hide his actions, and reported them in his official logs. He received a strongly worded
reprimand from his superiors following the first incident. Mier's actions violated the Hague Convention of
1907, which banned the killing of shipwreck survivors under any circumstances.[91][92]

Attacks against non-combatant ships

On 10 September 1942, the Italian hospital ship Arno was torpedoed and sunk by RAF torpedo bombers
north-east of Ras el Tin, near Tobruk. The British claimed that a decoded German radio message intimated that
the vessel was carrying supplies to the Axis troops.[93] Arno was the third Italian hospital ship sunk by British
aircraft since the loss of the Po in the Adriatic Sea to aerial torpedoes on 14 March 1941 and the bombing of
the California off Syracuse on 11 August 1942.

On 18 November 1944, the German hospital ship Tübingen was sunk by two Beaufighter bombers off Pola, in
the Adriatic Sea. The vessel had paid a brief visit to the allied-controlled port of Bari to pick up German
wounded under the auspices of the Red Cross; despite the calm sea and the good weather that allowed a clear
identification of the ship's Red Cross markings, it was attacked with rockets nine times. Six crewmembers
were killed.[94] American author Alfred M. de Zayas identifies the sinking of Tübingen and other German
hospital ships as war crimes.[95]
Malaya
On 12 December 1948, during the Malayan Emergency, the Batang Kali massacre took place which involved
the killing of 24 villagers. Six of the eight British soldiers involved were interviewed under caution by
detectives. They corroborated accounts that the villagers were unarmed, were not insurgents nor trying to
escape, and had been unlawfully killed on the order of the two sergeants in command. The sergeants denied
the allegations. The Government's position was that if anyone is to be held responsible, it should be the Sultan
of Selangor.[96][97][98][99]

As part of the Briggs' Plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs, 500,000 people (roughly ten percent
of Malaya's population) were eventually removed from the land, had tens of thousands of their homes
destroyed, and were interned in 450 guarded fortified camps called "New Villages". The intent of this measure
was to inflict collective punishments on villages where people were deemed to be aiding the insurgents and to
isolate the population from contact with insurgents. The British also tried to win the hearts of the internees by
providing them with education and health services as well as piped water and electricity within the villages.
This practice was prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and customary international law which stated that the
destruction of property must not happen unless rendered absolutely necessary by military
operations.[100][101][102]

Kenya

Treatment of detainees

During an eight-year conflict in Kenya from 1952 to 1960 in which Britain sought to restore order many
Kikuyu were relocated. According to David Anderson, the British hanged over 1,090 suspected rebels. It was
found out that over half of them executed were not rebels at all. Thousands more were killed by British
soldiers, who claimed they had "failed to halt" when challenged.[103][104][105] Among the detainees who
suffered severe mistreatment was Hussein Onyango Obama, the grandfather of former U.S. President Barack
Obama. According to his widow, British soldiers forced pins into his fingernails and buttocks and squeezed his
testicles between metal rods and two others were castrated.[106]

In June 1957, Eric Griffith-Jones, the attorney general of the British administration in Kenya, wrote to the
governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, detailing the way the regime of abuse at the colony's detention camps was being
subtly altered. He said that the mistreatment of the detainees is "distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi
Germany or Communist Russia". Despite this, he said that in order for abuse to remain legal, Mau Mau
suspects must be beaten mainly on their upper body, "vulnerable parts of the body should not be struck,
particularly the spleen, liver or kidneys", and it was important that "those who administer violence ... should
remain collected, balanced and dispassionate". He also reminded the governor that "If we are going to sin," he
wrote, "we must sin quietly."[106][107]

Chuka massacre

The Chuka massacre, which happened in Chuka, Kenya, was perpetrated by members of the King's African
Rifles B Company in June 1953 with 20 unarmed people killed during the Mau Mau uprising. Members of the
5th KAR B Company entered the Chuka area on 13 June 1953, to flush out rebels suspected of hiding in the
nearby forests. Over the next few days, the regiment had captured and executed 20 people suspected of being
Mau Mau fighters for unknown reasons. It is found out that most of the people executed were actually
belonged to the Kikuyu Home Guard – a loyalist militia recruited by the British to fight a guerrilla enemy.
Hola massacre

The Hola massacre was an incident at a detention camp in Hola, Kenya. By January 1959 the camp had a
population of 506 detainees of whom 127 were held in a secluded "closed camp". This more remote camp
near Garissa, eastern Kenya, was reserved for the most uncooperative of the detainees. They often refused,
even when threats of force were made, to join in the colonial "rehabilitation process" or perform manual labour
or obey colonial orders. The camp commandant outlined a plan that would force 88 of the detainees to bend to
work. On 3 March 1959, the camp commandant put this plan into action – as a result, 11 detainees were
clubbed to death by guards.[108] All of the surviving detainees sustained serious permanent injuries.[109] The
British government accepts that the colonial administration tortured detainees, but denies liability.[110]

War on Terror
The Human Rights Watch reported that the UK government sought the overseas operations bill to stop the
prosecution of British soldiers for torture and other war crimes committed overseas. Under this bill the power
of the attorney general, a member of the government, had more power to protect soldiers from prosecution
whether with a genuine case or not.[111]

In November 2019, BBC News reported that the British government and military were accused of covering up
the killing and torture of civilians and children during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Leaked documents
allegedly contain evidence implicating British troops in killing children and the torture of civilians in these
regions. The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), which investigated British war crimes in Iraq, and
Operation Northmoor, which investigated the same in Afghanistan, were dismantled by the British government
in 2017 after Phil Shiner, a solicitor who took more than 1,000 cases to IHAT, was struck off from practising
law amid allegations he had paid people in Iraq to find clients.[112]

Some former IHAT and Operation Northmoor investigators said Shiner's actions were used as an excuse to
close down the inquiries. No case investigated by IHAT or Operation Northmoor led to a prosecution. An
IHAT detective told Panorama: "The Ministry of Defence had no intention of prosecuting any soldier of
whatever rank he was unless it was absolutely necessary, and they couldn’t wriggle their way out of it".
Investigators said they found evidence of murders by an SAS soldier, as well as deaths in custody, beatings,
torture and sexual abuse of detainees by members of the Black Watch. A senior SAS commander was found to
have covered up the crimes committed by soldiers under his command.[112]

Corporal Donald Payne a former soldier of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment of the British Army who became
the first member of the British armed forces to be convicted of a war crime under the provisions of the
International Criminal Court Act 2001. He was jailed for one year and dismissed from the army. In June 2020,
Johnny Mercer said that Operation Northmoor had been completed and no more British troops would be
prosecuted over alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.[113]

Afghanistan War

In September 2013,[114] Royal Marines Sergeant Alexander Blackman, formerly of Taunton, Somerset,[115]
was convicted at court martial of having murdered an unarmed, wounded Taliban insurgent in Helmand
Province, Afghanistan. On 6 December 2013, Sgt. Blackman received a sentence of life imprisonment with a
minimum of ten years before being eligible for parole. He was also dismissed with disgrace from the Royal
Marines.[116]

In April 2017, following an appeal that saw his conviction reduced to manslaughter, Blackman was released
from prison having served 3 years of his sentence.[117]
See also
Alfred Taylor (British Army officer)
Allied war crimes during World War II
Arab Investigation Centres
Battle of Danny Boy
Chemical weapons and the United Kingdom
Human rights in the United Kingdom
Iraq Inquiry
Parliamentary motion to impeach Tony Blair
United States war crimes

Notes
1. The ropes by which a boat is lowered from the deck of a ship to the water

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Nebraska Press, 1989; ISBN 0-8032-9908- Messimer, Dwight R. (2002). Verschollen:
7. New revised edition with Picton Press, World War I U-boat Losses. Naval Institute
Rockland, Maine; ISBN 0-89725-421-X. Press. ISBN 1-55750-475-X.
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Untersuchungsstelle, 7th revised and
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