Part 43 (1/2)

A. +RULES OF CONDUCT WITH RESPECT TO PERSONS+

(_a_) _Of the inoffensive population_

Acts of violence being permissible only between armed forces (Art. 1),

7. It is forbidden to maltreat the inoffensive portion of the population.

(_b_) _Of means of injuring the enemy_

Loyalty of conduct being enjoined (Art. 4),

8. It is forbidden:--

(_a_) To employ poison in any form.

(_b_) To endeavor to take the life of an enemy in a traitorous manner,--_e.g._ by employing a.s.sa.s.sins, or by simulating surrender.

(_c_) To attack the enemy while concealing the distinctive marks of an armed force.

(_d_) To make improper use of the national flag, of signs of military ranks, or of the uniform of the enemy, of a flag of truce, or of the protective marks prescribed by the Convention of Geneva. (See Arts. 17 and 40.)

It being obligatory to abstain from useless severities (Art. 4),

9. It is forbidden:--

(_a_) To use arms, projectiles, or substances calculated to inflict superfluous suffering, or to aggravate wounds, particularly projectiles which, being explosible, or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances, weigh less than four hundred grams.

(Declaration of St. Petersburg.)[497]

(_b_) To mutilate or kill an enemy who has surrendered at discretion, or is disabled, and to declare that quarter will not be given, even if the force making such declaration does not claim quarter for itself.

(_c_) _Of wounded, sick, and the hospital staff_

The wounded, the sick, and the hospital staff are exempted from unnecessary severities, which might otherwise touch them, by the following rules (Arts. 10 to 18), drawn from the Convention of Geneva.

10. Wounded and sick soldiers must be brought in and cared for, to whatever nation they belong.

11. When circ.u.mstances permit, officers commanding in chief, immediately after a combat, may send in enemy soldiers wounded during it to the advanced posts of the enemy, with the consent of the latter.

12. The operation of moving sick and wounded is a neutral act, and the staff engaged in it is neutral.

13. The staff of the hospitals and ambulances--namely, surgeons, clerks, hospital orderlies, and other persons employed in the sanitary, administrative, and transport departments, as well as chaplains, and members and agents of societies duly authorized to a.s.sist the official hospital staff--is considered to be neutral while exercising its functions, and so long as there are wounded to remove or succor.

14. The staff specified in the preceding Article must continue after occupation by an enemy has taken place to give its attention to the sick and wounded, to such extent as may be needful, in the ambulance or hospital which it serves.

15. When such staff applies for leave to retire, it falls to the officer commanding the occupying troops to fix the date of departure. After request, however, has been made, the departure of the staff can only be postponed for a short time, and for reasons of military necessity.

16. Measures must, if possible, be taken to secure to the neutralized staff fitting maintenance and allowance when it falls into the hands of the enemy.