Medical Establish to abandon them to the enemy, he must, so far as military exigencies permit, leave behind with them a portion of his medical personnel to assist in taking care of them, together with the necessary material. The sick and wounded who have fallen into the hands of the enemy are prisoners of war, but belligerents may exchange or release them, or even hand them over to a neutral State, which has to intern them until after the conclusion of peace. After each engagement, the commander in possession of the field must have search made for the wounded, and must take measures to protect them against pillage and maltreatment. A nominal roll of all wounded and sick who have been collected must be sent as early as possible to the authorities of the country or army to which they belong, and the belligerents must keep each other mutually informed of any internments and changes as well as of admissions into hospital. Article 5 stipulates that the military authority may appeal to the charitable zeal of the inhabitants to collect and take care of the wounded and sick of the armies under his direction, granting to those who have responded to his appeal special protection and certain immunities. § 120. In order that the wounded and sick may Units and receive proper treatment, mobile medical units, and ments, fixed 1 establishments of the medical service, must be Material. respected and protected by the belligerents; but this and protection ceases if they are made use of to commit acts harmful to the enemy, such as sheltering combatants, carrying on espionage, and concealing arms and ammunition (Articles 6 and 7).2 1 It was one of the saddest experiences of the World War that German airmen frequently and deliberately bombed hospitals of the Allies, and that a German publicist attempted to justify this abominable practice. See Köllreuter in Z. V., x. (1918), p. 499. 2 But Article 8 expressly enacts that the units and establishments do not forgo protection :-(a) because the personnel are armed, and use their arms for their own defence, or for the defence of the wounded As regards material, a distinction is drawn between material of mobile medical units, of fixed medical establishments, and of voluntary aid societies. (a) Mobile medical units which fall into the hands of the enemy must not be deprived of their material, including their teams, whatever may be the means of transport, and whoever may be the drivers employed (Article 14). The competent military authority is, however, permitted to make use of the material in captured medical units for the treatment of the wounded and the sick at hand, but it must be restored under the same conditions, and so far as possible at the same time, as the medical personnel.1 (b) The buildings and material of fixed medical establishments which, because the locality where they are is militarily occupied, fall into the hands of the enemy, remain, according to Article 15, 'subject to the laws of war.' That means that they remain entirely in the power of the captor. But they may not be diverted from their medical purpose so long as they are required for the wounded and sick. Should, however, urgent military necessity demand it, a commander may dispose of them, provided he makes previous arrangements for the welfare of the wounded and sick found in them. (c) The material of voluntary aid societies, which are duly recognised, is, according to Article 16, considered private property, and must, therefore, be respected as such under all circumstances, although it may be requisitioned. § 121. The personnel engaged exclusively in the Personnel. collection, transport, and treatment of the wounded and sick; (b) because in default of armed orderlies, units or establishments are guarded by pickets, or by sentinels furnished with authority in due form; (c) because weapons and cartridges, taken from the 1 See below, § 121. and sick, and also in the administration of mobile medical units and establishments, the chaplains attached to armies, and, lastly, pickets and sentinels guarding medical units and establishments, must, according to Article 9, under all circumstances 1 be respected and protected. If they fall into the hands of the enemy, they must not be treated as prisoners of war. According to Article 12, however, they are not free to act or move without let or hindrance; for they are to continue to carry on their duties under the direction of the captor, until their assistance is no longer indispensable. They must then be sent back to their army, or to their country, at such time, and by such route, as may be compatible with military exigencies. They must be allowed to take with them such effects, instruments, arms, and horses as are their private property.2 The personnel of voluntary aid societies employed in the medical units and establishments is, according to Article 10, privileged to the same extent as the official personnel, provided that the society concerned is duly recognised and authorised by its Government and its personnel is subject to military law and regulations. Each State must notify to the other, before actually employing them, the names of societies which it has authorised to render assistance to the regular medical service of its armies.3 1 Does this article prevent the punishment of such persons by the enemy for so-called war-crimes? Strupp in Z.I., xxv. (1915), p. 357, says 'no'; but there is no reason to accept this answer as correct. See Markman in Z. V., xi. (1918), pp. 76-83. 2 So long as they are detained by the enemy he must, according to Article 13, grant them the same allowances and pay as are due to personnel holding the same rank in his own army. 3 A recognised voluntary aid society of a neutral country cannot, according to Article 11, afford the assistance of its personnel and its units to a belligerent unless it has previously received the consent of its own Government and of the belligerent concerned; and a belligerent who accepts such assistance is bound, before making any use of it, to give notice to the enemy. of Evacu § 122. Convoys for evacuating the wounded and Convoys sick must be treated in the same way as mobile medical ation. units, but subject to the following special provisions of Article 17: A belligerent intercepting a convoy may, if military exigencies demand, break it up, provided that he takes charge of the sick and wounded who are in it. In this case, the obligation to send back the medical personnel when their assistance is no longer indispensable, extends also to the military personnel detailed for the transport or the protection of the convoy, and furnished with an authority in due form to that effect; and the obligation to restore the medical material extends to railway trains and inland boats which are specially arranged for evacuating sick and wounded, and to material belonging to the medical service and used for fitting up ordinary vehicles, trains, and boats for the transport of the wounded. Military vehicles, other than those of the medical service, may, however, be captured with their teams; and the civilian personnel and the various means of transport obtained by requisition, including railway material and boats used for convoys, are subject to the general rules of International Law. tive § 123. According to Article 18, the Swiss heraldic Distincdevice of the red cross on a white ground, formed by Emblem. reversing the federal colours, is adopted as the emblem and distinctive sign of the medical service of the armies, but there is no objection to the adoption of another emblem by non-Christian States which object to the cross on religious grounds. Thus Turkey has substituted a red crescent, and Persia a red sun.1 The following are the rules concerning the use of this emblem : (1) It must be shown, with the permission of the 1 See below, § 207. Treat ment of competent military authority (Article 19), on the flags, the armlets (brassards), and on all the material belonging to the medical service. (2) Medical units and establishments fly the red cross flag accompanied by the national flag of the belligerent to which they belong (Article 21).1 (3) All the personnel, according to Article 20, wear, on the left arm, an armlet (brassard) with a red cross on a white ground, stamped by the competent military authority.2 (4) The red cross on a white ground and the words 'Red Cross' or 'Geneva Cross' must not, according to Articles 23 and 27, be used, either in peace or war, except to indicate the protected medical units, establishments, personnel, and material.3 § 124. According to a customary rule of the Law of the Dead. Nations, belligerents have the right to demand from one another that dead soldiers shall not be disgracefully treated, and, in particular, that they shall not be mutilated, but shall be, so far as possible, collected and buried or cremated on the battlefield by the victor. The Geneva Convention does not stipulate any rule concerning the collection and burial or cremation of the dead; but Article 3 enacts that, after each engagement, the commander in possession of the field must take measures to ensure protection of the dead against pillage and maltreatment, and that bodies must be carefully examined, in order to see that life is really extinct, before they are buried or cremated. Each 1 But medical units while in the hands of the enemy fly only the red cross. Neutral medical units rendering assistance in accordance with the convention, fly, along with the red cross flag, the national flag of the belligerent to whose army they are attached (Article 22). 2 Accompanied by a certificate of identity, in the case of persons attached to the medical service who See Grotius, ii. c. 19, §§ 1, 3. Regarding a valuable suggestion by Ullmann concerning sanitary measures for the purpose of avoiding epidemics, see above, vol. i. p. 764, n. 4. |