WAR CRIMES AND ATROCITIES (True Crime) by Anne Williams, Vivian Head, Janice Anderson Page A
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did not agree with his policy, which meant that many of the civilians escaped with their lives. When news of the abuses reached the USA at the end of March 1902, there was public outrage. Added to the atrocities committed by the US army, they stole three national treasures before they left Samar. One was a rare 1557 cannon and the other two were Balingiga church bells. Almost 100 years after the massacre, the current Philippine government is still trying to have these trophies of war returned to their shores.
COURT MARTIAL
The US Secretary of War ordered an investigation into the atrocities in the Philippines and brought court martial proceedings against General Smith and Major Waller. Waller was tried first, and the court martial began on 17 March, 1902. He was tried for the execution of 11 native guides, who had reportedly found edible roots during a long march, but had failed to share this knowledge with the starving US troops. Waller said that he was simply ‘obeying orders’ and was acquitted, a defence which the US army did not allow when trying enemies in Nuremberg decades later.
In May 1902, General Smith was tried, not for war crimes, but on the charge of ‘conduct to prejudice of good order and military discipline’ and that he had given orders to Waller to take no prisoners. The court martial found Smith guilty and sentenced him to be ‘reprimanded by a reviewing authority’.
In an effort to try and appease the subsequent public outcry, President Roosevelt ordered Smith’s retirement from the army. He received no further punishment
for the atrocities that had taken place in the Philippines. It will always remain a matter of contention whether the killing of thousands of Filipinos was really justification for the murder of 54 US soldiers, and whether these killings amounted to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The Sinking Of The Lusitania
1915
When the German army marched into neutral Belgium on 4 August, 1914, they displayed a blatant disregard for international treaties and made it easier for Britain to become involved in World War I. Unlike World War II, World War I is not really associated with atrocities carried out by military forces against either civilians or enemy soldiers. However, this story proves that World War I was not fought with totally clean hands, as reports that came out of northern France and Belgium proved. During the months of August and September 1914, German troops are reported to have carried out wholesale murder of civilians without any obvious provocation. Stories of mass executions, rapes, mutilations and arson were widespread, and both the French and British governments set up special enquiries into the alleged German ‘atrocities’ in Belgium. The report outlined horrific sexual and sadistic crimes, although there was a strong reaction to its content claiming that much of the information had been grossly exaggerated. Whatever the truth behind these atrocities, it does illustrate the ambivalent moral boundaries that are crossed during the time of war. What was regarded by one side as an ‘atrocity’ was simply seen by the other as a ‘necessity’ to win the war.
The incident of the sinking of the liner Lusitania on 7 May, 1915, had a major influence on the involvement of the United States in World War I, and it still stands out in history as a singular act of German brutality.
THE FATEFUL VOYAGE
The Lusitania was a British cargo and passenger ship that made its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in September 1907. She was a giant of a ship, built to speed through the water at an average of 25 knots. Powered by a 68,000 horse power engine, she had been dubbed the ‘Greyhound of the Seas’, and it wasn’t long before she won the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic.
The Lusitania had been built to Admiralty specifications, with the understanding that it would be turned over for
COURT MARTIAL
The US Secretary of War ordered an investigation into the atrocities in the Philippines and brought court martial proceedings against General Smith and Major Waller. Waller was tried first, and the court martial began on 17 March, 1902. He was tried for the execution of 11 native guides, who had reportedly found edible roots during a long march, but had failed to share this knowledge with the starving US troops. Waller said that he was simply ‘obeying orders’ and was acquitted, a defence which the US army did not allow when trying enemies in Nuremberg decades later.
In May 1902, General Smith was tried, not for war crimes, but on the charge of ‘conduct to prejudice of good order and military discipline’ and that he had given orders to Waller to take no prisoners. The court martial found Smith guilty and sentenced him to be ‘reprimanded by a reviewing authority’.
In an effort to try and appease the subsequent public outcry, President Roosevelt ordered Smith’s retirement from the army. He received no further punishment
for the atrocities that had taken place in the Philippines. It will always remain a matter of contention whether the killing of thousands of Filipinos was really justification for the murder of 54 US soldiers, and whether these killings amounted to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The Sinking Of The Lusitania
1915
When the German army marched into neutral Belgium on 4 August, 1914, they displayed a blatant disregard for international treaties and made it easier for Britain to become involved in World War I. Unlike World War II, World War I is not really associated with atrocities carried out by military forces against either civilians or enemy soldiers. However, this story proves that World War I was not fought with totally clean hands, as reports that came out of northern France and Belgium proved. During the months of August and September 1914, German troops are reported to have carried out wholesale murder of civilians without any obvious provocation. Stories of mass executions, rapes, mutilations and arson were widespread, and both the French and British governments set up special enquiries into the alleged German ‘atrocities’ in Belgium. The report outlined horrific sexual and sadistic crimes, although there was a strong reaction to its content claiming that much of the information had been grossly exaggerated. Whatever the truth behind these atrocities, it does illustrate the ambivalent moral boundaries that are crossed during the time of war. What was regarded by one side as an ‘atrocity’ was simply seen by the other as a ‘necessity’ to win the war.
The incident of the sinking of the liner Lusitania on 7 May, 1915, had a major influence on the involvement of the United States in World War I, and it still stands out in history as a singular act of German brutality.
THE FATEFUL VOYAGE
The Lusitania was a British cargo and passenger ship that made its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in September 1907. She was a giant of a ship, built to speed through the water at an average of 25 knots. Powered by a 68,000 horse power engine, she had been dubbed the ‘Greyhound of the Seas’, and it wasn’t long before she won the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic.
The Lusitania had been built to Admiralty specifications, with the understanding that it would be turned over for
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