occupied countries, and were shot as suited the
German purposes. Public and private property was systematically
plundered and pillaged in order to enlarge the resources of Germany
at the expense of the rest of Europe. Cities and towns and villages
were wantonly destroyed without military justification or
necessity.
Murder and III-Treatment of Prisoners
of War
Article 6 (b) of the Charter defines
War Crimes in these words: "War Crimes: namely, violations of
the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be
limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor 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."
In the course of the war, many Allied soldiers who
had surrendered to the Germans were shot immediately, often as a
matter of deliberate, calculated policy. On 18 October 1942, the
Defendant Keitel circulated a directive authorized by Hitler, which
ordered that all members of Allied "Commando" units, often
when in uniform and whether armed or not, were to be
"slaughtered to the last man", even if they attempted to
surrender. It was further provided that if such Allied troops came
into the hands of the military authorities after being first captured
by the local police, or in any other way, they should be handed over
immediately to the SD. This order was supplemented from time to time,
and was effective throughout the remainder of the war, although after
the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944 it was made clear that the
order did not apply to "Commandos" captured within the
immediate battle area. Under the provisions of this order, Allied
"Commando" troops, and other military units operating
independently, lost their lives in Norway, France, Czechoslovakia,
and Italy. Many of them were killed on the spot, and in no case were
those who were executed later in concentration camps ever given a
trial of any kind. For example, an American military mission which
landed behind the German front in the Balkans in January 1945,
numbering about twelve to fifteen men and wearing uniform, were taken
to Mauthausen under the authority of this order, and according to the
affidavit of Adolf Zutte, the adjutant of the Mauthausen
Concentration Camp, all of them were shot.
In March 1944 the OKH issued the "Kugel" or
"Bullet" decree, which directed that every escaped officer
and NCO prisoner of war who had not been put to work, with the
exception of British and