Allied pilots court-martialed?

[rammjaeger]

On 26.April 1917 the German General staff wrote to all "Gruppen" an order which said that Allied pilots dropped leaflets against the Highest Warlord himself (Wilhelm II.). The leaflets were stirring up against the Kaiser and that was considered to be "out of the war activities" by the General staff.

Allied fliers, carrying or dropping this kind of leaflets, should be court-martialed and all incidents reported to the General staff. The order said also the Foreign office would inform the French, English and Belgian government about this measure.

Ever heard about such court-martials or similar events? I was surprised about this order but maybe the whole thing was only a gesture or threat.

Hannes

Hannes,
The only thing that I have ever heard of a similar nature occurred during the Civil War here in the United States. When the first all black brigades were formed in the Union, the Confederate States issued an order stating that "All blacks captured in Union uniforms shall be deemed guilty of being runaway slaves engaged in insurrection and summarily be put to death. All White Union Officers in command of black troops shall also be deemed as guilty of inciting servile insurrection and shall be summarily put to death." I do not recall any incidents of this order ever being carried out. It was however a scare tactic put to use to try to dissuade freed blacks from fighting against the South in the uniform of the Union Army. It never worked though. So I would think that this edict issued by the IGHC would have been a scare tactic. They had no grounds to legally courts-martial these piots had they have caught them. I'm quite sure that any leaflets that were dropped were done so under orders from higher authority. Could they hold higher authority accountable for this action, possibly ... but then it no where comes close to the atrocities they committed in the name of conquest.
VBR,
Jim

Although they did follow out orders and drop leaflets, most pilots weren't too keen on doing so. The main benefit of the leaflets in the opinion of many was that they were providing a new source of toilet paper for the Germans in the trenches.

[mike_baram]

Jim,
During the seige of Petersburg, in the "Battle of the Crater", white Union soldiers who succeeded in surrendering were taken prisoner. Black soldiers who tried to surrender were killed on the spot by the Confederates. Not quite a "summarily executed" situation, but close enough. The real criminal in all that was our illustrious war hero/commander, Ambrose Burnside.
In the course of his career, he probably accounted for more Union dead than any Southern general.
VBR,
Mike

Mike,
You're of course referring to the Ft. Pillow massacre. But then that was something that happened during the heat of battle. What I refer to is just the order, as Hannes was asking if there was any similar such incidents to the GHC order.
VBR,
Jim

The Ft. Pillow massacre is a different event than the aftermath of the Battle of the Crater. They do have the common element of Confederate murder of surrenduring/surrendured black troops, but they took place in separate theatres of war. BTW, I've always thought that the crater plan was brilliant, and it wasn't necessarily all Burnside's fault that it failed. If I recall correctly, the field commander was drunk and there was no leadership at the point of attack.

[Russell]

The two 22 Sqd FE 2 crews captured on 26 April 17 were prosecuted, as were Schultz Wookey of 11 Sqdn in Oct 17. The 22 Sqdn stuff is written up in Pi in the Sky and other sources such as C&C Great Britain. You will be pleased to note their German lawyer got them off.

Four Britsh infantryman cut off during the early
part of the war were executed as spies for evading and not surrendering, whether they had the benefit of a court martial or not I don't know!! A memorial to them was unveilled in
Le Catelet near Amiens last year.

[rammjaeger]

To all,

thank you for the information. I regret not to have more time for the reading of books about the Civil War. (Is there a good site in the Net to find about this topic?)

Many thanks especially to Russell - you are right. I am relieved that at least in one case the justice was winning.

[Barrett]

Hannes: I'll take a hazardous guess and say that besides sex, The War of Northern Aggression (TWONA) may have more sites than any other topic on the internet. You can get extremely specific info, down to company rosters and casualty reports as well as good summaries of variuos battles with maps & graphics. Just depends on how particular you are. The various National Park battlefield web sites are a good place to look: Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Antietam/Spotsylvania, Manassas/Bull Run, etc.
Another thread (Cowpens, I think) already had a spirited discussion about the causes of the war. (Note: Abe Lincoln hisownself said he'd free some, all, or none of the slaves in order to preserve the union. Of course, he also said in his first inaugural that a people dissatisfied with their govt had the right to leave or overthrow said govt. I guess he changed his mind.)
Anyway, (speaking as an author) curious folks might try my favorite resource of all:
Books!
McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" is among the best single-volume histories. Shaara the Younger just released his last (?) novel in the "Killer Angels" series: "Last Full Measure."
(Mandatory WW I content: the use of observation balloons apparently originated in the North American Conflict of 1861-65.)