Sometimes the way war criminals are regarded depends on the era in which we live.
In a span of 75 years, Americans had hoped to come closer to the founding ideals.
Our standards should not have gone downward.
At the end of World War II, the American high command finally discovered what had happened to 15 US soldiers who had been captured by Germans in Italy.
The Americans had been sent on a mission behind enemy lines to destroy an important railroad tunnel. But the mission failed and they were captured by combined Italian and German forces. General Anton Dostler ordered that they be executed as spies.
The local German commander protested. They weren’t spies. The soldiers were not dressed in civilian clothes. They all wore United States military uniforms. They did not even carry any clothing other than the uniforms they were wearing. International law was well established. You cannot execute enemy soldiers as spies if they wear the uniforms of their own armed forces.
General Dostler issued the order in print, sending an official telegram.
Execute the commando team.
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