Burned earth

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Finland 1944: Sodankylä destroyed in the German-Finnish Lapland War

Scorched earth describes a war tactic in which an army destroys everything that could be of any use to the enemy, i.e. rails , roads , bridges , broken down vehicles , food supplies, factories , houses and sometimes even the complete destruction of cities and villages. Technical tools, as examples in recent history that wreak havoc on civilians, are rail wolf , flamethrower and incendiary bombs .

The scorched earth tactic is used when either the retreating army cannot expect to recapture occupied territory or its own territory in the near future , or when the enemy uses guerrilla tactics and can count on the support of the population. In the second case, the scorched earth tactic consciously takes into account the fact that this is also at the expense of its own population. In all cases, the use of this tactic often results in famine and other serious effects.

A distinction must be made between whether the attacked state uses the tactic for its own defense or a warring party that invades a country. Accordingly, this act of war is already since the beginning of the 20th century for occupying armies by the Hague Regulations as international law outlawed.

Historical application

Such actions have taken place in many military conflicts throughout human history. In the Middle Ages, grain fields were mostly set on fire (hence the scorched earth ), wells poisoned and cattle killed. For example, in Gaul, the Celts partially destroyed their entire harvest while fighting the Roman troops. The Roman legionaries provided food for the inhabitants of occupied territories. But as more and more fields were burned by the Celts, they still went hungry.

In the various colonial wars in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, the scorched earth policy was used in many cases, for example in Sierra Leone in the iron and steel war of 1898 , in the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902 and in the south of German East Africa during the Maji Maji uprising in the early 20th century.

international law

The Hague Land Warfare Regulations in the version of 1907 stipulate in the following articles on the one hand:

  • Art. 52: In principle, the population of a country can be called upon to provide “services in kind”, but these may only be intended for the needs of the occupying army and must be in proportion to the capabilities of the occupied country. In addition, the occupier must not force the population to undertake war against their own fatherland. If payment is not made immediately, acknowledgments of receipt must be issued and payment must be made early.
  • Art. 53: An occupier may only confiscate "types of war supplies" that are used for military operations.
  • Art. 55: Each occupying army should only act as an administrative "beneficiary of public buildings, real estate, forests and farms" while observing the duty of care.

Enemy property may only be destroyed or taken away in urgent military cases (Art. 22, 23). In particular, it is forbidden to attack or shoot at undefended cities, villages, homes or buildings (Art. 25). Religious, historical, cultural and medical buildings and facilities that did not serve any military purpose are to be spared (Art. 27).

Head of OKW Keitel (left) as a defendant at the Nuremberg trial

These provisions were formulated in general terms and leave room for interpretation in individual cases. It was clear, however, that all provisions intended to limit the extent of destruction and devastation to the militarily necessary minimum. The provisions have been supplemented by further agreements. The articles of the 1907 version and subsequent agreements are fully valid to the present day.

In the Nuremberg trial of the major war criminals at the end of 1945 it was made clear that the scorched earth measure constitutes a war crime in the event of disproportionate destruction, the looting of state or private property and the deportation of civilians from the occupied territories. As a result, those responsible such as B. General Balck convicted in succession trials.

Application in the 20th century

Germany in the First World War

Before the retreat to the Siegfriedstellung , the area to be cleared on the Somme was systematically devastated as part of the Alberich company and the inhabitants were deported.

Soviet Union in World War II

Soviet Union 1941: A burning town
Soviet Union 1943: A burning town

Two weeks after the start of the German attack on the Soviet Union , Josef Stalin ordered the economically vital infrastructure to be evacuated to the east of the Soviet Union and all goods in the areas threatened by the German troops that could be of use to them be destroyed. By using this tactic as a means of defense, he reacted like Alexander I before Napoleon's attempt at conquest and like Peter the Great against Charles XII.

According to Dimitri Wolkogonov , Stalin issued the " Torch Men Order " on November 17, 1941 : According to this, "all settlement points where German troops are located 40 to 60 kilometers from the main battle line were to be destroyed and set on fire ..." . "To destroy the settlement points", "to set fire to and blow up the settlement points", that is to say the villages, the air force, artillery and hunting teams are to be deployed. Volkogonov describes how his own army destroyed countless Soviet villages. Other places were set on fire by Germans to punish partisan actions.

Germany in World War II

Shortly after the defeat of Stalingrad , Adolf Hitler ordered not to let weapons and equipment fall undamaged into enemy hands and to destroy all villages and accommodation facilities. All men between 15 and 65 years of age are to be taken along by the troop for excavation work . Correspondingly, cattle were driven away by the German troops on their retreat, machinery was dismantled or destroyed, towns, villages and grain fields were burned and mass deportations were carried out. As a description of the scheduled procedure, the abbreviation ARLZ measures for the successive steps patriated A uflockerung, R äumung, L ähmung and Z erstörung a. The German troops developed a great destructiveness and increasingly violated the ban on looting. Because of the court martial decree, the troop commanders largely lacked the opportunity to take legal action against their own marauding troops. The deportation of the civilian population should also deprive the enemy of their labor. Able-bodied were to forced labor sent to Germany or had violated international law entourage - and dig trenches for the Wehrmacht afford. So at the end of April 1943, the 253rd Infantry Division held on to 1381 Russian soldiers working as " Hiwis " as well as 853 female forced laborers who were housed in barracks. Evacuees were set off in treks by tens of thousands of people heading west, again and again without adequate care and accommodation. Due to the devastation of the occupied country, the partisans received a strong influx and in some areas gained the upper hand.

On March 19, 1945, a few weeks before the end of the war, Hitler issued the Nero order ( all military traffic, communications, industrial and supply facilities as well as material assets within the Reich territory that the enemy can use immediately or in the foreseeable future to continue his fight can, are to be destroyed ).

More wars

See also

Web links

Commons : Scorched Earth  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Finland - Wild Germans . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1974, p. 128-133 ( online ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Publications of the federal authorities online
  2. ^ Nuremberg Trial , Justice in Bavaria, Higher Regional Court Nuremberg, accessed June 20, 2015.
  3. Alberich's gruesome work in villages in the Somme , FAZ, February 25, 2009, accessed December 26, 2014.
  4. Dimitri Volkogonow: Stalin - Triumph and Tragedy. Econ, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-612-26011-1 , p. 617.
  5. Bernd Wegner: The Aporie of War in : Karl-Heinz Frieser (Hrsg.): The German Empire and the Second World War . Vol. 9, Die Ostfront 1943/44 , Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , p. 256 ff.
  6. Michael Sommer: The Soldier Emperors. 2nd edition, p. 33, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt.
  7. Albrecht Fuess: Burned Shore. Effects of the Mamluk maritime policy on Beirut and the Syro-Palestinian coast (1250 - 1517). (Dissertation at the Univ. Cologne 2000), Brill, Leiden, 2001, ISBN 978-90-04-12108-9 , p. 67
  8. Himeta, Mitsuyoshi (姫 田光義) (日本 軍 に よ る 『三光 政策 ・ 三光 作 戦 を め ぐ っ て』) ( Concerning the Three Alls Strategy / Three Alls Policy By the Japanese Forces ), Iwanami Bukkuretto, 1996, Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 2000.
  9. Publications of the working group “Against Forgetting” working group
  10. ^ "The history of the Hurtigrute from 1940 to 1945" Hurtigrute ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  11. a b Re-Creating Afghanistan: Returning to Istalif . In: NPR , August 1, 2002. 
  12. ^ Larry P. Goodson: Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban . University of Washington Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0295981116 , p. 121.
  13. UN says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda . In: Associated Press , Jan. 7, 1998.