Captivity in War during the Twentieth Century: The Forgotten Diplomatic Role of Transnational Actors

188 Pages·2021·3.201 MB·English

by  Marcel Berni (editor), Tamara Cubito (editor)

Captivity in
War during the
Twentieth Century
The Forgotten Diplomatic
Role of Transnational Actors
Edited by
Marcel Berni · Tamara Cubito
Captivity in War during the Twentieth Century
·
Marcel Berni Tamara Cubito
Editors
Captivity in War
during the Twentieth
Century
The Forgotten Diplomatic Role of Transnational
Actors
Editors
Marcel Berni Tamara Cubito
Military Academy Military Academy
ETH Zurich ETH Zurich
Birmensdorf, Switzerland Birmensdorf, Switzerland
ISBN 978-3-030-65094-0 ISBN 978-3-030-65095-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65095-7
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
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We dedicate this book in loving memory to Prof. Arnold Krammer
(1941–2018) who, on his last intercontinental journey, attended our
conference on captivity in war, held in Bern, Switzerland, in March 2018.
Goodbye, Arnold, and thank you for inspiring the next generations of
historians studying wartime captivity. Your brilliant teaching, writing
and, above all, generosity and true kindness will be sorely missed. May you
rest in peace.
Contents
1 The Diplomatic Role of Transnational Actors
in Wartime Captivity 1
Marcel Berni and Tamara Cubito
2 “Any Unfavourable Condition or Untoward
Circumstance Will Receive Immediate Attention”:
American Consuls’ Visits to British Colonial
Internment Camps of the Great War 23
Tamara Cubito
3 “HerausmitunserenGefangenen!”TheGermanHome
Front and the International Campaign for Prisoner
of War Repatriation, 1918–1919 47
Brian K. Feltman
4 An Uneasy Balance: International Relief Efforts
in the Chaco War 73
Robert Niebuhr
5 Japanese Civilian Internees in New Caledonia: A Gap
Between the Protecting Powers and the ICRC 101
Rowena Ward
vii
viii CONTENTS
6 Japanese Prisoners of War, the American-Soviet
Conflict, and the Role of Repatriated War Veterans
in the Early Cold War in East Asia 119
Frank Jacob
7 The ICRC and Communist Captives During Vietnam’s
American War 137
Marcel Berni
8 Biafra’s Captives: The “Oilmen Incident”
and International Diplomacy in the Nigerian
Civil War 157
Oluchukwu Ignatus Onianwa
Index 175
List of Contributors
Marcel Berni Swiss Military Academy, ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf,
Switzerland
Tamara Cubito Swiss Military Academy, ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf,
Switzerland
Brian K. Feltman Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA
Frank Jacob Nord University, Bodø, Norway
Robert Niebuhr Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Oluchukwu Ignatus Onianwa University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Rowena Ward University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
ix
CHAPTER 1
The Diplomatic Role of Transnational Actors
in Wartime Captivity
Marcel Berni and Tamara Cubito
Introduction: The Beginnings
of an International Interest in War Captives
Among the Austrian prisoners, some were terrified because someone had
thought fit to tell them that the French, and especially the Zouaves
[soldiers from French North Africa], were merciless demons. Some of
them, indeed, when they arrived in Brescia and saw trees bordering a
walk in the town, asked in all seriousness whether those were the trees
from which they would be hanged. Several, on being shown kindness by
French soldiers, repaid them in the strangest ways—poor blind, ignorant
fellows! … However, for the most part, with very few exceptions, the
feeling of the French toward their prisoners was nothing but goodwill;
thus,someAustrianofficerswerepermittedtokeeptheirswordsorsabres,
B
M. Berni ( ) · T. Cubito
Swiss Military Academy, ETH Zurich, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
e-mail: [email protected]
T. Cubito
e-mail: [email protected]
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1
Switzerland AG 2021
M. Berni and T. Cubito (eds.), Captivity in War during the Twentieth
Century, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65095-7_1
2 M. BERNI AND T. CUBITO
through the courtesy of French Army commanders. They were given the
same food as the French officers, and their wounded were treated by the
same doctors.… Many French soldiers shared their rations in a brotherly
way with prisoners who were dying of hunger; others carried wounded
men of the enemy army to field hospitals on their backs and gave them all
sorts of care, showing remarkable devotion and profound sympathy.1
Henry Dunant’s vivid description of the merciful handling of Austrian
captives by the French army during the Battle of Solferino on June 24,
1859 is captivating still today. Not only was this brutal military engage-
mentintheSecondItalianWarofIndependencearguablythelastdecisive
battle in world history where soldiers on both sides fought under the
personal command of their crowned heads, but it was also an impor-
tant day in the life of the Genevan activist and adventurer. After the
battle,Dunantcomposedaliteraryoutlineofhisobservations,andpartic-
ularly its human toll: 29,000 Austrian, French and Piedmontese had
been killed or wounded in only 15 hours of fighting.2 In a time in
which armies employed more veterinarians to look after wounded horses
than medical professionals to care for human casualties, Dunant’s obser-
vations struck a chord.3 His account soon became more than a mere
description of the conduct and horrors of modern warfare, of interest
only to a selected few. A Memory of Solferino heavily influenced the
drafting of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condi-
tion of the Wounded in Armies in the Field of 1864 when the Swiss
Confederation,onDunant’sinitiative,hadorganisedadiplomaticconfer-
ence in Geneva in order to improve the care of wounded soldiers in
future wars. Even before this first Geneva Convention was drawn up,
simple humanitarian arrangements had been agreed upon, initially signed
by 12 states, and Dunant had co-founded the International Standing
Committee for Aid to Wounded Soldiers on a private charity basis, thus
1Henry Dunant, A Memory of Solferino (Geneva: International Committee of the Red
Cross, 1959 [1862]), trans. American Red Cross, 50–52.
2Karin M. Fierke, Diplomatic Interventions: Conflict and Change in a Globalizing
World (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 49–50. Dunant himself did not witness the
actual battle but was in Solferino during its aftermath.
3See François Bugnion, Le Comité International de la Croix-Rouge et la protection des
victimes de la guerre (Geneva: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, 1994), 7.