OFFENSES AGAINST COMBATANTS.
_(a) The Killing of the Wounded and of Prisoners._
In dealing with the treatment of the wounded and of prisoners and the
cases in which the former appear to have been killed when helpless, and
the latter at, or after, the moment of capture, we are met by some
peculiar difficulties, because such acts may not in all cases be
deliberate and cold-blooded violations of the usages of war. Soldiers
who are advancing over a spot where the wounded have fallen may
conceivably think that some of these lying prostrate are shamming dead,
or, at any rate, are so slightly wounded as to be able to attack or to
fire from behind when the advancing force has passed, and thus they may
be led into killing those whom they would otherwise have spared. There
will also be instances in which men intoxicated with the frenzy of
battle slay even those whom on reflection they might have seen to be
incapable of further harming them. The same kind of fury may vent itself
on persons who are already surrendering, and even a soldier who is
usually self-controlled or humane may, in the heat of the moment, go on
killing, especially in a general melee, those who were offering to
surrender.
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