31.8. 2: Casualties of World War II
Some 75 million people died in World War II, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians, many of whom died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation.
Then, How many medics died in WW2?
During WW2 the Medical Department’s field forces totaled 13,174 casualties, of which 2,274 were killed.
Who killed most in ww2? The Soviet Union suffered the most when it came to casualties. Up to 20 million people died due to poor leadership.
Keeping this in consideration, Can you kill medics in war?
Yes. Miliary medics and clerics are unarmed, unlawful targets. Shooting them intentionally is a war crime. However, if they pick up and use a weapon, they make themselves unlawful combatants and they lose their protected status.
Did World war 2 medics carry guns?
During World War II, for example, Allied medics serving the European and Mediterranean areas usually carried the M1911A1 pistol while those serving the Pacific theater carried pistols or M1 carbines. When and if they use their arms offensively, they then sacrifice their protection under the Geneva Conventions.
What country lost the most lives in World War II?
Data show that the now-defunct Soviet Union had the highest number of WWII casualties. As many as 27 million people died.
Why did Japan attack us?
The Japanese intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Is it a war crime to attack a medic?
The act of intentionally directing attacks against medical services in the context of an armed conflict, whether international or internal, is considered a war crime under humanitarian law. It also falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (Arts. 8.2. … ii of ICC statute).
What are the 5 laws of war?
AND THEIR TARGETING IMPLICATIONS
The law of war rests on five fundamental principles that are inherent to all targeting decisions: military necessity, unnecessary suffering, proportionality, distinction (discrimination), and honor (chivalry).
Do medics treat the enemy?
Prisoners are supposed to receive medical treatment. So if an enemy is wounded medics are expected to patch them up as best as possible so he can make it to the prison camp. The army medics have to treat both their own soldiers and wounded prisoners of war.
How many medics died on D Day?
On D-day the hard-hit V Corps suffered about 2,400 dead, wounded, and missing; the 4th Division, by contrast, reported only 200 casualties; and the two airborne divisions together lost about 2,400 men.
Is an Army medic a doctor?
Army combat medics have to be prepared to administer to patients on the battlefield. … A medic is not a nurse or a physician, but a health care specialist trained to give basic medical treatment and take care of soldiers in emergency situations.
Do medics carry weapons in war?
Yes, they do. While medics historically didn’t carry weapons, today’s combat medics are not only trained to fight, but are allowed to defend themselves if they come under attack, usually at short range and usually in response to a surprise attack while attending to or evacuating a wounded patient.
Why is D-Day called D-Day?
In other words, the D in D–Day merely stands for Day. This coded designation was used for the day of any important invasion or military operation. … Brigadier General Schultz reminds us that the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 was not the only D–Day of World War II.
What happened to all the bodies from World war 2?
After the fight was over, the dead were usually exhumed and interred to either a large common cemetery or transported back home (the Americans always took home all their fallen). There are many huge war cemeteries everywhere in Europe, both in the East and the West.
What would have happened if Japan didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor?
At the most extreme, no attack on Pearl Harbor could have meant no US entering the war, no ships of soldiers pouring over the Atlantic, and no D-Day, all putting ‘victory in Europe’ in doubt. On the other side of the world, it could have meant no Pacific Theatre and no use of the atomic bomb.
Was there a 3rd atomic bomb?
The Only Man to See all 3 Atomic Bomb Detonations on the Unprecedented Destruction of Hiroshima. … That year, 1945, there was only one person to see all three wartime detonations with his own eyes.
Is it a war crime to kill a wounded enemy?
[t]o injure or kill an enemy who has surrendered at discretion or is disabled.” … According to Section 6(1)(b)(vi), “killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion” is a war crime in international armed conflicts.
Is taking prisoners of war a war crime?
POWs cannot be prosecuted for taking a direct part in hostilities. Their detention is not a form of punishment, but only aims to prevent further participation in the conflict. They must be released and repatriated without delay after the end of hostilities.
What happens if you commit a war crime?
Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
What is not allowed in war?
It prohibits the use of “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices” and “bacteriological methods of warfare”. This is now understood to be a general prohibition on chemical weapons and biological weapons, but has nothing to say about production, storage or transfer.
Why is it legal to kill in war?
In a war in which the involved parties have all openly declared hostilities, killing enemy soldiers on the battlefield is legal. Since murder is illegal by definition, killing a soldier on the battlefield in a war can’t be murder. A soldier who kills an enemy under the rules of war isn’t a murderer.
What is the first rule of war?
Naturally someone had to ask the obvious, and the first rule of war turned out to be laconic, terse, and to judge by modern history, irrefutable: “Don’t march on Moscow!” Napoleon came to grief in this respect in 1812 when, as his own Marshal Ney put it: “General Famine and General Winter, rather than the Russian …
How many combat medics have died?
At least 220 medics, Navy corpsmen and other medical personnel have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They’re my heroes,” says the Pentagon’s top doctor, S.