The Biscari massacre was a war crime committed by U.S. troops during World War II, where unarmed German and Italian prisoners of war were supposedly killed at Biscari in 1943. A war crime is a punishable offense, under international (criminal) law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ...

Following the capture of Biscari Airfield in Sicily on July 14, 1943, seventy-six German and Italian POWs were shot by American troops of the 180th Regimental Combat Team, 45th Division during the Allied invasion Operation Husky. These killings occurred in two separate incidents between July and August 1943. The first incident involved 34 Italians and 2 Germans, while the second involved 40 Italians. The shootings violated Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs. Sicilian disambiguates here; see also Sicilian language or Sicilian Defence. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... Husky was also the codename of Australian military support to Sierra Leone ending in February 2003. ... The Third Geneva Convention (GCIII) primarily regarded the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs), and also touched on other topics. ...

Sergeant Horace T. West was charged in the first incident with killing the 36 POWs under his charge. General George Patton upon hearing of the charge directed the corps commander General Omar Bradley to order West to tell the court that the prisoners were "snipers or attempting to escape or something". Bradley refused. West admitted that he had participated in the shootings, was found guilty, stripped of rank and sentenced to life in prison, though he was later released as a private. In the second incident, Captain John T. Compton was court-martialed for killing 40 POWs in his charge. He claimed to be following orders. The investigating officer and the Judge Advocate declared that Compton's actions were unlawful, but he was acquitted. Compton was merely transferred to another regiment and died a year later fighting in Italy. This was seen at the time as a clear case of injustice and differing treatment for officers and NCOs. General George Smith Patton Jr. ... General of the Army Omar N. Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during the World War II and a General of the Army of the United States Army. ... A private is a military soldier of the lowest military rank (equivalent to Nato Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in). ... A non-commissioned officer (sometimes noncommissioned officer), also known as an NCO or noncom, is a non-commissioned member of an armed force who has been given authority by a commissioned officer. ...

Those involved claimed in their defence they were following orders. They quoted General George Patton’s speech to them before the invasion of Sicily: General George Smith Patton Jr. ...

When we land against the enemy, don't forget to hit him and hit him hard. When we meet the enemy we will kill him. We will show him no mercy. He has killed thousands of your comrades and he must die. If you company officers in leading your men against the enemy find him shooting at you and when you get within two hundred yards of him he wishes to surrender- oh no! That bastard will die! You will kill him. Stick him between the third and fourth ribs. You will tell your men that. They must have the killer instinct. Tell them to stick him. Stick him in the liver. We will get the name of killers and killers are immortal. When word reaches him that he is being faced by a killer battalion he will fight less. We must build up that name as killers. (Botting 355)

After the massacre Patton was said to have stated the prisoners had been shot in ordered rows was "an even greater error". This it has been claimed was because Patton realised that leaving such evidence clearly indicated the POWs were obviously shot in cold blood and not in battle, which would obviously have allowed the killings to escape detection. Neither Patton nor the unit commanding officer, Colonel E Cookson, was held officially responsible in any way. In comparison, in 1946 Waffen-SS General Sepp Dietrich and SS Colonel Joachim Peiper were found guilty of war crimes at the Malmedy Massacre Trial by the Dachau International Military Tribunal, and both received long prison sentences for their parts in the Malmedy massacre of American soldiers, which took place during the Battle of the Bulge. Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich Josef Sepp Dietrich also known as Ujac (May 28, 1892–April 21/22, 1966) was a German Waffen-SS general, an SS-Oberstgruppenführer, and one of the closest men to Hitler. ... Joachim Peiper Joachim Peiper (1915 - 1976) more often known as Jochen Peiper from the common German nickname for Joachim; born on January 30, 1915, was a senior Waffen-SS officer and commander in the Panzer campaigns of 1939-1945. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... The Malmedy massacre The Malmédy Massacre Trial was held in May-July 1946 in Dachau to try the German Waffen-SS soldiers accused of the Malmédy massacre of December 17, 1944. ... The Dachau Military Tribunal was set up after World War II by the Judge Advocate Department of the U.S. Third Army to conduct proceedings against minor war criminals found in the United States sectors of occupation in Germany and Austria, and those accused of committing war crimes against American... United States soldiers discover the aftermath of the Malmédy Massacre. ... Combatants Germany Commanders Dwight D. Eisenhower Gerd von Rundstedt Strength 500,000 men, 400 tanks, 400 guns (Dec 16 - start of the Battle) 600,000 men, 600 tanks, 1,900 guns (Dec 16 - start of the Battle) Casualties 80,987 casualties (10,276 dead, 23,218 missing, 47,493 wounded...

Patton also became embroiled in the Canicatti slaughter of a dozen unarmed civilians, including six children, at a soap factory after the town had already surrendered to Allied forces in July 1943. The incident was later covered up. The Canicatti slaughter was a war crime committed by Allied forces during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, in which at least a dozen unarmed Italian civilians, including six children, were killed by U.S. troops under the command of General George Patton. ...

References

• James Weingartner, `Massacre at Biscari: Patton and An American War Crime, The Historian LII, no. 1, (November 1989), 24-39.
• Botting, Douglas & Sayer, Ian: Hitler's Last General: The case against Wilhelm Mohnke. Bantam Books, London, 1989, 354-9

Douglas Botting in front of the late biographee Gerald Durrells library Douglas Botting (b. ...

See also

• List of massacres