GREAT BRITAIN’S VIEWS OF EXISTING CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAWS REGARDING WARFARE DURING AND AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939–48

Abstract

During WWII, Great Britain and Nazi Germany fought against each other in a brutal war with massive death tolls and atrocities affecting both sides. At the end of the war, high-ranking German leaders went on trial by the Allies for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” with multiple leaders of the Third Reich being punished with prison or execution at the gallows. As a key member of the Allied nations, British wartime leaders faced no trials for any injustices that were committed against Nazi Germany and the fascist Kingdom of Italy. Britain, during WWII, allegedly committed atrocities against Nazi soldiers and German civilians, which would constitute war crimes under The Hague and Geneva Conventions. An investigation of these attacks shows that Great Britain largely acted through the concept of “reprisal,” or retaliation against Nazi Germany for previous attacks. While Great Britain had a right to go to war (jus ad bellum), Britain’s wartime policies did not follow proper, legal conduct (jus in bello) of armed warfare during WWII. There have been a few scholarly works that look at Great Britain’s alleged war crimes against the Third Reich. This thesis will investigate how Great Britain interpreted existing international customary laws (CILs) to conduct the policies and actions of soldiers during WWII. While analyzing multiple alleged war crimes through international customary laws, I argue that the state of Great Britain did commit numerous war crimes against Nazi Germany during WWII and that Britain’s leaders avoided punishment because of being a victorious nation in the war. Furthermore, I will argue that Britain’s wartime leaders such as Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Air Marshal Arthur Harris, Deputy Air Marshal Robert Saundby, and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Scotland were liable to have been held accountable for their actions through war crimes trials, just like the leaders of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich faced after WWII concluded.