How Often Are Prisoners Of War Murdered?

How Often Are Captured Enemies Killed? -- Jonathan Beale, BBC

How often do armed forces personnel kill the enemy they capture?

The conviction of a Royal Marine for the murder of a captured Afghan insurgent has made headlines because, by and large, we live in a society where it's assumed soldiers follow the rules of international law.

But anyone who has studied warfare will know that it has happened all too often in the past. In fact, there was a time when it was relatively rare to see mercy on the battlefield.

The norm was for the victor to wreak vengeance on the enemy, even after they surrendered.

The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 may be remembered as a famous English victory. But it's also where King Henry V ordered the execution of thousands of captured French prisoners.

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My Comment: Killing prisoners has happened throughout history .... and the fear has always been the same .... you did not want prisoners to survive so that they could fight another day. My father fought on the Eastern front for the Soviet Union during the Second World War. As he put it to me bluntly once .... shooting prisoners was the rule and not the exception. It was only when Soviet soldiers started to enter Poland and Germany that this "unofficial" policy was rescinded. Jumping into today's conflicts .... in places like Syria it is very rare to see captured prisoners .... killing them is the preferred choice .... and it is done by both sides.