The Kingdom of serbia : report upon the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Army during the first invasion of Serbia

MASSACRES OF CIVILIANS 145

part in the military operations. In other words, the civil population was supposed to have fired upon the troops. But my enquiry has proved to me that most certainly the overwhelming majority of the civil population never fired a shot or perpetrated any act of hostility towards the Austro-Hungarian troops. It is possible that here and there a peasant may have fired a shot at the enemy, but even if such occasions have arisen, the Austro-Hungarians had no right to execute hostages, and this in virtue of article 50 of the Hague Convention of October 18,1907, signed by their Government. This Article stipulates: “No collective punishment, pecuniary or otherwise, may be pronounced upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which the population cannot be held collectively responsible.”

It is very probable, and I shall explain this in the chapter devoted to the causes of the massacre, that the Austro-Hungarian troops occasionally looked upon the non-uniformed soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd levy as peasant francs-tireurs.

The Austrian explanation, that the executions were necessitated by the hostile conduct of the population may be formally disposed of by the following facts :

1. When an army finds itself obliged to execute civilians for illegally taking part in warlike actions, the guilty parties are shot. No army should stoop so low as to inflict further punishment on persons who, as a matter of fact, are only defending their own country. Almost one-half of the victims of the Austro-Hungarians were bayoneted or clubbed

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