An infinite number of acts minutely and officially investigated have established that our troops and our Nation should never count on the observance of these laws and that the atrocities committed prove to be not only individual violations dishonoring merely the perpetrator, but violations premeditated and ordered in cold blood by the commanders with the moral support of the heads of the enemy nation.
These laws are nevertheless repeated here in order that:
1. The knowledge of how the war should have been conducted may develop in the heart of each man the sentiment of hate (applicable only to foes such as we actually have), that in no case should a chief of platoon tolerate any intercourse between his men and the enemy other than that of the rifle; this duty is explicit and not to be departed from except in the case of the wounded and prisoners incapable of doing harm.
2. That every violator of these laws, taken in the act, shall be the subject of an immediate report with witnesses, then sent to the division headquarters to be tried as to the facts of the case.
The laws of war resulted from the Geneva convention, from the declaration of St. Petersburg (Petrograd), and from the different Hague conventions. All these diplomatic papers were signed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
The following are the principal articles:
Protect the wounded on the field of battle from pillage and from bad treatment; respect ambulances and evacuation convoys; respect the personnel exclusively concerned with the transportation, treatment and guarding of wounded; do not treat this personnel as prisoners of war if it falls into the hands of the enemy; but return such personnel, as well as material, when its retention shall be no longer necessary for the care of the wounded prisoners.
Refrain from employing any projectile which weighs less than 400 grams that is either explosive or loaded with incendiary or inflammable material, from all projectiles having for their sole object the spreading of asphyxiating or harmful gases, all expanding bullets or those which will easily flatten out inside the human body, such as jacketed bullets whose jacket does not entirely cover the core or is nickel.
Forbid the use of poisons or of poisoned arms, killing or wounding an enemy who has thrown down his arms and surrendered; declarations that there will be no quarter; refrain from bombarding towns and cities which are not defended, from firing on churches, historical monuments, edifices devoted to the arts, to science, to charity, to sick and wounded and which are marked by a conspicuous signal known to the enemy.
Prisoners should be treated as to rations, housing and clothing the same as troops of the country which has captured them. All their personal belongings, except their arms and military papers, should be left in their possession.