disarmed enemy forces (def), andâless commonlynote: used for german troops in northern italy, not to be confused with the british equivalent "surrendered enemy personnel"âsurrendered enemy forces, was a u.s. designation, both for soldiers who surrendered to an adversary after hostilities ended, and for those previously surrendered pows who were held in camps in occupied german territory at that time.note: in april the war department approved treating all members of the german armed forces captured after the declaration of eclipse conditions, or the cessation of hostilities, and all prisoners of war not evacuated from germany immediately after the conclusion of hostilities, as 'disarmed enemy forces', and specified that such captives would be responsible for feeding and maintaining themselves. this ruling did not apply to war criminals, wanted individuals, and security suspects, who were to be imprisoned, fed, and controlled by allied forces. the war department further directed that there be no public declaration made on the status of the german armed forces. (smith p. 93) it is mainly referenced to dwight d. eisenhower's designation of german prisoners in post world war ii occupied germany.icrc commentaries on the convention (iii) relative to the treatment of prisoners of war article 5 "one category of military personnel which was refused the advantages of the convention in the course of the second world war comprised german and japanese troops who fell into enemy hands on the capitulation of their countries in 1945 (6). the german capitulation was both political, involving the dissolution of the government, and military, whereas the japanese capitulation was only military. moreover, the situation was different since germany was a party to the 1929 convention and japan was not. nevertheless, the german and japanese troops were considered as surrendered enemy personnel and were deprived of the protection provided by the 1929 convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war. the allied authorities took the view that unconditional surrender amounted to giving a free hand to the detaining powers as to the treatment they might give to military personnel who fell into their hands following the capitulation. in fact, these men were frequently in a very different situation from that of their comrades who had been taken prisoner during the hostilities, since very often they had not even gone into [p.76] action against the enemy. although on the whole the treatment given to surrendered enemy personnel was fairly favourable, it presented certain disadvantages: prisoners in this category had thei
Dwight_D._Eisenhower Prisoners_of_war