Commando Order
The Commando Order () was issued by the OKW, the high command of the German armed forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allied commandos encountered in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender. Any commando or small group of commandos or a similar unit, agents, and saboteurs not in proper uniforms who fell into the hands of the German forces by some means other than direct combat (by being apprehended by the police in occupied territories, for instance), were to be handed  over immediately to the "" (SD, or Security Service) for execution. According to the OKW, this was to be done in retaliation for their opponents "employing in their conduct of the war, methods which contravene the International Convention of Geneva". The German high command alleged that they had ascertained from "captured orders" that Allied commandos were "instructed not only to tie up prisoners, but also to kill out-of-hand unarmed captives who they think might prove an encumbrance to them, or hinder them in successfully carrying out their aims", and that commandos had been ordered to kill prisoners. This order , which was issued in secret, made it clear that failure to carry out its directives by any commander or officer would be considered an act of negligence punishable under German military law. This was in fact the second "Commando Order", the first being issued by Gerd von Rundstedt on 21 July 1942, stipulating that parachutists should be handed over to the Gestapo. Shortly after World War II, at the Nuremberg Trials, the Commando Order was found to be a direct breach of the laws of war, and German officers who carried out illegal executions under the Commando Order were found  guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death, or, in two cases, extended incarceration. Background. The Commando Order mentioned violations of the Geneva Conventions by Allied commandos and cites these violations as justification for its directives. It is widely believed that reports of such violations at the Dieppe Raid and on a small raid on the Channel Island of Sark by the Small Scale Raiding Force (with some men of No. 12 Commando) brought Hitler's rage to a head. Dieppe Raid. On 19 August 1942, during a raid on Dieppe, a Canadian brigadier took a copy of the operational  order ashore against explicit orders. The order was subsequently discovered on the beach by the Germans and found its way to Hitler. Among the dozens of pages of orders was an instruction to "bind prisoners". The orders were for the Canadian forces participating in the raid, and not the commandos. Bodies of shot German prisoners with their hands tied were allegedly found by German forces after the battle. Sark Raid. On the night of 3–4 October 1942, ten men of the Small Scale Raiding Force and No. 12 Commando (attached) made an offensive raid on the German-occupied isle of  Sark, called "Operation Basalt", to reconnoitre the island and to take prisoners. During the raid, five prisoners were captured. To minimise the task of the guard left with the captives, the commandos tied the prisoners' hands behind their backs. According to the commandos, one prisoner started shouting to alert his comrades in a hotel and was shot dead. The remaining four prisoners were silenced by stuffing their mouths, according to Anders Lassen, with grass. En route to the beach, three prisoners made a break. Whether or not some had freed their hands during the escape has never been established, and  it is unknown whether all three broke at the same time. One was shot and another stabbed, while the third managed to escape. The fourth was conveyed safely back to England. German response and escalation. A few days after the Sark raid, the Germans issued a communiqué claiming that at least one prisoner had escaped and two were shot while they were escaping, having had their hands tied. They also claimed the "hand-tying" practice was used at Dieppe. Then, on 9 October Berlin announced that 1,376 Allied prisoners (mainly Canadians from Dieppe) would henceforth be shackled. The Canadians responded  with a similar-in-practise shackling of German POWs in Canada. The tit-for-tat shackling continued until the Swiss achieved agreement with the Canadians to desist on 12 December and with the Germans some time later after they received further assurances from the British. However, before the Canadians ended the policy, there was an uprising of German POWs at Bowmanville POW camp. On 7 October, Hitler personally penned a note in the Wehrmacht daily communiqué: Text. On 18 October, after much deliberation by High Command lawyers, officers and staff, Hitler issued his "Commando Order" or in secret, with only  12 copies. The following day Army Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl distributed 22 copies with an appendix stating that the order was "intended for commanders only and must not under any circumstances fall into enemy hands". The order itself stated: Allied casualties. The Commando Order was invoked to order the death of an unknown number of Allied special operations forces and behind-the-lines operators of the OSS, SOE, and other special forces elements. "Commandos" of those types captured were turned over to German security and police forces and transported to concentration camps for execution. The Gazette citation reporting the  awarding of the G.C. to Yeo-Thomas describes this process in detail. POW Allied airmen were also killed via the "Commando Order": War crime. The laws of war in 1942 stated, "it is especially forbidden ... to declare that no quarter will be given". This was established under Article 23 (d) of the 1907 Hague Convention "IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land". The Geneva Convention of 1929, which Germany had ratified, defined who should be considered a prisoner of war on capture, which included enemy soldiers in proper uniforms, and how they should be treated. Under both the  Hague and Geneva Conventions, it was legal to execute "spies and saboteurs" disguised in civilian clothes or uniforms of the enemy. The Germans claimed in paragraph one of their order that they were acting only in retaliation in a "quid pro quo" for claimed Allied violation of the Geneva Convention regarding the execution of prisoners and other heinous acts; however, insofar as the Commando Order applied to soldiers in proper uniforms, it was in direct and deliberate violation of both the customary laws of war and Germany's treaty obligations. The execution of Allied commandos without trial was also a  violation of Article 30 of the 1907 Hague Convention "IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land": "A spy taken in the act shall not be punished without previous trial." That provision includes only soldiers caught behind enemy lines in disguises, and not those wearing proper uniforms. Soldiers in proper uniforms cannot be punished for being lawful combatants and must be treated as prisoners of war upon capture except those disguised in civilian clothes or uniforms of the enemy for military operations behind enemy lines. The fact that Hitler's staff took special measures to keep the order  secret, including the limitation of its printing to 12 initial copies, strongly suggests that it was known to be illegal. He also knew the order would be unpopular with the professional military, particularly the part that stated it would stand even if captured commandos were in proper uniforms (in contrast to the usual provision of international law that only commandos disguised in civilian clothes or uniforms of the enemy could be treated as insurgents or spies, as stated in the "Ex parte Quirin", the "Hostages Trial", and the "Trial of Otto Skorzeny and others"). The order included measures designed to  force military staff to obey its provisions. Some commanders, including Rommel, had refused to relay the order to their troops since they considered it to be contrary to honourable conduct. Aftermath. German officers who carried out executions under the Commando Order were found guilty of war crimes in postwar tribunals, including at the Nuremberg Trials.