Talk:Leonard Siffleet

Question
What I think is missing from this article is whether Sergeant Siffleet would have been entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, if Japan had been a signatory. Infamously Nazi Germany, which was a signatory to the GC, had a secret order to execute without formal trial any allied commandos caught behind German lines. I read "Cockleshell Heroes" -- an account of the canoe raid that left limpet mines far up the Gironde River. The commander of that unit had devised special camouflage uniforms, with markings of ranks, etc, which he thought fulfilled the requirement that lawful combatants wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance" (usually characterized as wearing a uniform).

Of course the Japanese shouldn't have tortured Siffleet. Under what conditions would the Japanese have been entitled to execute him, if they had been signatories to the Geneva Conventions?

The famous film "The Battle of the Bulge" shows the Germans sending handpicked German volunteers behind the American lines, wearing American uniforms. There is a grain of truth behind this. The Germans did try to infiltrate 48 English speaking German soldiers behind American lines during this battle -- 12 teams of 4, each driving a single captured jeep. In contrast to the movie, these infiltrators were ineffective. However, the mere existence of a couple of dozen infiltrators caused panic and chaos.

One team was captured, taken to American HQ, where they were promptly tried and executed. One team made it back to the German lines. There is no formal record of what happened to the remaining ten jeeps.

Otto Skorzeny, the famous Nazi commando leader who was in overall command of that unit, had been told by German military lawyers that wearing American uniforms was a legitimate ruse de guerre -- so long as the infiltrators took off their American uniforms, and put on German uniforms, prior to firing back, if they came under fire.

Surely Australian experts have commented on this issue? Do they think Siffleet was in compliance with the Geneva Conventions? Geo Swan (talk) 17:34, 9 June 2013 (UTC)


 * He was a member of an Australian military unit, and I've never seen any suggestion that members of this unit operated wearing anything but military uniforms so that seems a moot question. What reason do you have to suppose that Siffleet was operating in an illegal manner? Given that the Australian War Memorial says that Siffleet's executor was convicted for his murder after the war, the legalities seem clear. Nick-D (talk) 23:20, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Lae War Cemetery - Sgt Stiffleet's monument
Hello, I have updated the page Lae_War_Cemetery with photos which also include St Stiffleet's entry in the monument.

For information of interested persons and a call to see if anyone might assist with formatting, prose.

Phenss (talk) 04:26, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

sorry I hit "enter" too soon
I made a change just now noted as "added parentheses so we can more easily make out". I intended to add " 'war dead who have no known grave' ". This does not affect the actual change, just completes a remark I accidentally left incomplete. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.47 (talk) 15:27, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

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