Chapter

The Norwegian coastal steamer and the Pan American Airways Corporation : military objectives and direct civilian participation in hostilities during World War II ?

Magne Frostad

Herausforderungen an Staat und Verfassung : Völkerrecht – Europarecht – Menschenrechte : Liber Amicorum für Torsten Stein zum 70. Geburtstag

Baden-Baden : Nomos, 2015

p. 78-97

English

Photocopies

The question of what may be attacked during an armed conflict has been of importance to commanders for a long time. This paper seeks to identify and apply both the rules applicable to former days and, as an experiment, the current ones, to some of the activities of two transport entities which to a lesser or lager extent participated in the general war effort during World War II: The Norwegian coastal steamer and the Pan American Airways Corporation. This paper also considers the legal status of their crews; were they belligerents, civilians participating directly in hostilities, or ordinary civilians (who may not be attacked themselves but may suffer collaterally from an attack on a military object). The paper will begin with an overview of the activities of these two transport entities of relevance to the topics at hand, before the issues of military objective and the status of the crews are addressed.

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