2000, ISBN: 1574882457

Gebundene Ausgabe

[EAN: 9781574882452], [PU: Washington DC. 2000. Brassey's Inc.], Jacket, tan hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. mint cond. looks… Mehr…

[EAN: 9781574882452], [PU: Washington DC. 2000. Brassey's Inc.], Jacket, tan hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. mint cond. looks new. like new. as new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. not worn or torn or price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition so stated. first printing (#1 in # line). xx+186p. b&w map. b&w photo illustrations. glossary of german terms. bibliography. index. world war ii. nazi germany. american history. military history. third reich. ~ W olfsangel documents the downing of an American B~24 bomber crew over Germany during World War II, the airmen's lynching by an enraged mob in the city of Riisselsheim, and the extraordinary postwar trial that sent five civilians to the gallows. On August 26, 1944, the downed crew members of the bomber Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ma~am! found themselves trapped in Riisselsheim while en route to a prisoner~of~war camp. This was the morning after a bombing raid by the British Royal Air Force that devastated Russelsheim's historic district. Mistaking the eight American airmen for the bombers of the previous night, a crowd of Riisselsheimers unleashed their pent~up hatred upon the defenseless prisoners. As the airmen were led through the city by Luftwaffe guards, angry citizens beat, clubbed, stoned, and shot them. Six were killed. After the war, the U.S. Army organized a special war crimes commission to investigate the Riisselsheim incident. Legal procedures established by the commission set a groundbreaking precedent for the more famous Nuremburg war crimes tribunal. The commission also suspended some of the normal Anglo~Saxon rules of evidence, as well as some of the standard court~martial procedures. Lt. Col. Leon Jaworski, who gained fame three decades later as special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal, prosecuted the case against the eleven Riisselsheimers. Five were ultimately hanged. August Nigro wrestles with the moral dilemmas that the Riisselsheim case raises about total war and the prosecution of war crimes. While condemning the inexcusable murders of the American airmen, Nigro asks whether it is just to condone bombing and terrorizing civilians far behind the frontlines, yet to punish by death civilians who seek revenge against the enemy who destroyed their community? Furthermore, is it just for a conquering army to try the conquered by legal procedures different from those under which it would try its own people? These questions are more relevant now than ever before, as today's world leaders grapple with prosecuting war crimes in the Balkans, Rwanda, and elsewhere, Books<