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Given the later German practice of defining Allied Commandos as spies, and thus not under the protection of the Geneva Conventions, it is worth examining the American regulations concerning espionage and treason, as outlined in chapter 6 of the same military manual. ” The key prerequisite for identifying spies was the use of a disguise in an attempt to gather information. 94 Germany, 1939 As with the Canadians, British, and Americans, German military policy, at the start of the war, regarding the treatment of prisoners of war was entirely in keeping with the Geneva Convention of 1929.

However, the distinction between nationality and ethnicity seemed to have confused the issue for many Germans. The basic rule of thumb that the uniform determined the nationality of the prisoner of war, for the purposes of his captivity, was confirmed in the middle of June 1941, when the OKW began sending fortnightly compilations of orders concerning prisoners of war (Befehlsammlungen), in addition to occasional individual orders. General Issues on Policy and Prisoners-of war Camps 39 The first of these, after establishing the administrative mechanism for future collective orders, clarified and cofirmed the important issue regarding the determination of a prisoner of war’s nationality: the uniform in which an enemy soldier was captured indeed determined his prisoner-of-war nationality.

Regardless of whether they were captured in civilianstyle clothing or uniforms, a large dot and the letters “Kgf”20 were to be painted on the back, so they could be recognized as prisoners of war from a distance. Further classifications and reports concerning them were to be made using the same procedures as for other prisoners of war. They were considered exclusively as members of the partisan band in which they fought, and were not to receive consideration for ranks they previously might have held with a regular army, unless they could offer unequivocal proof of the rank themselves.