“just for perspective, in WWI the Germans actually called the doughboys use of pump 12 gauges firing buckshot “inhumane”. They filed a diplomatic protest which we promptly ignored.”
I’ve never heard of that before. Those krauts start wars and when the tables are turned, start bitching about what they did wrong..
‘The German is either at your throat or at your feet’-Churchill.
From Wiki under Winchester 1897 article.
(sources at the article)
Although the Model 1897 was popular with American troops in World War I, it wasn’t so popular with the German troops. “On 19 September 1918, the German government issued a diplomatic protest against the American use of shotguns, alleging that the shotgun was prohibited by the law of war.” A part of the German protest read; “It is especially forbidden to employ arms, projections, or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering”.”This is the only known occasion in which the legality of actual combat use of the shotgun has been raised. However, the United States interpreted their use of the shotgun differently than Germany. The Judge Advocate General of the Army, Secretary of State Robert Lansing carefully considered and reviewed the applicable law and promptly rejected the German protest.
The rejection of their protest greatly upset the German forces, because they believed they were treated unjustly in the war. Shortly after the protest was rejected, Germany issued threats that they would punish all captured American soldiers that were found to be armed with a shotgun. This led to the United States issuing a retaliation threat, stating that any measures unjustly taken against captured American soldiers would lead to an equal act by the United States on captured German soldiers.
After the German unsuccessfully protested the American use of combat shotguns, the German Army command threatened special punishmnet to any American soldier captured while carrying one. I think we’re talking “battlefield punishment” or summary execution here. The US Army simply threatened to retaliate against German prisoners held by our forces.
By 1918 we were capturing more of theirs than they had of ours, so this was a losing proposition for the German Army.