Youjo Senki - Vol. 14 Ch. 38 - Trial by Fire IV

[cryum]

The "correct" choice for the francois forces at that point would be to completely abandon the civilians escaping and draw the firefight elsewhere. But that assumes that the leader(who was just taken out) could read the intention of the empire to take out high value targets(them).

Using your own civilians as shields was a terrible idea, anyway.

 

[greatninja3]

Well their target was the militant and the soldiers the rest are just collateral. It’s not their fault they used civilians as meat shields and used magical shields that require them to use high caliber rounds that kills people in a 5 meter radius.

 

[ShaiHH]

Moral issues aside, wasn't the point that even a day of disrupted supply lines might break the Front?
Stomping the city into dust, sure as hell will destroy the railways too, for days if not weeks.
So carpet Bombing doesn't seem to fit the intended purpose.

 

[yohane]

holy shit, the anime episode have done this chapter no justice
especially since the anime portrait Glanz as a veteran that fought by Tanya's side since the beginning of her battalion, not as a new recruit

 

[Kathartes]

Seems like both Francois army and those civilians haven't grown up from medieval warfare mindset yet. They think "war" means the soldiers bashing each other's head on open field, then whoever wins will march into the city declaring victory, while civilians still doing their own shit. Too bad, the era of atrocity has come at full force.

@ShaiHH
I think railways don't run through the city, but right beside it. Erasing this city will prevent enemy having a sweet spot to bombard supply train every time they see one.

 

[unk0damnation]

Much intense, much dark.

 

[x754]

Keep in mind that strategic level bombing carried out during World War I and World War II was permissible under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and no modern restrictions were placed until the Geneva Convention of 1949. Under the Hague Conventions the definition of a "defended settlement" included the presence of any military units or anti-aircraft weapons, and any defended settlement was a legal target. Even in the Geneva Convention of 1949, the definition of "lawful combatants" includes civilian inhabitants who spontaneously take up arms to resist invaders, so any civilians who fight back with weapons can also be treated equally to other soldiers.

Also keep in mind that not all countries are necessarily bound by international military laws. The United States has not ratified Geneva Convention Protocols 1 and 2, so if the US does not have any national military restrictions of its own, then US military forces are not legally prohibited to:
[ul]- endanger prisoners or subject them to unnecessary or nonstandard medical procedures (Protocol 1.11.1)
- perform physical mutilations, medical or scientific experiments on prisoners (P 1.11.2)
- remove tissue or organs from prisoners for transplantation (P 1.11.3)
- attack medical units (P 1.12)
- withhold information about missing or dead people (P 1.33)
- offer and give no quarter, that is, ignore surrender (P 1.40)
- attack people parachuting from aircraft in distress (P 1.42)
etc.[/ul]
Some unpleasant realizations for people carrying weapons around - if you start using your weapon, you become a "lawful combatant" rather than a "civilian".

 

[welcome2atlantis]

Burn them all!
I can't wait to watch the movie.

 

[mireaderc]

Tanya does terror more effectively than the NZ shooter.
Then again, WWII was probably like that.

 

[Huapollon]

@Kathartes You mean Renaissance warfare... Medieval warfare involves taking over a settlement, pillage and rape your way through the populace, murder and enslave the rest as serfs, then assign one of your thugs to watch over the land and declare the territory yours for all posterity. (ie. Norman Invasion of England, the Crusades, etc. etc.)

 

[mahtan]

Glory to Arstoztka! ... I mean, the Fatherland!

 

[Zael]

Was that a 20th Century Boys reference? (Or do multiple authors like that particular expo so much..?)

 

[ThunderaMaou]

The author of this series is a genius he depeticts a mix of WWI and WWII that is historical correct while also showing the emotions of these soldiers going through the war and their choices and thoughts. It's marvelous how each of Tanya's choices have affected the series in the future, which creates an accurate timeline in the story.

 

[ultimatehaki]

Page 41, bottom panel. That's the reason this manga is so freaking funny Serious shit going down but the visuals are hilarious

 

[Kirin-kun]

Arene actually symbolizes the city of Reims in France during WWI, I think. Mainly because of the pictures of the Cathedral in this chapter.

In order to shake the morale of the French, the Germans, pretending some shells came from it, bombed the Cathedral and burned it to the ground.

At the end of the war, 60% of the city was destroyed, around 20.000 shells falling on the city and 300 on the Cathedral.

The result was the complete opposite of what was intended. https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/bombing-the-cathedral-of-rheims/

And yes, page 36 gives me chills.

 

[VIVIT]

@x754
aside firearms what are considering "weapon" in this law?

 

[Robbini]

@Fuminino
Francois were dependant on a very stringent interpretation of the laws and the Empire upholding them as the main part of their strategy.
The Empire essentially gave them a short-timed choice : 1) Uphold the laws you're exploiting and immediately give up your plan or sacrifice your civilians for it or 2) Ignore the loopholes you're exploiting and press on, hoping the Empire would value a rebellious bunch of citizens over their own troops at the frontline or 3) Atleast keep control of your own troops and keep from committing further war crimes which would give the Empire more reasons to take drastic measures to deal with your plan.
Francois could've evacuated the troops, and removed any visible signs of partisans / militia, which might've avoided the bombardment until they act up again.
Francois could've evacuated the non-combatants as they were legally obligated to do, unless they wanted to actively use them as meatshields, which would've removed most civilian casualties.
Basically, if your entire strategy is about using your own citizens as both meatshields and partisans and hoping the enemy would only consider them as civilians, and not come up with an equally exploiting method to deal with your loopholes, it's a very limited plan.

@cryum
Or the Empire's ability to... legalize the way they dealt with the situation.

 

[guih34]

This was a great chapter.

 

[Faryshta]

@yohange he is both. Regiment 203 is practically new, on the events of this chapter its been only a few months since it was officially created.

The guy is both a new recruit and someone who fought with Tanya from the beggining because Tanya has been a Major for a really short amount of time.

 

[Uvenam]

@nachtness https://imgur.com/a/TLfPtyq right here sir

@beepboop1 I have that resolution. Since the original image is small, it is gonna be streched for any size monitor that isn't a small mobile phone. You can stretch the image to fit a 1980x1080 from 1366x768, but either way the image will look somewhat poor. Case in point: