WARFARE RULES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20033, 4 September 1939, Page 9

WARFARE RULES

ASSURANCES GIVEN OBSERVANCE OF TERMS CIVILIAN BOMBING BAN CONDITION A L PLEDO E (Kli‘,\ Tol. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY. Sept. 2. The following statement has been isued for publication:— "T’ne Governments of Briiain and France solemnly and publicly affirm their intention, should war be forced upon them, to conduct the hostilities . ... of their armed forces prohibiting bombarding, whether from air or sea or by artillery on the land, or any except strictly military objectives in the narrowest sense of the word. "Bombardment by artillery on the land will exclude objectives, which have no strictly defined military importance, in particular urban areas situated outside the battle zone. They will furthermore, make every effort to avoid the destruction, ot localities or buildings which are of value to civilisation. "As regards the use of the naval forces, including submarines, the two Governments will abide strictly by the rules laid down in the Submarine Protocol of 1936, which has been accepted by nearly all civilised nations. Further, they will only employ_ their aircraft against merchant shipping at sea in conformity with the recognised rules applicable to the exercise of maritime belligerent rights by warships. Geneva Protocol “Finally, the two Allied Governments reaffirm their intention to abide by the terms of the Geneva Protocol, 1925, prohibiting the use in war ol poisonous or other gases and bacteriological methods of warfare. “An inquiry will be addresed to Germany as to whether she is prepared to give an asurance to the same effect. It will, of course, be understood that in the event of the enemy not observing any of the re-,--iv:cl:ons which Britain and France have thus imposed on the operations of their armed forces, these Governments reserve the right to take, all such action as they may consider appropriate.” The Foreign Office issued a joint declaration stating that the British and French Governments solemnly affirmed their intention that should war be forced upon them to conduct hostilities with* the firm desire to spare the civilian population and preserve all monuments of civilisation, for which reason they welcomed President Roosevelt’s appeal regarding air bombing. •