Military use of children in World War II
Numbers decreased significantly (to just over one million) once the war began, as many local and district leaders were conscripted for the national army.
[1] Near the end of the war, one Hitler Youth soldier, Heinz Shuetze aged 15 from Leipzig, was only given a half-day of training with a Panzerfaust.
[2] Huge numbers of underage males were removed from school in early 1945, and sent on what were essentially suicide missions.
Later, in 1942, the Wehrertüchtigungslager or WEL (Defense Strengthening Camps) were created in Germany; they were designed to train Hitler Youth boys aged 16–18.
[5] Even younger boys from the ages of 10–14 years could be involved in the Hitler Youth movement, under the Deutsches Jungvolk.
[6] Avoiding direct armed conflict, their primary role was to produce healthy, racially pure baby boys.
[8] Towards the end of the war, the Germans established an entire SS Panzer Division with the majority of its recruits being 16- and 17-year-old boys from the Hitler Youth brigades.
[7] The 12th SS Panzer Division of the Hitlerjugend was established later in World War II as Germany suffered more casualties, and more young people "volunteered", initially as reserves, but soon joined front line troops.
[13] Children as young as 8 were reported as having been captured by American troops, with boys aged 12 and under manning artillery units.
[7] In anticipation of the possible Allied invasion of Japan, Japanese military authorities also trained young teenagers to fight the enemy with bamboo spears and other (often poorly) improvised weapons.
And student soldiers "Tekketsu Kinnotai" were killed such as in suicide attacks against a tank with bombs and in guerrilla operations.
[15] Many Polish political leaders fled Warsaw at the onset of war, and those who remained were generally executed, jailed or forced to serve on the Jewish Council (Judenrat).
Unlike many other instances of the use of child soldiers, participation of children in this armed resistance is usually regarded positively.
[18] A number of child soldiers served in the Soviet Union's armed forces during World War II.
Such children were affectionately known as "sons of the regiment" (Russian: сын полка) and sometimes willingly performed military missions such as reconnaissance.
[20] In the United Kingdom, boys of 17 were accepted into the Home Guard (popularly nicknamed "Dad's Army"[21]) when it was formed in 1940 in preparation for a German invasion and as a "last line of defense".
[22] On 27 September 1942, the minimum age for entry into the Home Guard was lowered to 16, provided that there was parental consent.
Following World War I, in 1924 the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
[36] Immediately following World War II, children involved in armed conflict were not able to be prosecuted, as the legislative instruments did not exist to do so.
This includes "neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age".
[38] Under the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or armed groups, those children accused of war crimes, should primarily be treated as victims and treated in accordance with international law under restorative justice, rehabilitation that is consistent with child protection treaties and principles.
