5-1. Introduction. This chapter discusses the law of armed conflict as it affects aerial bombardment. For discussion purposes, aerial bombardment includes dropping munitions from manned or unmanned aircraft, strafing, and using missiles or rockets against enemy targets on land. The historic development of legal principles and rules presently affecting aerial bombardment, and the persons and objects protected under international law are discussed. Other military air operations are discussed in other chapters.'

5-2. Development of Rules of Warfare Relative to Aerial Bombardment:

a. Hague Balloon Declarations.2 When the first Hague Peace Conference of 1899 met, aircraft capable of sustained flight and carrying bombs had not been invented although progress in aeronautical science fully justified the expectation that balloons capable of such military operations could be manufactured. The Conference, delaying decisions on exactly how to regulate aerial bombardment, adopted a Declaration forbidding the dropping of bombs from balloons for five years. From 1899 to 1907 aerial science made significant advances, highlighted by the historic Kitty Hawk flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903. At the Second Hague Conference in 1907, aerial bombardment received closer attention. In Hague Declaration XIV (1907), the Conference, again delaying exhaustive regulation of aerial bombardment pending technological developments, stated:

The Contracting Powers agree to prohibit, for a period extending to the close of the Third Peace Conference, the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other new methods of a similar nature. The present Declaration is only binding on the Contracting Powers in case of war between two or more of them. It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war

between the Contracting Powers, one of the belligerents is joined by a nonContracting Power (emphasis added). In fact, World War I prevented the holding of the Third Hague Peace Conference, and thus the Declaration was overtaken by subsequent events.

b. Hague Conventions IV and IX. (1907). The Second Hague Peace Conference did agree upon other Conventions and Declarations which have turned out to be more significant to aerial bombardment than the Balloon Declaration. A principal Hague treaty was Hague Convention IV Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV) with annexed Regulations (HR). The Hague Regulations not only bind states which have agreed to them, such as the United States, but also reflect customary rules binding on all nations and all armed forces in international conflicts. The Hague Regulations are not historical curiosities but remain viable, active and enforceable standards for combatants.

(1) The following Articles of the Hague Regulations are relevant:

SECTION II. HOSTILITIES.
Chapter I. Means of Injuring the En-
emy, Sieges, and Bombardments.
ARTICLE 22.

The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.

ARTICLE 23.

In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden

a. To employ poison or poisoned weapons;

b. To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;

c. To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no

longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;

d. To declare that no quarter will be given;

e. To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering;

f. To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention;

g. To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;

h. To declare abolished, suspended, or inadmissible in a Court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party.

In sieges and bombardments all necessary measures must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.

It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs, which shall be notified to the enemy beforehand.

(2) The Preamble to Hague IV is also of significance, stating in relevant part:

According to the views of the High

Contracting Parties, these provisions, the wording of which has been inspired by the desire to diminish the evils of war, so far as military requirements permit, are intended to serve as a general rule of conduct for the belligerents in their mutual relations and in their relations with the inhabitants.

It has not, however, been found possible at present to concert Regulations covering all the circumstances which arise in practice;

On the other hand, the High Contracting Parties clearly do not intend that unforeseen cases should, in the absence of a written undertaking, be left to the arbitrary judgment of military commanders.

Until a more complete code of the laws of war has been issued, the High Contracting Parties deem it expedient to declare that, in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, the inhabitants and the belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity, and from the dictates of the public conscience.

(3) The following articles of the Hague Convention Concerning Bombardment By Naval Forces In Time Of War (Hague IX). entry into force for the United States on 26 January 1910, are also of considerable significance to aerial bombardment.

Chapter 1. The Bombardment of Unde-
fended Ports, Towns, Villages, Dwell-
ings, or Buildings
ARTICLE 1.

The bombardment by naval forces of undefended ports, towns, villages. dwellings, or buildings is forbidden.

A place cannot be bombarded solely because automatic submarine contact mines are anchored off the harbour. ARTICLE 2.

Military works, military or naval establishments, depots of arms or war materiel, workshops or plant which