740.00117 Pacific War/119
The Department of State to the Spanish Embassy
Memorandum
The Department of State refers to its memorandum of June 26, 194441 acknowledging the receipt of memorandum no. 154 (Ex. 119.01) of June 16, 1944 from the Spanish Embassy in charge of Japanese interests in the continental United States transmitting the text of a protest from the Japanese Government alleging attacks by United States aircraft on certain hospital installations at Rabaul.
Careful consideration has been accorded by the United States military authorities to the charges contained in the protest of the Japanese Government incorporated in the Embassy’s memorandum under acknowledgment. These authorities have recently reported that on May 23 and 24, 1944 fighter and bomber aircraft attacked a ridge about 600 yards northeast of the town of Rabaul, on which were installed concentrations of heavy, automatic and machine gun antiaircraft weapons. On this same ridge, interspersed among and in close proximity to the anti-aircraft gun positions, were many buildings including several marked with red crosses, and one of the buildings which was marked in this manner was only about 300 yards from three heavy anti-aircraft positions.
The aircraft attacks on May 23 and 24 were directed at these concentrations of anti-aircraft guns. During the course of these attacks, several of the buildings on the ridge were unintentionally damaged or destroyed. As the Japanese Government does not specifically identify the hospitals which it is alleged were deliberately and intentionally attacked, it is presumed that they were situated among the gun positions.
The United States Government has in the past and intends in the future to observe the principles of international law, including the Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed at The Hague on October 18, 1907 and the Red Cross Convention signed at Geneva on July 27, 1929. However, if the Japanese authorities choose to place hospitals adjacent to legitimate military targets, it is quite possible that those installations will be damaged or destroyed unintentionally during the course of attacks directed at the military targets.
In view of the foregoing, the United States Government rejects the protest of the Japanese Government and disclaims all responsibility for any and all damage allegedly received by hospitals situated in the area attacked on May 23 and 24, 1944.
- Not printed.↩