Editor's Comment - RECONNAISSANCE Autumn Issue 2023
Editor's Comment from the Autumn 2023 Issue of Reconnaissance , the quarterly magazine of the Military History Society of NSW. Welcome to the Autumn 2023 issue of Reconnaissance . The daily scenes of death and destruction from Ukraine on our television sets seem to have heightened our awareness of war’s brutality. In particular there is a wave of revulsion against the gratuitous murder of civilians, including children, and horrific torture and mistreatment of POWs. For some it is hard to believe such things can still happen in today’s world. This disturbing turn of events may have prompted the two war crimes related articles presented in this issue of Reconnaissance . First, our cover feature by Dr Andrew Wilson exposes a long hidden episode from the Second World War to belated scrutiny. Enraged by Nazi inspired racial hatreds, Wehrmacht troops invading France in May 1940 subjected French colonial troops of African origin to inhuman savagery. Dr