Perfidy: Russians in Ukraine following Waffen-SS deception in the Bulge

In the battered town of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian troops say they are facing a tactic that has long been condemned by the laws of war – infiltrations by Russian troops dressed in civilian clothes.

"The enemy very often changes into civilian clothes and disguises himself," a Ukrainian officer told the Kyiv Post.

"We cannot fire on civilians; however, there are situations when a person in civilian clothes enters into gunfights and inflicts damage on our positions."

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Known as perfidy, this tactic raises both moral and legal issues and is considered a war crime under the Law of Armed Conflict or International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Under IHL, armed forces are allowed to use certain types of deception – known as ruses of war.

Armies can feign a retreat, for instance, use camouflage or issue fake signals to confuse the enemy.

But when soldiers make it seem as if they deserve protection – by flying a white flag or wearing civilian clothes – but then attack, that is classed as perfidy.

The reason it is so frowned upon is because it undermines the trust that allows civilians, as well as wounded or surrendering soldiers, to expect they will be protected.

Once that trust is shattered, life for civilians living in places like Pokrovsk becomes hugely dangerous as Ukrainian forces can no longer safely distinguish non-combatants from the enemy.

So why is the Russian army resorting to this?

Well, the battle for Pokrovsk is important. The town is – or was – a key logistics hub for the Ukrainian army, although most of it is now rubble.

For the Russians, taking it would open the way to the last remaining major Ukrainian-held cities in the Donbas, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has also apparently demanded that his army seizes all of it by the end of this month.

But with frontal assaults being so costly, the Russians have resorted to stealth.

They are sending small teams of plain-clothed soldiers into the southern districts of the town.

Their aim seems to be to slip behind Ukrainian lines and sabotage their logistics vehicles or attack the drone operators who are killing so many Russian soldiers.

Wearing civilian clothes is not illegal in itself – combatants are allowed to disguise themselves.

The key question under IHL is whether those troops then engage in combat or launch an attack while still pretending to be civilians.

If they do that, it crosses the line into perfidy.

Historically, this is seen as treason, and soldiers caught doing it are treated very harshly.

During the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, Adolf Hitler tasked Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny with seizing a key bridge over the River Meuse to drive a wedge between the American and British armies.

Known as Operation Greif, Skorzeny recruited English-speaking Waffen-SS soldiers and equipped them with US uniforms, jeeps and M3 halftracks. 

He also had a number of German tanks camouflaged to look like American vehicles.

The commandos infiltrated Allied lines around Bastogne, but most were eventually caught or killed.

The ones that were captured were tried as spies or unlawful combatants and many were executed.

After the war, several tribunals clarified the legal distinction between permissible ruses and perfidious acts that involving fighting while wearing enemy uniform or civilian dress.

In modern warfare – at least among those countries that follow IHL – summary executions are unlawful.

But this is Ukraine, a bitter, dirty war where Russia, and to a lesser extent Ukraine too, have been accused of war crimes.

During the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, in the village of Makiivka in Luhansk, 10 Russian soldiers surrendered to Ukrainian forces.

Video showed the Ukrainian troops looking relaxed with their rifles pointed to the ground.

Suddenly an eleventh soldier emerged and opened fire at the Ukrainians – a possible crime of perfidy.

An act of desperation?

The fact Russia is resorting to this tactic is clear evidence of how severe the Kremlin's losses have become.

So while this is battle for one town, it is also a very modern example of the battlefield dilemmas that have faced combat troops from Bastogne to today.

And while Perfidy is legally forbidden because it attacks the fragile rules that protect civilians and the wounded in war, the chances that this in any way vexes Russian commanders, or indeed Vladimir Putin himself, are likely to be slim to none.