Okay this is ridiculous, there are dudes dropping from the skies to murder you, and you are not allowed to shoot them?
Yeah, “warcrimes” what a joke…
Okay this is ridiculous, there are dudes dropping from the skies to murder you, and you are not allowed to shoot them?
Yeah, “warcrimes” what a joke…
No, during WWII there was a general unwritten agreement not to. Some did, some didnt. It also depended on whether they were specifically paratroopers in which case the defenders would be failing their duty if they did not try and shoot them down, OR downed airmen.
It wasnt until after WWII that it was made illegal to shoot unarmed men from the sky.
As far as adding the mechanic of parachuting airmen shooting back, its just not practical. I know even Fallschirmjager (paratroopers) for a long time could only carry a pistol on their person when jumping (their weapons were parachuted separately in crates) and the pistol was holsted while floating down.
I believe there was ONE case of an American pilot using his .45 to shoot back at a German or Japanese plane that had shoot him down or had tried to specifically shoot him in his parachute. Not sure.
I didn’t realize that your paratrooper planes could be shot down before you jumped, I found that out first hand a couple weeks ago. It’s only happened once though.