Editing False flag (section)

===Land warfare===
In land warfare, the use of a false flag is similar to that of naval warfare: the trial of [[Waffen-SS|Waffen SS]] officer [[Otto Skorzeny]]—who planned and commanded [[Operation Greif]]—by a U.S. [[military tribunal]] at the [[Dachau trials]] included a finding that Skorzeny was not guilty of a crime by ordering his men into action in American uniforms. He had relayed to his men the warning of German legal experts: if they fought in American uniforms, they would be breaking the [[laws of war]]; however, they probably were not doing so simply by wearing the American uniforms. During the trial, a number of arguments were advanced to substantiate this position and the German and U.S. military seem to have been in agreement.

In the transcript of the trial,<ref>Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. United Nations War Crimes Commission. [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/skorzeny.htm Vol&nbsp;IX, 1949: Trial of Otto Skorzeny and others]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002175149/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/skorzeny.htm |date=2 October 2008}}. General Military Government Court of the U.S. zone of Germany 18&nbsp;August to 9&nbsp;September 1947.</ref> it is mentioned that Paragraph 43 of the [[United States Army Field Manuals|Field Manual]] published by the [[U.S. Department of War|War Department]], [[United States Army]], on 1 October 1940, under the entry ''Rules of Land Warfare'' states: "National flags, insignias and uniforms as a ruse{{snd}}in practice it has been authorized to make use of these as a ruse. The foregoing rule (Article&nbsp;23 of the Annex of the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)#Hague Convention of 1907|IV Hague Convention]]), does not prohibit such use, but does prohibit their improper use. It is certainly forbidden to make use of them during a combat. Before opening fire upon the enemy, they must be discarded."