A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees with the intent to kill, brutalize, weaken and/or demoralize as many of the captives as possible along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Death marches usually consist of harsh physical labor and abuse, neglect of prisoner injury and illness, deliberate starvation and dehydration, humiliation and torture, and execution of those who are unable to keep up the marching pace. The march may end at a prisoner of war camp or internment camp, or it may continue until all the prisoners are dead (a form of "execution by labor", as seen in the Armenian genocide among other examples). The signing of the Geneva Convention made death marches a form of war crime.
Read more about Death March: Examples of Death Marches
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or march:
“Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The march interrupted the light afternoon.
Cars stopped dead, children began to run,
As out of the street-shadow into the sun
Discipline strode....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)