Hors de combat

Hors de combat

"Hors de Combat", literally meaning "out of the fight," is a French term used in diplomacy and international law to refer to soldiers who are incapable of performing their military function. Examples include a downed fighter pilot, as well as the sick, wounded, detained, or otherwise disabled. Soldiers "hors de combat" are normally granted special protections according to the laws of war, sometimes including prisoner of war status.

Baroness Orczy wrote in her famous novel "The Scarlet Pimpernel" of Chauvelin saying, "When we find them, there will be a band of desperate men at the bay. Some of our men, I presume, will be put hors de combat. These royalists are good swordsmen, and the Englishman is devilish cunning, and looks very powerful."

Kurt Vonnegut described himself as "hors de combat" on the title page of his famous anti-war novel, "Slaughterhouse Five": "...who, as an American Infantry Scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden ..."

ee also

* Combatant
* Non-combatant
* Unlawful combatant


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  • Hors de combat — ist ein international üblicher französischsprachiger Begriff aus dem diplomatischen, militärischen und juristischen Sprachgebrauch, der wörtlich übersetzt „kampfunfähig“ oder „außer Gefecht (gesetzt)“ bedeutet. Er bezeichnet den Status von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hors de combat — Hors de com bat [F.] Out of the combat; disabled from fighting; out of action. [1913 Webster +PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • hors de combat — 1757, French, lit. out of combat …   Etymology dictionary

  • hors de combat — [ō̂r də kōn bȧ′] [Fr, out of combat] put out of action; disabled …   English World dictionary

  • Hors de combat — (franz., spr. ōr dö kongbá), kampfunfähig …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • hors de combat — index disabled (made incapable) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • hors de combat —    (ohr deu kom BAH) [French] Out of the fight; out of action; disabled.    With Alec Stewart absent and Nadeem Shahid hors de combat, Surrey approached their target. The Guardian, May 1, 1999 …   Dictionary of foreign words and phrases

  • hors de combat — ∙hors de com|bat [ɔrdəkõ ba; frz., zu: hors (↑Horsd œuvre) u. combat = Kampf, Gefecht, zu: combattre, ↑Kombattant]: außer Gefecht: denn es gelang ihm, durch eine unbesiegliche Terz Quart Terz, mich ... h. de c. zu machen (Hauff, Jud Süß 385) …   Universal-Lexikon

  • hors de combat* — hors de com•bat [[t]ɔr də kɔ̃ˈba[/t]] adj. adv. French. fot out of the fight; disabled …   From formal English to slang

  • hors de combat — [ˌɔ: də kɒhors de combatbα:] adjective out of action due to injury or damage. Origin Fr., lit. out of the fight …   English new terms dictionary

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