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3%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings!
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7[[quoteright:350:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/women_and_children_first.jpg]]]]
8
9->''"All those escape pods. So small. So vulnerable. I'll order their destruction immediately."''
10-->-- '''Weyoun''', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E20TheChangingFaceOfEvil The Changing Face of Evil]]"
11
12After destroying or disabling an opposing vehicle, a particularly ruthless (and dishonorable) enemy may decide he wants [[LeaveNoSurvivors no one to live to tell the tale]]. He may blast the life boats, shoot down an EjectionSeat or two, blast the [[EscapePod Escape Pods]] to ions, seal off all exits, etc. Obviously, this is usually [[MoralEventHorizon a pretty low thing to do]], and in RealLife wars, may (rightly) be considered [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar a war crime]], [[WouldNotShootACivilian especially if the craft in question was a civilian craft]].
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14It generally shows just how evil a villain is as a major KickTheDog, and can be a very quick means of [[MoralEventHorizon making the villain irredeemable]] in the eyes of the audience, in addition to having the audience cheer louder when the guy who did this finally bites the dust.
15
16Subtrope of LeaveNoSurvivors. If the lifeboats are carrying wounded, overlaps with KickThemWhileTheyAreDown. Frequently treated as a MoralEventHorizon. Shares some similarities in terms of the moral blackness of the act with ShootTheMedicFirst, though the latter can be arguably be justified for pragmatic reasons. This trope is almost always ForTheEvulz.
17
18For cases of sinking your own lifeboats (Break the kettles and sink the boats) to prevent holding back, see BurningTheShips. Compare: WeHaveReserves.
19----
20!!Examples:
21[[foldercontrol]]
22[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23* ''Anime/AldnoahZero'' decided the show the depths that Trillram, a martian pilot with advanced alien technology (including DeflectorShields), was willing to go in the name of [[WarIsGlorious glory]] when he mercilessly slaughtered a squadron of F-22 Raptors, culminating in him ''ramming'' an ejected pilot just to kill him, and enjoying every moment of it.
24* ''Manga/Area88'': Nguyen's EstablishingCharacterMoment was [[KickTheDog gleefully]] shooting a pilot who ejected from a plane that he shot down. [[spoiler:He eventually suffers a KarmicDeath.]]
25* In ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'', the Abh's enemies make no effort to prevent their long-range missiles from destroying escape shuttles (possibly even intentionally targeting them), the barbarity of which shocks Jinto. Lafiel is as calmly rational about it as she is most things, noting that the enemy considers the Abh nothing more than rebellious machines.
26* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
27** In the movie ''Anime/CoolersRevenge'', the backstory of Planet Vegeta's destruction and Goku going to Earth is expanded, with it revealed that Goku's pod was spotted by Cooler's ship, but he prevents his men from shooting it down, on the grounds that it's Frieza's problem and that Goku [[UnderestimatingBadassery isn't a threat]]. At the end of the movie, when Cooler is [[HurlItIntoTheSun launched into the sun by Goku]], he remembers this and realizes [[NiceJobFixingItVillain he should've shot Goku's pod when he had the chance]].
28** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan]]'', Paragas tries to use his EscapePod to flee from his rampaging son, Broly, and from the comet about to collide with the planet he had previously lured the Z-Fighters to. Unfortunately for him, Broly catches up to him, [[SelfMadeOrphan crushes the pod with his bare hands]], and throws the remains into the sun.
29* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
30** A slightly less severe version occurs in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', where Yzak sees a civilian escape pod and shoots it down because he assumes it's full of military personnel.[[labelnote:*]]This isn't as ludicrous as it sounds, since the pod originated from a military base and Yzak had no way of knowing that a group of refugees had been brought there by the ''[[CoolShip Archangel]]''.[[/labelnote]] When he learns the truth later on, he's horrified that he killed civilians, and on the whole the character is treated sympathetically.
31** An inversion happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', where The Innovators utilize [[EscapePod Core Fighters]] built into their Mobile Suits [[VillainExitStageLeft in order to eject should their Suits get severely damaged.]] [[spoiler:In the final episode, Allelujah Haptism in his fight against one of the Innovators manages to tear out the Core Fighter from his opponents Mobile Suit before destroying them.]]
32** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' Season 2, [[spoiler:when the Turbines get attacked by Gjallarhorn, Naze orders everyone to evacuate, intending to take them on solo (though his wife Amida Arca refuses to abandon him). Iok orders his men to sink the lifeboats, and they manage to get a couple before Tekkadan's boys "accidentally" stumble across the battle and cover their retreat.]] As horrible as the act is already, there's an even more cold-blooded reason for it: [[spoiler:Iok's forces are using illegal DĂ¡insleif railcannons [[{{Hypocrite}} (the weapons they accused Naze of transporting)]] and [[LeaveNoWitnesses they're assuring that nobody can report them.]]]]
33** ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'': The Black Tri-Stars disable General Revil's flagship, the Ananke and in the OVA version of the events, Mash snipes the escape ships as they flee the sinking Magellan. Gaia stops him before he can blow up General Revil's escape vessel [[PragmaticVillainy as he's more valuable alive]].
34** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'': Delling Rembran had specifically ordered those attacking Folkvangr to eliminate everyone present, even to make sure that no shuttles left the colony.
35* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[TheDragon Baron Ashura]] ordered a [[RoBeast Mechanical Beast]] to sunk a passenger ship. Then he personally machine gunned the survivors in the lifeboats to death while laughing manically.
36* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', when Robin's island was destroyed by the World Government, they sunk an evacuation boat full of innocents as well on the off-chance that one of the scholars they were after was on board. The sheer horror of this was what prompted would-be Admiral Aokiji to spare Robin, and the ship that sank it was commanded by Aokiji's fellow Admiral-to-be, the KnightTemplar Akainu/Sakazuki.
37* A rare heroic example in ''Manga/TowardTheTerra''. After the TimeSkip (the series had a lot of them), [[spoiler:Jomey has taken over as Soldier and has had it with humans and their treatment of the Mu. To the point he basically declares war on humanity and broadcasts a warning to stay out of the Mu's way or die. To illustrate Jomey's new [[MoralEventHorizon state of mind]], Tony and the other Children Of The Mu take down an entire fleet of human warships with just 3 fighters. As the escape pods are trying to flee Tony lands on one and telepathically asks Jomey a question. The response is to do it. Tony then proceeds to destroy them all, leaving no survivors]]. Even the rest of the Mu are [[WhatTheHellHero taken aback by the move]].
38[[/folder]]
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40[[folder:Comic Books]]
41* ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'': In the middle of the apocalytic chaos, an experimental spaceship filled with the Earth's "one-percenters" [[TheElitesJumpShip tries to leave]] to a different planet. The Progenitor promptly blows it up, deeming that running from its judgment is not an option.
42* In one story by Creator/WalterMoers: One evil, opium-addicted captain sabotages the lifeboats (but one) of his own ship, as part of his EvilPlan to take the women passengers to an unknown island and make them into his [[SexSlave harem]].
43* ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSoldier'' was on a mission that got him trapped on a U-Boat while still in disguise. When it sinks an Allied ship, a fanatical Nazi officer in command on top has a lifeboat destroyed with the U-Boat's artillery gun with a smug smile. That was too much for the Soldier who attacks the Nazi and is of course instantly subdued and unmasked.
44[[/folder]]
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46[[folder:Fan Works]]
47* In ''FanFic/OrderInChaos'' the commander of a Centauri picket gives this order about the life pods of the Orieni explorer ''Farthest Horizon''. [[{{JustifiedTrope}} This has a very good reason]]: a ship from the ''Farthest Horizon''[='=]s escort had previously landed on Na'ka'leen to try and find out why the Centauri had not colonized the very rich planet, [[GoneHorriblyRight and had found out when a Feeder got on the escort and proceeded to infect the whole squadron]] with other Feeders, [[NightmareFuel mind-eating creatures that creeps around in total silence, with any survivor of an encounter with them possibly having been infected and carrying a developing Feeder around]]... [[OhCrap And they had told the Centauri when they tried to surrender]]. Simply put, the Centauri knew that allowing even a single Feeder to land on an inhabitated planet (such as the very close ''Centauri Prime'') would cause a galactic-scale threat, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo so they took the necessary steps to prevent it]]: [[ShootTheDog destroy the ship and most life pods, check the few survivors for infection and kill any infected, interrogate the rest to find out the numbers of the escort ships, and hunt down those too]].
48* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Paul's first strike against [[EvilEmpire The Reach]] sees him destroy a ship in orbit and then kill the escape pods it launched. Note that since he's out in space, there isn't actually any applicable law, so it's not technically a war crime.
49--> '''Paul''': Hm. Ordinarily I'd try picking them up and either handing them over to a competent authority or marooning them. In this case, however… The only authorities in the local environment are the Reach and their suborned governments. And I don't have the time or inclination to take them to Maltus. And if I let them land they'll be back in action in a few days. Guess they're out of luck then. A railgun appears next to me, loaded with crumbler rounds. Track… Fire a volley at each.
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
53* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', when cornered by [[{{Kaiju}} the Red Death]], Spitelout shouts, "Back to the ships!" Stoick, realizing what's going on, shouts, "No!" Sure enough, the Red Death torches the Vikings' ships, leaving Stoick and his people stranded on the island and seemingly easy pickings, until [[BigDamnHeroes Hiccup and the Dragon Riders arrive.]]
54* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': During the HomeworldEvacuation of Earth, most of humanity escapes [[RedShirt to varying]] degrees of success when much of the evacuation ships get blown up. Some are destroyed by the attacking Drej forces, while others are hit by debris or caught in the explosion of Earth.
55[[/folder]]
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57[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
58* ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Subverted. While the crew of the ''Nautilus'' does sink Ned Land's longboat and then prepares to submerge, leaving Land, the Professor and Conseil outside, it's a test on Nemo's part to see if Professor Aronnax will stick to his guns and let himself die with the other men. When he proves he's willing to do so, Nemo orders the ''Nautilus'' to resurface and bring the trio inside.
59* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', as he is wearing one parachute and tossing the rest out of the plane, Creator/GaryOldman's character gloats that either way (live or die) he wins since the GreaterScopeVillain General is being released at the same time.
60* In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', one of the Ultron sentries manages to take out one of the booster engines on a lifeboat evacuating Novi Grad residents to the helicarrier, forcing Tony and Rhodey to shore it up.
61* In French film ''[[Film/TheDamned1947 The Damned]]'', a Nazi submarine sinks ''another German ship'' -- Germany has surrendered, but the submarine is manned by TheRemnant, which sinks the surface ship for obeying the surrender order. The folks on the submarine then machine-gun the lifeboats to LeaveNoSurvivors.
62* ''Film/MurphysWar'' (1971). The title character's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the U-boat is due to the Germans machine-gunning his crewmates; Murphy being the SoleSurvivor.
63* Done in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' to show how, even ''before'' becoming an immortal cursed monster who wholesale kills anyone, [[EvilHero Armando Salazar wasn't exactly a good guy despite being a pirate hunter]]. When he's told the survivors of a scuttled pirate ship are begging for mercy he casually says "there is no mercy" and nods to his men to open fire.
64* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
65** In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', Admiral Kirk pokes a hole in Saavik's evacuation order during the [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru test]] by noting that the Klingons don't take prisoners.
66** In ''Film/StarTrek2009'', Acting Captain George Kirk has to stay aboard the USS ''Kelvin'' to shoot down the missiles directed at the escaping shuttlecraft by a vengeful Nero.
67** Averted in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' where the swarm of enemy spacecraft that destroy ''Enterprise'' snatch the lifepods as they eject, as they want prisoners for their own purposes.
68* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
69** ''Film/ANewHope'': Two Imperial gunners nearly shoot down the escape pod that the droids R2-D2 and C-3P0 are using to escape Princess Leia's ship, as one of the gunners says, "There goes another one!" When they detect no life signs aboard, they assume the launch was due to a short-circuit in the battle-damaged ship and allow the pod to pass. This implies that they ''would'' have blown it away if people had been inside.
70** ''Film/TheLastJedi'': The Resistance escapes for Crait aboard a fleet of transports. When the First Order becomes privy to them, they move to destroy said transports.
71* Elliot Carver has his mooks do this on purpose at the beginning of the Film/JamesBond film ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' as part of [[FalseFlagOperation his plan to start a war]] between the UK and China.
72* One of [[HollywoodHistory several historical errors]] in ''Film/{{U 571}}''. The Nazi captain's KickTheDog moment has him machine gunning a lifeboat because it's the FĂ¼hrer's order. However, the German captain also has very real and practical reasons for doing so, and neither he nor the gunner who receives the order are happy about it. When the gunner protests, the captain explains that the U-boat is prohibited from picking them up, doesn’t have room for them anyway, and the survivors will surely tell any Allied ship that finds them about the crippled and immobilized German submarine nearby. He then grimly orders the gunner to GetItOverWith. As noted in the RealLife section it was the FĂ¼hrer's ''wish'', but Doenitz made sure it never got to the order stage.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Literature]]
76* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', there's a scene where Winston watches a news report showing his country doing this. A prole woman is actually taken away because she had the gall to complain!
77* In Creator/JohnBirmingham's ''Literature/AxisOfTime'' trilogy, UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and his crew aboard the PT-109 are horrified when the "uptimers" begin to shoot at the Chinese survivors who are trying to get board and are threatening to capsize the boat. Given that the "uptimers" come from a world where terrorism has gone too far, this may be expected.
78* There's a form of this, the killing-the-defenseless aspect of LeaveNoSurvivors, in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice''. A family that has committed treason is executed for it, right down to the youngest children. It happened years ago after the [[CivilWar War of the False Eldest]]. Recalling that those children would have been her mothers if the family hadn't split, Ren is affected by the thought, though her sister Halley is coolly pragmatic about it.
79-->"Their mothers and father had been executed. Do you think you could take that hatred to suckle at your breast?"\
80"They had done nothing wrong!"\
81"If we had aunts that executed our mothers for fighting over a just cause, would we calmly accept them as our new mothers, or would we rebel?"
82* One of the stories in ''Literature/ClassicSingaporeHorrorStories'', titled "Message in A Bottle", which is set in the second World War starring a sadistic Japanese submarine commander as it's VillainProtagonist. His EstablishingCharacterMoment have him ordering his men to sink an American ship, the USS Albatross, via torpedoes (to the cheers of the submarine's crew) and then break surface as he takes aim at the lifeboats. Before cracking a smug smile at how he sank four boats with exactly four shots.
83* In the backstory of ''The Cheyne Mystery'' by Creator/FreemanWillsCrofts, a German U-Boat commander torpedoed a liner, then sank the lifeboats to ensure there were no survivors. It turns out he didn't do it just for the sake of cruelty, but to conceal exactly where the ship went down.
84* In Creator/TimothyZahn's ''Literature/TheConquerorsTrilogy'', the Zhirrzh deliberately target and destroy the life pods of the human vessels they defeat. The humans take this as evidence of their bloodthirstiness, [[spoiler:until learning that radio waves are dangerous to the Zhirrzh, causing them to mistake the pods' automatic distress beacons for weapons]].
85* Towards the end of [[Literature/TheExpanse Caliban's War]] a UN ship gets holed by a missile [[spoiler:containing a Protomolecule monster. The ship is quickly overrun and a quarantine enforced on it.]] Some time after Admiral Nguyen is denied rescue, a lifepod is launched and the other UN ships shoot it down to stop anything from escaping.
86* In Creator/JohnHemry's ''Literature/TheLostFleet'', both sides have been known to fire upon escape pods.
87* The concept is discussed several times throughout the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series.
88** During one stage of the Haven/Manticore war, the propagandists of the People's Republic of Haven tell their citizens that the Manticoran Navy regularly destroys the escape pods of Peep ships. It is a complete lie, but it creates a great deal of anger amongst the largely uneducated Havenites.
89** When repelling a Peep attack on the Basilisk system, Admiral White Haven has given his Grayson subordinate the right to give the firing order due to the particular rage that Grayson feels over the "execution" of Honor Harrington. When the order is broadcast as "No Mercy" White Haven is briefly horrified to think that he is about to witness a massacre. It is only a few seconds later that he mentally distinguishes between the "no ''mercy''" order (Which means "don't go easy on them ''until they have surrendered/taken to the escape pods''") and the order "no ''quarter''" (Which would have been to continue firing even on the lifepods).
90** In ''Uncompromising Honor'', [[spoiler:a Solarian admiral, angry at a mere 9 Manticoran ships (already largely dead) gutting his fleet, orders a follow-up volley at clearly defenseless ships, a clear violation of the Deneb Accords. Later, when a subordinate asks for help in recovering Manticoran escape pods, the admiral bristles at the thought and orders them blasted. It's then that a Mantirocan commander, monitoring all this, decides that a League this corrupt it won't even follow its own rules has to go]]. This is on top of [[spoiler:the Solarians already violating the Eridani Edict by destroying orbital infrastructure in systems friendly to Manticore, which risks collateral damage in the form of debris falling on the planet. The reasoning is simple: the Solarian Navy can't yet face the Manticoran Navy in direct combat]].
91* The ''hero'' of ''Run Silent Run Deep'' does this at the climax of the book, to make sure a particularly clever Japanese naval officer won't be around to sink any other U.S. subs. Most of his crew are appalled, and ''he'' [[DirtyBusiness feels pretty down about it, too]]. In the [[Film/RunSilentRunDeep movie version]], that part [[LighterAndSofter was left out]].
92* Intended by one of the protagonists of ''Literature/ShipCore'', but she's talked out of it. When a Corporate fleet left behind by Commodore Brigit, who was nominally enforcing the Octis accords against Dedia IV, first blockades the system 92 Pegasi, then secures Ackman station, all sound, yet legally ambiguous acts, then comes for the orbital refinery A-3123Y, the NAI avatar Abbey is ordered to surrender and let herself be taken into custody for "illegal" mining activity, and have all her goods confiscated, including the orbital refinery. (Which would be fatal for Abbey). Abbey presents proof that the corporation she works for, Starlight Revolutions, and the mining are legal, by broadcasting the corporate charter and the mining permit signed by Portmaster Whitely of Ackman station. The Corporate fleet attacks anyway. When the now pirate fleet starts ''losing'' and jettisoning escape pods, the pods fall into the sun's gravity well, and Abbey is so angry she proclaims the intent to either fire on them, or just simply sit back and laugh as they burn up in the sun's corona. Amy, one of the locals who was hired on as a manager, talks her out of it, pointing out that this is a war-crime, and convinces her to ''attempt'' a rescue. The corporate cruisers refuse to surrender when given the chance and continue the attack even while the rescue attempt is underway.
93* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', Sadeas executes a bunch of listeners for the "crime" of trying to surrender to him instead of [[BloodKnight giving him a proper fight]]. Aside from the obvious evilness of this action, it turns out that this is what pushed the Parshendi into assuming Stormform and summoning the Everstorm. If not for Sadeas's actions, the Desolation would have been at the very least delayed and weakened somewhat.
94* The World War I U-boat captain narrator of Creator/HPLovecraft's short story "Literature/TheTemple" [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] early on by not only sinking a civilian ship, but then "dutifully" shooting the lifeboats [[ILied after promising to let the passengers live]] (he needed them to oblige his taking photos of the sinking ship first, since their bodies would have spoiled the shot). Since he's narrating a [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraft story]], his status as a DoomedProtagonist soon to face karmic retribution with nothing but an ApocalypticLog left to tell the tale is all but assured.
95* In the Barrett Tillman novel ''Warriors'', a Saudi Tiger Force[[note]]an F-20 Tigershark force led by foreign instructors[[/note]] pilot kills an ejecting Israeli with his guns, assuming it was fair game after another Israeli collapsed the parachute of one of his comrades.[[note]]This was accidental, though the Saudi pilot did not know it.[[/note]] The Tiger Force commander is incensed as it sets a bad precedent and demotes the pilot from flight leader.
96* ''Literature/XWingSeries'':
97** The [[ProudWarriorRace Adumari]] do this on pilots that eject during duels. If the victorious pilot doesn't, the losing pilot will possibly be beaten to death by angry spectators on landing.
98** In ''The Bacta War'', Imperial crewmen fleeing a doomed Star Destroyer ask Wedge Antilles et al. not to do this. Given that Rogue Squadron are the good guys, they weren't planning to in the first place.
99[[/folder]]
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101[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
102* In ''Series/BabylonFive'''s backstory of the Earth-Minbari War, the Minbari, on a genocidal crusade against Humanity, had a standard space naval practice to destroy Earth ships with all hands without mercy regardless of how helpless they are. (Then) Commander Sheridan, in [[YouAreInCommandNow impromptu command]] of such a crippled ship and hunted by the Minbari flagship, The Black Star, makes them pay for that policy when he places nuclear bombs in the area before sending out a distress signal, knowing that the Minbari who come to finish them off. Once the Minbari ship was in range, the nuclear weapons were detonated and they destroyed the ship; a fate the Minbari could have avoided if they were more merciful in that regard. Even so, the Minbari still believe years later that Sheridan was actually the dishonorable party.
103* ''Series/{{Community}}'' had a variation in the animated episode "G.I.Jeff" (the one where Jeff falls into a coma and dreams he's a member of Franchise/GIJoe). During the opening combat operation, Destro's plane is shot down and he ejects. As he's parachuting to safety, Jeff shoots his parachute and sends him plummeting to his death. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This gets him court-martialed.]]
104* During the GrandFinale of ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', Trakeena (who has gone completely off her rocker after [[spoiler: fusing with Deviot]]) cripples Terra Venture by turning her minions into suicide bombers. She then orders an attack on the fleeing emergency shuttles, which proves one step too far for NobleDemon Villamax. He gets destroyed because of his refusal to do it, but this buys the Rangers enough time to attack her ship directly and prevent the shuttles from being hit.
105* Averted in the MiniSeries ''Series/TheSinkingOfTheLaconia'', which depicts the rescue of British survivors of the torpedoed ship by the crew of a German U-boat, as described in the RealLife section below.
106* In ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'', enemy AcePilot known by the Marines as Chiggy [[RedBaron von Richtofen]] was known to LeaveNoSurvivors, ultimately culminating in him shooting down the escape pod of a Wildcards MauveShirt, [[spoiler:which incidentally inspired the semi-RetiredBadass [[ColonelBadass Colonel TC McQueen]] to get off of the carrier and back into the cockpit solely to kill Chiggy]].
107* In the Season 10 opener of ''Series/StargateSG1'', the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]] actually defy this trope, to the surprise of the protagonists, leaving the non-functional wrecks of the Allied fleet intact. While discussing why, the protagonists decide that it's because this is a crusade, and the Ori want to leave survivors who will go back and tell their homeworlds about how scary and powerful the Ori are.
108* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
109** This is usually the Dominion M.O. in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant Valiant]]", for example, the Dominion shoot down the titular ship's escape pods moments after launch (but conveniently miss the main characters, who were shielded by the explosion of the ''Valiant''). They do take prisoners occasionally, though certainly not as a rule. This is defied in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E20TheChangingFaceOfEvil The Changing Face of Evil]]", in which the female Founder orders Weyoun ''not'' to destroy a swarm of escape pods. Her reasoning is that the [[SpareAMessenger frightened troops will return home and spread their fear]], thereby demoralizing the enemies of [[TheEmpire the Dominion]].
110** In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E18InAMirrorDarkly In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I]]", ''Enterprise'' is destroyed by the Tholians who also shoot at the escape pods even though they're already trapped inside a Tholian energy web, as befitting the DarkerAndEdgier world of the MirrorUniverse. There are only [[CreatorInjoke 47 survivors]], but that's enough to allow a Part Two.
111** In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', [[spoiler:Mirror Georgiou]] mentions that she had her ships fire upon the escape craft fleeing the planet she just rendered uninhabitable.
112* ''[[Literature/TheWindsofWar War and Remembrance]].'' After torpedoing a transport full of Japanese infantry, the captain of an American sub orders them to surface. He then orders his crew to sink all the lifeboats and and execute the men now in the water. His first officer protests, only for the captain to double-down, loudly telling his crew that if they do not execute the infantry said infantry will simply be rescued and sent into combat within a week. The crew obeys, strafing the floating men with automatic fire. This occurs in both the book and the series. How this action is taken in-setting is mixed. This instance is especially notable as at the time the US was practicing unrestricted submarine warfare, and thus the captain was technically well within his authority to give the orders.
113[[/folder]]
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115[[folder:Roleplay]]
116* In Roleplay/AJJEGames, ''Prinz Eugen'' (one of the LOTW ships) launched an attack on a pirate base. The captain ordered the destruction of escape pods from a pirate ship, on the grounds that the pirates would only conduct further murders.
117[[/folder]]
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119[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
120* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' gives the player a chance to take down an ejecting pilot, or simply to tread on a downed 'mech pilot's cockpit, pilot still inside. Although it's commonly done by dumb chance, some players try for it.
121** Some of the ''[=BattleTech=]'' fiction shows bad guys doing this to show how ruthless they are. It's really stupid as they do this while other active enemies are shooting at them.
122** [=BattleMechs=] are actually fairly safe to fight in (relative to conventional vehicles, anyway, to say nothing of service in the infantry); you can't actually ''count'' on taking out a [=MechWarrior=] by simply shooting up his or her machine, so depending on the circumstances taking that cheap shot may in fact be the single best chance you have to eliminate him or her more permanently as a threat. Something that won't be lost on the {{Combat Pragmatist}}s of the setting, obviously.
123** Literal example in the Word of Blake Jihad. Word of Blake being the ruthless, omnicidal temper-tantrum bastards that they are, would destroy ''everyone'' who opposed them. Space battles against Word of Blake space fleets was almost always to the death as a result, as they would either ignore enemy escape pods or simply shoot them if they were in hurry. Given that the list of Blakist war crimes is long and exhaustive (including the nuking of civilians, the poison-gassing of civilians, and implanting bombs into people to turn them into brainwashed deep-cover suicide bombers), shooting helpless enemies is quite to be expected of them.
124* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' sourcebook ''Gun Heaven 2'', [[RuthlessModernPirates ruthless Sixth World pirate]] Kane mentions in the discussion around one gun that he uses it to shoot people evacuating the ships he sinks.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder:Video Games]]
128* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
129** At the end of the tutorial level in ''Videogame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'', Bishop gets shot down, deploys his chute, and gets a chance to observe the ongoing furball before he is splattered against the plane that shot him down. It's unknown whether the pilot did this intentionally, but given the circumstances, it's actually quite likely.
130** In ''Videogame/AceCombatInfinity'', Quox unmanned aircraft with mounted laser projectors will actually prioritize shooting down bailed-out pilots, as a number of unfortunates find out as they get shot down.
131** This is a game mechanic in ''Videogame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar''. Occasionally when defeating an enemy fighter jet, they will not simply explode, but turn yellow to indicate their plane is no longer capable of combat. You can choose to go the high road and spare them, or choose to shoot them down for extra cash. Some levels will also feature evacuating helicopters or cargo planes marked as yellow. What percentage of these yellow targets you shoot down determines your [[KarmaMeter Ace Style]].
132* ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}'' has a game mechanic that discourages players from Sinking The Life Boats in most situations. When an enemy player's spaceship is destroyed, they are ejected in an EscapePod, and must slowly fly back to a friendly base or ship to be rescued, get a new ship, and re-join the battle. This gives the enemy an advantage, since the team of the "podded" pilot now has one less member doing something useful until the pod reaches home. However, if the pod is shot down by the enemy, the pilot is immediately re-spawned back at base, and can immediately rejoin the fight. It is more advantageous to let them float.
133** However, players also earn a bonus to the damage their weapons do depending on how many enemies they've shot down -- and this bonus is re-set if they are defeated and their pod is destroyed, but ''not'' if their pod makes it home safely. Thus, it makes sense to destroy the escape pods of those players who have earned a particularly large bonus.
134* In ''VideoGame/AlligatorHunt'' destroyed alien ships will eject an alien pilot, which you can shoot or ram into for extra points. If you leave the pilot alone, the alien will float away off-camera after a while.
135* ''VideoGame/BoogieWings'' have enemy pilots bailing their planes via parachute after you shot them down, and you can shoot them in mid-air. Or, alternatively, use your plane's skyhook to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential skewer enemy pilots in mid-air, and then swing them in circles before having them land with a]] ''[[VideoGameCrueltyPotential splat]]''.
136* Its possible to shoot parachuting pilots in ''VideoGame/ChuckYeagersAirCombat''.
137* Possible but unlikely in ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity''. Carrier-based fighters can be used as lifeboats, but the AI always launches all of its fighters, and most players tend to do likewise: keeping one back as a lifeboat is kinda counterproductive since, particularly in the third game, fighters are basically RedShirts[[note]]with the exception of the [[GameBreaker Polaris Manta]][[/note]] that you throw at your enemy to distract them from the big guns on the mothership. Averted with escape pods, which don't actually exist as collision-mapped objects (they shoot out a little ways from a disintegrating starship, then disappear).
138* A failure of gameplay design in ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' inadvertently [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption encouraged]] players to blow up defeated ships' escape pods. You can't use your jump drive when the pod is within detection range, which means a long and tedious wait while you leave the area using thrusters. You can pick up the pod and sell the occupant as a slave, but you will then become a wanted criminal for slave-trading. So the convenient and '''consequence-free''' options are to shoot the pod or "accidentally" crash into it.
139** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/{{Oolite}}'' is a little better about this, since escape pods are treated as cargo on the scanners and the game has an in-built bounty / insurance reward system for delivering captured[=/=]rescued pilots. It's still an option, though.
140* Occurs fairly frequently in ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' and is commonly known as "Podding". Note that this does not kill anyone permanently, but it does destroy any implants the victim was currently using. CONCORD does consider this a much more serious offense than simply destroying a ship. But CONCORD's jurisdiction is limited.
141* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
142** In the first level of ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', the Covenant shoot down the ''Pillar of Autumn''[='s=] escape pods which are trying to land on the eponymous ringworld, and then send troops to kill anyone who did manage to make landfall. Justified (militarily at least) by the fact that keeping humans from reaching Halo was their actual mission objective (not to mention the entire point of the ''war'' for the Covenant was to wipe out humanity).
143** In ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' the city New Alexandria is under attack; civilians are loaded into evacuation shuttles, but the shuttles cannot take off due to a small enemy ship hovering overhead. One defiant pilot decides to ignore orders and take off before his ship is overrun; his shuttle is promptly shot down and sinks into the ocean.
144** The Covenant are at it again in ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}''; while Ivanoff Station is under attack by Covenant [[spoiler: under the Didact]], a tremor racks the station. When Chief asks what it was, the head scientist tells you the first evacuation craft had just been shot down.
145** This also happens in ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', with one mission involves the player having to protect civilian evacuation shuttles, which are under attack by Covenant forces.
146* ''VideoGame/IL2Sturmovik'': Shooting parachutes. You can shoot the pilot, leaving his lifeless body dangling on the chute. Or you can shoot the chute, [[VideogameCrueltyPotential sending the poor devil plummeting to his death]].
147* ''VideoGame/{{Marauders}}'' encourages this as part of the PVP mechanic. In space combat, any player can jump into an escape pod at any time, though if the ship is crippled, it's usually the best time to do so. However, the escape pods also double as ''breaching pods'', allowing a player to force their way into another ship (but not a station). As this is the only way to board a player-owned ship in space, it's very common for gunners to shoot at any pods they see out of an abundance of caution. Fortunately (for the people in the pods), the pods are extremely nimble and hard to hit.
148* ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance]]'' uses a minor example of this trope to establish TheDragon as a [[KickTheDog complete bastard]]. He blows up [[spoiler: your uncle and [[MentorOccupationalHazard mentor's]]]] Mech and then snipes the ejection seat as it ejects.
149* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': If you destroy one of Morden's boats, the soldiers will get out and the ship will break apart... but when the smoke clears you'll see the boat, now tilted upward dangerously and obviously crippled, with a lone weaponless soldier desperately trying to bail it out.
150* This is done automatically in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'' both by your ships and your enemies', as flak lasers cannot be controlled (you can shut them off, though). If one of your ships is damaged beyond repair, the crew starts evacuating in escape pods. If you manage to retrieve at least 50% of the crew, the new (identical) ship you get for the next mission will have the same experience as the lost one. You will, however, have to get all new equipment.
151%% Needs Context * The game ''VideoGame/OperationInnerSpace'' has a law against this kind of behaviour.
152* More than one installment of ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' allows you to do this. You're a ''{{kaiju}}'', for reference, and sometimes the humans will send jets and helicopters at you; destroy the aircraft and the pilot will bail out via parachute. Attack them while they're on their chutes and the unfortunate pilot will instantly hit the floor with a ''splat''.
153* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' has Vyse, Aika, and Fina choosing to bail from the Little Jack when Drachma gets a little too obsessed with hunting down Rhaknam -- and for good reason, given that Ramirez's fleet has just caught up with them. The fleet fires on the Little Jack at the time the trio take the escape pods; Ramirez, wanting to be sure that the Blue Rogues pose no further threat, opens fire on them as well.
154* ''Franchise/{{StarCraft}}'':
155** A variant occurs in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI Brood War'', with Kerrigan overrunning and destroying the fleeing forces of the UED to cement how evil she's become.
156** It's then {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', as Kerrigan is placed in the same situation (her forces have routed the enemy and the opposing commanding officer tells her to let their men live) and spares fleeing enemy troops, demonstrating that she has regained her humanity. But it's played straight in the Kaldir missions, as Kerrigan had to prevent the stationed Protoss base from alerting to her presence. The "Shoot the Messenger" involve stopping their shuttles from reaching their warp conduits and the last segment of "Enemy Within" involves literally destroying their escape pods before the timer runs out and killing every last Protoss in the ship.
157* This is almost always the result when the player ejects in ''VideoGame/{{Starlancer}}''. There is also a mission when the player has to stop enemy fighters which are attempting to perpetrate it on the [[EscapePod Escape Pods]] from a recently-destroyed SpaceStation.
158* In ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander'' there is a mission where you have to escort a hospital ship as it picks up escape pods after a battle. The Cardassians then show up and start attacking the hospital ship and, presumably once that is done, will finish off any survivors in the pods.
159* ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' has Colton suggest this to Troy after their first encounter with [[HelloInsertNameHere Lazlo]] and his party leads to them fleeing on their tiny boat. He fears that [[HeKnowsTooMuch They Know Too Much]] about their plans; Troy vetoes the idea, pointing out [[GenreBlind how unlikely the chances of them surviving are anyway]].
160* ''VisualNovel/{{SunRider}}'': In an early mission, Kayto takes down a band of pirates engaged in selling kidnapped civilians into slavery. After defeating them, he can either bind their survivors over for trial on a planet with an underfunded justice system, or jam their distress beacon and leave them to die.
161* In ''VideoGame/TachyonTheFringe'', one mission can be played for either of the two sides. After this, your campaign path is set. In "Withdraw from Independence", the player has to protect Bora civilian shuttles as they're leaving the Independence station from [=GalSpan=] forces. In "Taking Independence", the player has to ''shoot them down'' for [=GalSpan=]. This is considering [=GalSpan=] forced Bora to hand over the station only to try to shoot the evacuees.
162* In ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'', the losing team at the end of a game is tasked with escaping via jumpship extraction. The winning team, conversely, is tasked with making sure they don't: one way to accomplish this is to shoot down the jumpship before it leaves. It's also common to try to shoot those ejecting from their Titans. Of course, the ejectee is usually shooting back.
163* Many videogames allow the player to conduct this particular war crime, offering serious VideoGameCrueltyPotential. The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series is a notable example, with the ability to massacre populations, execute prisoners in ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'', or grapeshot surrendered enemy warships in ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar''. Even at the most basic level, running down shattered enemy units with cavalry qualifies, as the enemy aren't a threat when they're ''running away to save their sorry hides''.
164* One of the Kilrathi aces in ''VideoGame/WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga'' has a reputation for shooting ejection pods. This doesn't seem to come up if you eject when flying against him, though.
165* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': The humans didn't want any part of the alien war, but that didn't stop the combatants from [[AliensAreBastards shooting most of them down]] as the humans tried to escape Earth.
166* ''VideoGame/{{XenoGears}}'': In the opening scene, the captain of [[MileLongShip The Eldridge]] orders all crew and passengers to evacuate after seeing the ship will be taken over. However, as soon the escape shuttles take off, the entity that's in control of the ship shoots them down with their own weapons.
167* In all of the ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' games, hostile [=NPCs=] consider the player's space suit to be a valid target if he/she tries to bail out of their ship, and will try to blast the suit out of the sky. Some particularly angry players do this to [[SpacePirate Pirates]] who have blown up the [[VideogameCaringPotential player's traders and explorers]], then try to bail out when the player's [[MileLongShip four kilometer long destroyer]] is ripping their [[UsedFuture patched-up fighter]] to pieces. The ''Xtended Terran Conflict'' GameMod adds actual {{Escape Pod}}s to capital ships and corvettes that are being evacuated or exploding, which the player is free to gun down. [[ForTheEvulz It doesn't accomplish much, though]].
168* Both escape pods and ejected pilots appear in ''VideoGame/XWingAlliance'', [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential and can be destroyed by the player]] - without penalty if they are Imperial. Conversely, some missions have the player trying to prevent this trope from happening by protecting an escape pod until it can be recovered by friendly forces.
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172* ''WebAnimation/GenLock'': The Union's favored tactic is to kill everyone not aligned with them. During the attack on New York, several transports with civilians are destroyed as they take off, and they would have destroyed more if the Vanguard had not shown up.
173* In the classic ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats 2'', Carl manages to sink an entire cruise ship, followed by destroying all of the lifeboats but his and Paul's own.
174-->'''Paul:''' Where are the other lifeboats, Carl?!\
175'''Carl:''' Looking at the trajectory of the moon and the sun... probably at the bottom of the ocean. I bit lots of holes in them.
176* In the eighth volume of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the Mantle citizens need to be evacuated before they're destroyed by [[BigBad Salem's]] Grimm army. Their only chance rests upon the heroes dispatching a fleet of civilian cargo ships that are piloted by drones. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Ironwood]] shoots down the ships and publicly announces his intentions to bomb Mantle if Penny does not surrender. This act convinces both [[BrokenPedestal Winter and Marrow]] that Ironwood has [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope become a true villain]], resulting in them siding with the heroes to stop him.]]
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180* In ''Webcomic/{{Remus}}'', this is Seth's introduction and EstablishingCharacterMoment. [[TortureTechnician He only goes downhill from there]].
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184* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers'' had a hero jump out and pop a parachute out, only for a bad guy to cut the strings with a laser.
185* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', General Grievous orders his flagship, the ''Malevolence'', to shoot at fleeing escape pods. [[ForTheEvulz On the grounds that]] [[TheDreaded he has a reputation to uphold]]. He also had the slightly more legitimate reason of ensuring that the Republic does not learn of the ''Malevolence'''s secret weapon (a giant ion cannon) and begin countermeasures, not that he stops even after the Republic learns of it. Sure enough, it doesn't take long after some survivors are successfully recovered that the ''Malevolence'' is crippled and scuttled.
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189* Under Protocol I, article 42, sections 1 and 2 of the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977 to supplement the 1949 Conventions, pilots who survive the destruction of their aircraft are considered ''hors de combat'' ("out of combat"), since they can no longer perform their intended role, and as such, attacking them is considered a war crime.[[note]]I.42.1 No person parachuting from an aircraft in distress shall be made the object of attack during his descent.; I.42.2 Upon reaching the ground in territory controlled by an adverse Party, a person who has parachuted from an aircraft in distress shall be given an opportunity to surrender before being made the object of attack, unless it is apparent that he is engaging in a hostile act.[[/note]] [[DeathFromAbove Paratroopers and airborne troops]] are exempt, since their role is to parachute into enemy territory to perform their mission.
190* German U-boats attacking Allied shipping during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were accused of this on occasion. Hitler made a strongly worded suggestion towards this end only to have Doenitz countermand it; the reasoning being that if the U-boat crews offered no mercy, they would be granted none. Given the number of U-boat crewmen who survived the war in Allied POW camps was several thousand, the decision was probably wise. Only one incident of a German submarine attacking lifeboats or people in the water was ever confirmed. This was vastly outnumbered by times when U-boat crews were surprisingly solicitous to people in lifeboats, offering food, navigation implements, and course to nearest land -- UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill in ''The Second World War'' even records a case of a U-Boat notifying the British of the coordinates of a sunk merchant ship.
191* American submarines and aircraft would occasionally do this in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII if they sank a Japanese ship near Japanese-held or contested islands, on the grounds that Allied troops would have to later kill them anyway. Early in the war, they tried to rescue survivors from Japanese ships that sank or aircraft that were shot down, but after enough of the survivors refused help or tried to [[TheFarmerAndTheViper kill their would-be rescuers]], preferring to go down fighting rather than be taken prisoner, as well as stories of Japanese brutality towards their prisoners filtering across the lines, the Americans lost interest in helping them. For their part, the Japanese would often execute rescued American fliers who were shot down over Japanese fleets, sometimes immediately after fishing them out of the water, and more than a quarter of captured westerners died in Japanese captivity. Allied aircrew who bailed out over Japanese-held islands were often made to dig their own graves, usually after several weeks of starvation and torture. They were also known to shell life rafts or dense patches of sailors abandoning ships.
192** "Mush" Morton certainly did this. He was something of a SociopathicHero to give him his best judgement. Ironically, his victim was a "hellship" carrying Indian and British prisoners of war in addition to its Japanese crew.
193** If attacked by Allied forces, the crews of Japanese ships carrying British or American prisoners of war would very often take retribution against those prisoners. It was not unknown, if the merchant ship was sunk as a result of attack, for the Japanese to murder the complement of prisoners, to force them to go down with the sinking ship, and to reefuse to allow them access to lifeboats or rafts. Many such instances were catalogued when proceedings began against Japanese war criminals.
194** Both sides of the coin were seen in the aftermath of the Cruiser Night Action off Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942. The light cruiser USS ''Atlanta'', badly damaged and dead in the water, was the only ship left floating in [[MeaningfulName Ironbottom Sound]] the day after the battle, with the badly-bloodied American and Japanese fleets having both withdrawn. ''Atlanta'''s crew did what they could to rescue men in the oil-slicked and shark-infested water (both sides had lost ships), but Japanese sailors refused the lifelines thrown to them, with some even shouting insults in English at their would-be rescuers. The men aboard ''Atlanta'', who had lost hundreds of shipmates aboard their own battered vessel, took personal offense and began shooting Japanese survivors in the water. An aversion took place at the same time, as a motor launch pulled alongside with men of both nationalities aboard. It took several minutes for anyone to notice that the boat's coxswain was a Japanese petty officer (they figured he was a Bosun's Mate, because "the rating insignia is the same in pretty much every navy"). The crew of ''Atlanta'' accepted his help without complaint, and even detailed a few men to help him handle the boat. When ''Atlanta'' has to be scuttled that afternoon, the Japanese Bosun's Mate with the motor launch helped evacuate the ship's crew and the men they had rescued. In the end, he saved over a hundred lives.
195* Similar to the above, the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. A Japanese convoy heading to Papua New Guinea, composed of 8 transports and 8 escort destroyers, was attacked and completely sunk by Australian and American aircraft. Though the subsequent destruction of the lifeboats and any other floating objects from the air was presented as a military necessity, as they were close enough to land they could reach it and join the fight, it is much more likely that the attacks were large-scale retaliation for the fact several Allied airmen who bailed out were machinegunned hanging from their parachutes by the Japanese.
196** This sort of cycle in which a relatively small breach of the rules of war causes the other side to kill hundreds or even thousands of people in retaliation is not uncommon in the history of war, and one of the best purely military arguments why the rules of war need to be observed rigorously.
197* A common response when seeing an enemy crew escape from a disabled armored vehicle is to simply gun them all down, even if they are unarmed or surrendering.
198* In military aviation, there is an equivalent to sinking a lifeboat: shooting pilots or crew who have ejected from an aircraft and are attempting to save their lives by parachuting to the ground. Once they abandon their wrecked plane and pose no threat, they are effectively non-combatants. [[note]]This does not apply to paratroopers, however, as they are recognized as combatants even while in their parachutes.[[/note]] As early as the OldSchoolDogfight[=s=] of World War I, there are reports of vindictive pilots finishing off their already-defeated enemies by machine-gunning them in midair. At first this was merely discouraged as dishonourable behaviour, but later prohibited as an outright war crime. Not all pilots agreed with notions of "honour", though. First World War ace "Taffy" Jones said "My habit of attacking Huns dangling from parachutes led to many arguments in the mess. Some officers of the Eton and Sandhurst type thought it 'unsportsmanlike'. [[SlobsVsSnobs Never having been to a public school, I was unhampered by such considerations of 'form']]. I just pointed out that there was a bloody war on, and that I intended to avenge my pals." Another ace, Mick Mannock, was known for strafing downed planes to kill the pilots on the ground. [[note]]The moral calculus is more complicated than it sounds. It must also be remembered that parachutes were a very late arrival to [=WW1=] dogfighting, since the military commands involved thought the option to escape from a battle would encourage cowardice. Most pilots considered their prospects to be victory or death, with very little alternative in between. Balloon observers were given parachutes from quite early on, and unlike pilots, shooting them while under their parachutes was considered bad form, not least because observers were not an expensive investment for the enemy. Killing an enemy pilot was a real blow to the other side because a good pilot cost time, money and luck. But observers were cheap to train, and thus killing them was too much risk for little actual reward.[[/note]]
199** There are several anecdotal accounts of Polish and Czech pilots in the Royal Air Force "accidentally" flying too close to the canopies of the parachutes of German aircrew who had bailed out of shot-down aircraft and causing them to collapse. Fortunately for the large number of British servicemen in German POW camps at the time, the RAF apparently succeeded in putting a stop to this before it became widespread enough to provoke retaliation.
200** A British pilot who asked about this during the Battle of Britain was told that shooting a man parachuting onto his own territory was acceptable (as he would be given a new plane and be back in the fight) but not shooting someone who was coming down on territory held by your own troops, as he would be taken prisoner. Another pilot remembered shooting a German plane down over the Channel, and coming back around to machine-gun the pilot. It was winter and getting dark, and there was no sign of a lifeboat, so he [[MercyKill gave the man a quick death]] rather than let him die of hypothermia or drowning. He said he would have expected the same mercy if their positions had been reversed.
201** A direct subversion of this was at the core of the famous 'Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler Incident' in 1943. While there were no actual parachutes involved, Stigler's reaction on seeing the incredibly battered B-17 (along with its wounded crew) was to remember what his former commanding officer, Gustav Rödel, had told him: "If I ever see or hear of you shooting at a man in a parachute, I will shoot you myself." While they weren't in a parachute, he felt that they might as well have been, and initially tried to get them to land in neutral Sweden (where they would be interned, yes, but also receive medical treatment) via gestures and mouthing words. Brown and his crew didn't understand what he was trying to tell them, so Stigler instead escorted them out to sea, flying on the port wing to protect them from German anti-aircraft gunners, before peeling off with a salute. The two met nearly 50 years later, and struck up a friendship that lasted until both of them died in 2008.
202** On one occasion, though, this would come back to [[LaserGuidedKarma bite the offending fighter pilot in the ass]]. On March 31, 1943, a B-24 crewman named Owen J. Baggett was shot at and wounded by Japanese fighters in his parachute after bailing from his fatally damaged aircraft. Upon taking a hit, he [[PlayingPossum played dead]] in his harness, hoping to convince the Japanese pilots to fly away. Most of them did, but one pilot decided to fly in closer to confirm the kill. When he got close, Baggett pulled out his Colt M1911 pistol and fired four shots into the fighter's canopy, causing it to stall and plummet out of sight. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome This made Baggett legendary as the first (and only) man to shoot down a Japanese fighter using an M1911]].
203** In the European Theater of World War 2, shooting down parachuting aircrew tended to be extremely hazardous to the perpetrator, who would suddenly become a first priority target for all of the downed plane's buddies. The much more vicious Pacific and Soviet fronts generally had more instances of this behavior.
204* A variation: In unrestricted submarine warfare, any submarine that sinks an isolated enemy vessel will by necessity end up abandoning the survivors to their fate (though they generally won't actively harm them; [[PragmaticVillainy that's just asking for reinforcements to show up and depth charge you]]) -- a submarine does not have the capability or resources to mount a rescue operation.
205** It's also dangerous for the submarine. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident A celebrated incident]] of U-boats trying to save men they had sunk was (literally) scuttled by Allied air raids that caught them on the surface. Infamously (and rather inexplicably), the American bombers that came across the U-boats bombed and strafed them ''despite being able to clearly see and hear that the U-boats had survivors crowding their decks, were towing lifeboats with yet more survivors, and were calling for help in the clear.'' [[KarmaHoudini The crew of the bombers who attacked the U-boats taking part in the rescue effort were awarded medals for doing so.]]
206** And it used to be against the laws of war -- in the age of sail, it was much more reasonable to expect a winning ship to rescue the loser's survivors, especially since there was a good chance they'd capture the enemy ship outright. Britain used to bring up propaganda points against German U-boats on this basis, but it was quietly recognized that the old-fashioned laws were broken by ''everybody's'' submariners, simply because it was completely impractical to do anything else, and the laws were rewritten. An attempt to prosecute Admiral Doenitz at Nuremberg on this basis was dropped when US submarine commanders testified they did exactly the same thing, although he was convicted of other charges.
207* A variation: During the Age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, and to an extent still today, it was considered ''extremely'' poor form to capture or detain people who had gone to sea to save lives, such as local lifeboatmen or warships that assisted stranded enemies only to find themselves stranded or surrounded by reinforcements. After the Action of 13 January 1797, where two British frigates forced the French 74-gun ''Droits de l'Homme'' onto a sandbar, British prisoners from a previous engagement onboard the ''Homme'' were freed and helped heroically to rescue the trapped crew. They were among the 140 survivors of the ship's 1300 strong crew and embarked soldiery, and they were all immediately returned to Britain in recognition for their help.
208* One of the most controversial segments of the [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Six Day War]] involved the American spy ship, USS ''Liberty.'' Theories abound as to why it was carried out, but the survivors state that after being napalmed, rocketed, and strafed by Israeli strike planes, Israeli gunboats torpedoed the ''Liberty'', and the captain of the ''Liberty'' gave the order to AbandonShip. Seeing the American sailors making their way to the lifeboats, Israeli sailors then riddled the lifeboats with their deck guns, the empty lifeboats that landed in the water were then towed using hooks. Then, it is claimed, that several Israeli Commando-filled helicopters were waiting for the chance to board the crippled ship.
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