The military use of children can occur in three different ways: children can participate directly in conflicts as child soldiers; they can be used in supporting roles such as porters, spies, messengers and guards; or they can be used for political and propaganda purposes.
Children have always been easy targets for military indoctrination because they are easily influenced. In the past, children have also been captured and forcibly recruited, or they have volunteered to escape current circumstances.
Throughout history, children have repeatedly been included in military operations, even when it went against cultural morals. During World War I, 250,000 boys under the age of 18 were able to join the army in Great Britain. During World War II, child soldiers fought throughout Europe, in the Warsaw Uprising, in the Jewish resistance, for the Nazi army, and for the Soviet Red Army.
After the First World War, the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924. Despite this attempt, millions of children remained unprotected from indoctrination, war, and murder during World War II. The lack of legal protection for children in wartime, which enabled their exploitation, can be linked to the lack of a universally accepted definition of the term “child” during World War II.
The youngest known soldier of the First World War was Momčilo Gavrić, who joined the 6th Artillery Division of the Serbian Army at the age of 8 after Austro-Hungarian troops killed his entire family in August 1916.
The youngest member of the U.S. Army during World War II was 12-year-old Calvin Grahm, who lied about his age when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. His true age only came to light after he was wounded.
The Hitler Youth was founded in Nazi Germany as an organization that physically trained children and indoctrinated them with Nazi ideology. At the beginning of the war, the Hitler Youth numbered a total of 8.8 million children. Hitler Youth children first experienced conflict after the British air raids on Berlin in 1940. In early 1945, numerous Hitler Youth soldiers were taken out of school and sent to war.
Many child soldiers served in the Soviet armed forces during World War II. Orphans often joined the Red Army voluntarily and unofficially. Children were often affectionately called “sons of the regiment.”
Training for the Imperial Japanese Army began in schools. Military exercises were an integral part of physical education classes. Children aged 14 to 17 were drafted to fight in the Battle of Okinawa.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) currently defines a child soldier as “any child, boy or girl, under the age of 18 who, in any capacity, is part of a regular or irregular armed force or armed group.” The 18-year age limit was introduced in 2002 as part of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Before 2002, the 1949 Geneva Convention set 15 as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict.
Two young German soldiers, armed with Panzerfausts (anti-tank weapons) and Mauser rifles, march down Bankowa Street in Lubań, Lower Silesia. Heavy fighting took place there and it was the site of what was essentially the last successful German operation of the war.March 20, 1945: Adolf Hitler awards his last group of child soldiers for their fight to the bitter end. Behind Hitler stands Artur Axmann, a leader of the Hitler Youth; in the background (left) Otto Günsche, in the center Hermann Fegelein, and on the right Heinz Linge.1944 – A ten-year-old German soldier poses with his major after their capture in Antwerp, Belgium. Hundreds of other prisoners march by in the background. Since Antwerp was in Allied hands in October 1944, this is evidence that child soldiers were in use long before the last days of the Reich.11-year-old soldier killed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.< img src=”https://cdn.historycollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/13-year-old-boy-soldier-captured-by-United-States-Army-in-Martinszell-Waltenhofen-1945.-warhistoryonline.jpeg” />13-year-old soldier captured by the US Army in Martinszell-Waltenhofen, 1945. warhistoryonlineA 15-year-old soldier in the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism, 1941. Federal ArchivesFifteen-year-old Mischa Petrov with a captured German MP-38 and the Soviet RGD-33 grenade in his trunk. warhistoryonlineA 10-year-old Nationalist soldier, a member of a Chinese X-Force division, boards a plane bound for China in Burma in May 1944. warhistoryonlineA soldier of the 94th Infantry Division searches two young anti-aircraft gunners who surrendered in Frankenthal, March 23, 1945. worldwartwoAdmiral Giulio Graziani and the X Flottiglia MAS. The boy in the photo is Franco Grechi. Italy, 1943. War History OnlineSeaman First Class Calvin Graham was the youngest U.S. soldier to serve and fight in World War II in 1942 at the age of 12. WikipediaB. Mussolini at a youth organization parade, Rome, 1940. warhistoryonlineA young Hitler Youth soldier, aged 16, in Berlin, Germany, 1945. Shortly after this photo was taken, the Soviets marched into the city. Federal ArchivesChinese boy hired to support troops of the Chinese 39th Division during the Salween Offensive in Yunnan Province, China, 1944. The U.S. Army Signal CorpsGerman boy after his capture, Italy, 1944. warhistoryonlineHitler Youth receives medals, 1943. World War IIJapanese youths during military training, 1916. warhistoryonlineLviv Eaglets, young defenders of the Polish-Ukrainian War and the Polish-Soviet War, 1918–1920. warhistoryonlineMomčilo Gavrić joined the Serbian army in 1914 at the age of 8. He was the youngest soldier in World War I. warhistoryonlineMomčilo Gavrić, Corfu, 1916. War history onlineMomčilo Gavrić and another soldier under Major Stevan Tucović, 1916. WikipediaOnni Kokko, a young Finnish soldier, died in 1918 after the Battle of Tampere. warhistoryonlineSerbian young partisans, Yugoslavia, 1945. warhistoryonlineUS Marine 1st Lt. Hart H. Spiegel attempts to communicate with two Japanese child soldiers captured during the Battle of Okinawa. June 17, 1945. worldwartwoUnknown young German anti-aircraft gunner “Flakhelfer” on position with a devyatikilogrammovym projectile anti-aircraft gun 8.8 cm FlaK 18:41 in the German city of Hagen. World War IIVolodya Tarnovsky autographs a column of the Reichstag in Berlin , 1945. warhistoryonlineVolodya Tarnovsky with comrades in Berlin, 1945. War History OnlineYoung Polish resistance fighters in Warsaw during the Uprising, Poland, 1944. warhistoryonlineGerman youths in uniform surrender to Allied troops in Snamont, Belgium. New Year’s Day 1945. World War IIChild soldiers captured during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945. Most were ordered to remove their uniforms and go home. Behind them, a column of older children appears to be heading toward a processing center. These boys were pulled out. World War IIA teenage German soldier serving in the Hitler Youth Division is captured by US troops near Forbach, Alsace, in March 1945.A child soldier in the Red Army serves in a front-line unit in 1942. The presence of children as young as 12 in Soviet army units was routine. They were all given the same weapons and equipment as adult soldiers, only slightly adjusted for size. This boy carries the standard PPSH submachine gun and anti-personnel grenades.Sixteen-year-old Wilhelm Hübner proudly accepts the Iron Cross Second Class from Joseph Goebbels. worldwartwoA 13-year-old prisoner of war from a Hitler Youth unit, captured by the US Army in Martinszell-Waltenhofen in May 1945. worldwartwoA child soldier in 1930s China. worldwartwoDuring the First World War, up to 250,000 boys under the age of 18 served in the British Army. BBC
