Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2
Realistically low tech armies rarely have the logistical backstop to make the prevention of looting and the atrocities associated with looting feasible unless the city surrendered without a fight.
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There is a significant
attempt here, at least, to do so. It is being done by extremely competent commanders and their staff. They are devoting around 20% of the troops that enter the city to military police duties, as opposed to combat duties, and naturally all the troops were briefed extensively on expected norms of behaviour and consequences of deviating there from.
The city surrendered after the port was seized and artillery and dropped incendiaries broke a counterattack. Actual hand-to-hand fighting never involved more than around thousand men of the invanding army and happened only near the docks. Nevertheless, even twelve hours after landing, there is still chaos, confusion and, every so often, the potential for violence as some hiding members of the former occupying force who have either not heard of the surrender or don't agree with it are encountered. So there is plenty of scope for atrocities, should anyone desire to commit them.
Everyone is
extremely busy preparing to defend their new acquisition. The 300 troops devoted to military policing duties started at dawn and it's late afternoon now. The commanders have attempted to have around 1/3 of them rest at a time, but it's unlikely many have gotten much sleep. So as it gets dark again, I imagine that the level of security starts to decline sharply, as the MPs are tired and the south wall is going to be attacked, which ties up much of the rest of the troops.
There are 500 others who will be in a quasi-MP role as well, because of their status as expatriate locals and also because they are not as well equipped as the front-line mercenaries and therefore not as vital to the defence. They are not trained guardsmen, however, but just militia and soldiers who over the past year of living next to refugee camps have often had to contain riots, guard food shipments, oversee potentially subversive civilian labourers and perform other MP-like tasks. How much good they can do during the night, however, is up for debate. Especially if the army outside the walls attacks.