Re: In conjunction with Bowser's post....
"Free fire zones" are fairly common. All of Germany and Japan were such, but that changes when the territory is occupied. Once taken, it was not all right to round up civilians and shoot them.
If Amnesty International or the UN had tried to insert people to determine whether villagers were civilian or combatants they would have lasted about as long as a pound of hot dogs at a Boy Scout campout.