UCMJ Article 100: Subordinate Compelling Surrender
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Article 100 punishes a subordinate who compels, or attempts to compel, a commander to give up a place, vessel, aircraft, military property, or body of troops to the enemy or abandon it, and anyone who strikes the colors or flag to the enemy without proper authority. The punishment is death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct. Words alone are not enough to compel; the Manual requires acts.
Compelling surrender and striking the colors
Any person subject to this chapter who compels or attempts to compel the commander of any place, vessel, aircraft, or other military property, or of any body of members of the armed forces, to give it up to an enemy or to abandon it, or who strikes the colors or flag to an enemy without proper authority, shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Source: 10 U.S.C. § 900.
Compelling, attempting, and striking the colors
The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 28.b, separates:
| Offense | Key requirement |
|---|---|
| Compelling surrender | An overt act intended to, and that did, compel the commander to give up or abandon the command or property, and it was actually given up or abandoned |
| Attempting to compel surrender | An overt act beyond preparation done with that intent; no actual surrender needed |
| Striking the colors or flag | An offer of surrender to the enemy, made or caused by the accused, without proper authority |
Attempts to compel surrender are charged under Article 100, not Article 80 (¶ 4.c(6)).
Acts, not words
The offenses “are similar to mutiny or attempted mutiny designed to bring about surrender or abandonment,” but concert of action is not required; one person can commit them (¶ 28.c(1)(a)). The surrender or abandonment “must be compelled or attempted to be compelled by acts rather than words” (¶ 28.c(1)(c)). A subordinate who argues, however forcefully, that the position should be surrendered has not committed the offense. And compelling surrender is not complete “until the place, military property, or command is actually abandoned or given up to the enemy.”
Striking the colors
To “strike the colors or flag” means to haul them down in the face of the enemy or to make “any other offer of surrender” (¶ 28.c(3)(a)). Under ¶ 28.c(3)(b):
- The offense is assuming authority to surrender a force or position without authorization from competent authority or “the necessities of battle.”
- Proper authority can arise from the situation itself: “If continued battle has become fruitless and it is impossible to communicate with higher authority, those facts will constitute proper authority to surrender.”
- No engagement need be in progress; sufficient contact with the enemy to make an offer is enough.
- It does not matter whether the enemy received, accepted, or rejected the offer. Sending an emissary with the offer is sufficient even if the emissary never reaches the enemy.
Death is the ceiling for every form
Under ¶ 28.d, every Article 100 offense carries “death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.” Short of death, the range runs up to life, and 10 U.S.C. § 856(c)(6)(A) allows a life term to be imposed without eligibility for parole.
Surrender by the commander, or mutiny by the ranks
A commander who shamefully surrenders or abandons a position commits misbehavior before the enemy under Article 99. Collective refusal of duty with intent to override military authority, without the surrender object, is mutiny under Article 94.
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 900, Article 100, Subordinate compelling surrender (Cornell LII)
- 10 U.S.C. § 856, Article 56, Sentencing (Cornell LII)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 4.c(6) and ¶ 28
General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.