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Absent or until recognition, military objectives in a city unilaterally designated as undefendedremain subject to attack. 3755.15.3.4 Authority to Make a Declaration or to Recognize a Declaration.Declaration of a city being open or recognition of an opposing party’s declaration may only beaccomplished by those with authority to enforce the corresponding obligations, which may be theimmediate military commander, theater commander, or national command authorities. 376 Theseobligations may extend more broadly than control over the city itself as, for example, when thecity’s defenses are operated from a different location.5.15.4 Conditions Necessary for a Place to Maintain Undefended Status. Once a party toa conflict has validly declared a city to be undefended, the city must also satisfy certainconditions. If the city fails to satisfy these conditions, it would not be entitled to undefendedstatus, or, if previously granted, it would lose that status. 377 Persons and objects within that city,however, may still receive other protections for civilians and civilian objects. 3785.15.4.1 Combatants and Mobile Military Equipment Have Been Evacuated. Allcombatants, as well as their mobile weapons and mobile military equipment, must have beenevacuated. 379 However, the presence of military medical personnel, the wounded and sick, and375 Cf. Sansolini and Others v. Bentivegna and Others, Italian Court of Cassation, Jul. 19, 1957 (“The declarationthat Rome was an open city was made by the Italian Government before the armistice, viz., on July 31, 1943. It wasmade to the British and the Americans but never accepted by them. It follows from this lack of acceptance that thedeclaration could not create any legal obligation for the Italian Government vis-à-vis the British and the Americans.… We must therefore reject the contention that there was any violation of an undertaking to respect Rome as anopen city because there were not agreements to this effect … .”); BOTHE, PARTSCH, & SOLF, NEW RULES 383 (AP Iart. 59, 2.5.2) (“Drawing on the World War II experience, the Canadian delegation pointed out that the decision notto defend Paris and Rome had been made while defending forces still had possession of these urban centres.Accordingly, the Canadian delegation proposed that a mechanism be developed under which the defending Partywould declare that it did not intend to defend the locality and to initiate negotiations for permitting an orderlywithdrawal. The locality was not to be attacked while such negotiation was taking place. Other delegations pointedout that the Canadian proposal would amount to a unilateral cease fire enabling the defending force to extricate itselffrom a precarious situation. This matter was left for mutual agreement between the Parties under para. 5.”).376 For example, R.Y. Jennings, Open Towns, 22 BYIL 258, 263 (1945) (“The declaration of Rome as an open cityby the Italian Government in August 1943 was little more than a public request to the Allies to state the conditionsunder which they would discontinue their bombing attacks on the city. The Allies were unable to comply with therequest for the very good reason that however anxious the Italian Government might have been to comply with anyconditions, they were in fact powerless to prevent the German Army from using the city as a military centre.”).377 Consider AP I art. 59(7) (“A locality loses its status as a non-defended locality when it ceases to fulfil theconditions laid down in paragraph 2 or in the agreement referred to in paragraph 5.”).378 Consider AP I art. 59(7) (“In such an eventuality, the locality shall continue to enjoy the protection provided bythe other provisions of this Protocol and the other rules of international law applicable in armed conflict.”).379 See 1956 FM 27-10 (Change No. 1 1976) 39b (“In order to be considered as undefended, the followingconditions should be fulfilled: (1) Armed forces and all other combatants, as well as mobile weapons and mobilemilitary equipment, must have been evacuated, or otherwise neutralized;”). Consider AP I art. 59(2) (requiring thatin a non-defended locality “(a) All combatants, as well as mobile weapons and mobile military equipment, musthave been evacuated;”).256