Scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale's people themselves.
Scorched earth
U.S. attacks into the Philippine countryside often included scorched-earth campaigns where entire villages were burned and destroyed, torture ("water cure") and the concentration of civilians into "protected zones". Many of the civilian casualties resulted from disease and famine.