The Sinking of the Laconia

[andy190]

In late 1942, a German U-boat sank the British troopship Laconia carrying 1,800 Italian POWs guarded by 103 Free Poles, 268 British military personnel, and a number of civilians off the coast of West Africa.

Then realising who the passengers were, the U-boat started rescue operations while flying the Red Cross flag.

A U.S. Army Air Corps bomber flying out of a secret South Atlantic airbase on Ascension Island attacked the U-boat. The U-boat then abandoned the rescue effort and left the survivors to drift to Africa.

Over half the survivors died. This incident led to German Admiral D

[Flying Trucker]

Interesting read Andy...

[ozzy72]

Alas once Total War was declared no mercy would necessarily be shown by either side to other combatants.
A number of hospital ships had been sunk by U-Boats whilst clearly displaying their Red Cross markings as per the Articles of War.
So in some ways my sympathies can lie with the bomber crew for taking their action based on the limited knowledge they would have had.
Unfortunately warfare will never be clean and clear-cut and these sort of tragedies will occur even during humanitarian actions...

[H]

I can't ascertain the actual thought of the U.S. personnel involved... but it is feesable that the torpedoing was viewed as an act of the u-boat to free the Italian POWs (the fact that they actually hadn't known was moot); the POWs would be rescued to fight again and the rest left to drown.

Now, as I type this, we are currently under threat of rain thus we may soon be under water; I'm in the Laconia Public Library, Laconia, NH.

8-)

[Webb]

According to Wikipedia (cited by OP):

[quote]Under the Hague Conventions, hospital ships are protected from attack, but their identity must be communicated to belligerents (III, 1-3), they must be painted white with a Red Cross emblem (III, 5), and must not be used for other purposes (III, 4). Since a submarine remained a military vessel even if hors de combat, the Red Cross emblem did not confer automatic protection, although in many cases it would have been allowed as a practical matter. The order given by (US Army Air Corps Captain) Richardson has been called a possible war crime, but the use of a Red Cross flag by an armed military vessel would also be a violation. There is no provision in either convention for temporary designation of a hospital or rescue ship ...

At the Nuremberg Trials held by the victorious Allies in 1946, (German Grand Admiral Karl) D

[andy190]

If the Germans had done that to an American Sub there would have been a public outcry & someone would have been executed.

[Webb]

Admiral D

[andy190]

No what I mean was, the Americans got away with bombing U-156 but if it had been an American Sub rescuing Germans & a German plane attacked it then the Americans would have prosecuted someone.

Also D

[Webb]

I know exactly what you mean.  You hate Americans.

I have never run across an Australian or New Zealander that has the slightest gratitude that people like my father saved you from the Japanese.

[andy190]

That is just a racist & bigoted.

I do not hate Americans.

Also I am glad that the Americans helped NZ & Oz in the Pacific but you didn't save us.

If America hadn't moved its Fleet to Pearl Harbour then the Japanese wouldn't have attacked.

Wow. A thread talking about the sinking of the Laconia has been transformed into a racist name calling thread by someone who has a big head & thinks that the world owes him something.

You may get banned for this you know.

[Webb]

It's so hard to keep up.

Which race are you that I have offended?

Moron, idiot or dolt?

[andy190]

It's so hard to keep up.

Which race are you that I have offended?

Moron, idiot or dolt?

I am none of those & by presuming I am one you have made yourself look like one.

[Hagar]

Take it easy chaps. These things happen in wartime. This is the danger of revisionist history & looking at things with the benefit of hindsight.

They say that history is written by the victors. If the Axis powers had won WWII a lot of Allied military commanders & politicians would have been executed as war criminals, probably without a fair trial.

[andy190]

Take it easy chaps. These things happen in wartime. This is the danger of revisionist history & looking at things with the benefit of hindsight.

They say that history is written by the victors. If the Axis powers had won WWII a lot of Allied military commanders & politicians would have been executed as war criminals, probably without a fair trial.

I realise that Hagar.

Take it easy chaps.

I'm trying to. But I'm not very keen on being called a hater & an idiot just because someone thinks the world owes them something.