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Originally Posted by kiwi_2005
Why did he shoot himself though was that the honorable thing to do or maybe he was just saving the Gestapo from doing it:hmm: Thats the sad part he saves his crew ok so he lost his ship but lives is more important than a piece of metal. Then he shoots himself.  |
It was part of a navy (and civil) honor code of the captain going down with his ship. Langsdorf was such a man of honor, you see this in all his actions, down to his treatment of prisoners. I cann only imagine what it must have been like to see his ship beeing destroyed like that, it certainly was disgraceful with ppl sheering on the shores for having a good afternoon spectacle. Not exactly the way a captain envisions his ship's end. But this will remain speculative.
That said, I always considered honor for honors sake instead of an actual application to real life and common sense as superficial and sometimes dangerous. The european aristocratic and military honors as well as far east bushido style honors are good examples of that. Good men die for nothing but pride.