The action of Eck's was dumb, un-necessary, but the death sentence is too harsh for the crime:
1. He acted out of what he believe was a military necessity (although his judgment was wrong), not out of sadistic pleasure.
2. There are clear examples where allied military personnel giving clear order to shot survivors (not just debris) in the water (3 notable cases was given in the uboat.net article.) The claim of military necessity in those cases were even weaker.
The action of the ship's doctor, using a weapon while a non-combatant, was a major error in judgment. Whether he should be shot for that is up to debate.
If I were commanding a IXD, and someone told me all previous boat of this type has been sunk, I will probably act pretty jumpy as well. (Maybe not as jumpy as Eck, but I was not in a real war.)
Of cause, if I were in the shoes of the greek sailors, my opinions would be very different.
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