[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by K-61

The one that got Doenitz in trouble at the Nuremburg trials was the "Laconia order." For those unfamiliar with it, the Laconia was a British liner carrying British families and Italian P.O.W.'s from the Middle East. Hartenstein sunk it, then attempted to rescue the survivors. He tied up lifeboats to his sub, brought women and children onto the deck and sent an S.O.S. in the clear, asking for assistance and pledging not to attack any Allied units assisting. For his troubles, he was attacked by a B-24 and had to break off the rescue. After that, Doenitz ordered the U-boats not to make any further attempts at assisting survivors. He was acquitted of this charge after it was pointed out that Allied subs operated under essentially the same orders. One American commander, Dudley "Mush" Morton was particularly fond of machinegunning Japanese survivors in the water, for which he would not have been tried had he survived the war.

Yeah, I know that one morning "Mush" woke up and said "Dang, I'm getting bored, Let's get some target practice, I haven't seen enough blood today. Damn the Lifeboats, run'em over and shoot all the survivors..." Sound stupid? In all the books I've read and patrol reports including the Wahoo, I'd like anyone to point out proof that "Mush" was "Fond" of Machine gunning suvivors in the water. In fact, after perusing the Wahoo's patrol reports again, I found several instances of humane treatment of survivors with the inclusion of medical aid, food and course for the nearest port or base. True, many of these were merchants but it doesn't sound like a bloodthirsty boat to me. Out of all the 300 odd US subs that participated in WW2 everyone always comes back to one incident, highly questionable and perpetrated on a sub commander who never got to defend himself or adorn any of his decorations. I have the utmost respect for most of the Skippers and crews of the US and German Subs and before I ever cast any judgement on them, I have to try and put myself in their place. For even a moment, it's an impossibility.
To anyone who wants to read the patrol reports of the US Fleetboats;
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/subreports.htm
Very educational and great reading.
D40