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Originally Posted by baggygreen
Thats because of the time the comments were written on the back of the photos tho Morts..
My question is why did they start shelling the sub once it was blown clear to the surface? I wouldnt have thought it very likely the subs crew could ready the deck gun without being spotted doing so...
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Pretty much standard practice, from the attacks I've read of u-boats being forced to the surface. Open up on them with everything at hand. The goal was to be sure to put the boat on the bottom - period. When my father's ship was in a similar situation, that's what they did - opened fire as soon as the boat was spotted on the surface.
From their perspective, the u-boats offered no mercy to their victoms, so they were offered none in return. I think that's one thing we can't have a true perspective of, not having lived it. A lot of people truly hated the germans (ever see the interviews on Band of Brothers with "wild Bill" Garnier - he says quite bluntly that when he landed in Normandy, his personal goal was to kill as many germans as he possible could, and he admits, that turned into quite a few in fact). The crews of the convoy escort ships and the various merchant marines really had no sympathy for the u-boat crews - none at all.
It's really near impossible to put yourself into their emotional shoes - I mean anyone, from any side, who lived and faught in WWII.