@Lt.Fillipidis
First off thanks for keeping the tone of the discussion level-headed and polite.
As to use of the Red Cross by belligerents, the provisions of Article 5 seemingly restricts the use of symbols to indicate military hospital ships one of which is the Red Cross flag. Article 6 goes on to state:
Quote:
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Art. 6. The distinguishing signs referred to in Article 5 can only be used, whether in time of peace or war, for protecting or indicating the ships therein mentioned.
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Since the only ships mentioned therein Article 5 are hospital ships I infer that belligerent warships are excluded from protection of the Red Cross.
That being said I will not attempt to dispute the morality of the Allied actions since any such opinions would be driven by purely subjective and highly emotional considerations.
The general consensus that Richardson was a war criminal of the worst sort can, I believe, be countered by the text of the very Conventions that he is accused of violating. My only reasons for posting in this topic at all were to place the Allied actions on a legal rather than ethical footing. We all should know that there are actions which may be legal and immoral at the same time.
I rather look upon the entire
Laconia affair as symptomatic of total war as practiced in the 20th Century.
Cheers