Shooting Liferafts

[skirich]

Originally Posted by YellowFin

Agree. Only a pig would machine gun survivors. Rightfully German submariners got punished for doing that.

Lets not spread rumors of german submariners shooting liferafts.
Lots of false internet articles saying this due to the Allied propaganda used to stir up negative sentiment.

It was officially documented once. Quite the opposite, submariners were somewhat helpful if the situation warranted and allowed.


On a ship, everyone was fair game, once in the water they were left alone.

[Fifi]

Originally Posted by skirich

Lets not spread rumors of german submariners shooting liferafts.
Lots of false internet articles saying this due to the Allied propaganda used to stir up negative sentiment.

It was officially documented once. Quite the opposite, submariners were somewhat helpful if the situation warranted and allowed.


On a ship, everyone was fair game, once in the water they were left alone.

Read the Doenitz biography and Nuremberg trial...
He gave « hidden » orders about ships survivors, just saying ships survivors will be new ship crew...understand what you want!
But knowing the primary task was to reduce English ships numbers...crew was linked to ships, no crew no ships!
So was the understanding of Doenitz convinced nazi spirit.
Hopefully very very few Kaleuns understood this order to the letter.

[skirich]

Originally Posted by Fifi

Read the Doenitz biography and Nuremberg trial...
He gave « hidden » orders about ships survivors, just saying ships survivors will be new ship crew...understand what you want!
But knowing the primary task was to reduce English ships numbers...crew was linked to ships, no crew no ships!
So was the understanding of Doenitz convinced nazi spirit.
Hopefully very very few Kaleuns understood this order to the letter.

Right, I read that part of the Nuremberg trial. The orders where not as much hidden but purposely presented as ambiguous, open for interpretation, allowing each Kaleun to do as they see fit. From what I understand only one incident came about.
I think, if I remember correctly, Doenitz was exonerated on those charges, for those orders, by Admiral Nimitz's testimony in support of what was seen as the equivalent order given to the US Navy, "Perform unrestricted warfare on Japan, military or civilian"


A cool documentary to watch about the testimony in Nimitz's own words ...

[Fifi]

Exactly
They didn’t keep those charges against him...for that particular matter...even if he certainly thought before the surrender: kill them all, crew included.
Well, he was a nazi convinced anyway. But not as complex guy as Goering for instance.
(Off topic, but Goering biography and life was quite impressive...and paradoxical sometimes)

[skirich]

Yep, we did it to, but we didnt draw first blood on the liferafts.
I would have done the same if under fire from them.

A little something from an old website that no longer exists except in the archives ...


https://web.archive.org/web/20111207...-mighty-wahoo/

[propbeanie]

Bushido! Never surrender! - I have a book with similar to that in it... but I don't have any of the books on the Wahoo... It's one with several short stories in it... - I also can't find my "Clear the Bridge!" copy... sigh... I never dreamt I'd get old this fast!

[fred8615]

Saw a short documentary on YouTube yesterday about the Japanese sub I-19 which said she fired on life rafts once, killing one person. So it happened on the Japanese side at least once too.