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realities of war
Posted by: kurt ()
Date: June 06, 2001 03:41PM

<HTML>The reality of war is that few soldiers will risk themselves, even to the smallest degree, to help save enemy troops who are trying to surrender, be it on land or sea. Let alone a whole crew and a valuable escort ship.

Stopping a destroyer to pick up U-boat survivors makes it a sitting duck for any other U-boat in the area. Maybe there were other U-boats around. Maybe not. They had no way of knowing for a fact if it was safe to stop. Why risk it? These U-boat crew were trying to kill us just a few minutes before....and now they want us to risk our necks to save them? If the tables were turned and we were splashing in the water the U-boat crew wouldn\'t lift a finger to help us!

Or so I can imagine the crew feeling at the time.

Remember that U-boat crews, by operational dynamics of sub operations, normally did not stop to assist the victims of their sinkings. There were also many stories (false, or mistaken, as it turns out) of U-boats shooting at lifeboats and such that were floating about. Allied naval personnel were under the general impression that U-boat crewmen were heartless pirates who left all to drown in the cold ocean without mercy or quarter - the truth of the honorable behaviour of the U-boat men did not become clear and widely known till after the war.

The commander in this case exersized his judgement in not stopping - he probably had the right to not follow his orders if he felt it was operationaly dangerous or innappropriate - commanders are generally given some latitude in how to carry out their orders, balancing their responsibilities to accomplish their main mission, and to safeguard their crew and ship.

There are many cases of allied ships abandoning even their own vicitms to the sea because of operational needs - one case in point is when the Queen Mary collided and instantly sank its escort, it streamed on, knowing that the surviving crew of the escort, who did not have time to launch any lifeboats, would be helpess in the sea, but it was too risky to stop.

Weddingen, in WWI, opened up the sub era by sinking three warships in a row, two of whom were at a dead stop to rescue the victims of his first sinking. People learned: never stop when subs are known or thought to be in the area.

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Subject Written By Posted
crew of U-470 abandoned Dave McQueen 06/05/2001 08:12PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Brian Corijn 06/05/2001 09:03PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Dave McQueen 06/06/2001 07:04AM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Steve Cooper 06/06/2001 12:27PM
RE: USS Juneau Rainer Bruns 06/06/2001 01:03PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned becorijn@zeelandnet.nl 06/06/2001 01:14PM
USS Juneau Michael Lowrey 06/06/2001 02:41PM
RE: USS Juneau Michael Lowrey 06/06/2001 03:22PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Rainer Bruns 06/06/2001 01:11PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Steve 06/06/2001 01:29PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned -Dave John Griffiths 06/06/2001 05:18PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned -Dave Ted Agar 06/06/2001 07:29PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned -Dave Tom Iwanski 06/06/2001 07:59PM
in defense of Mush kurt 06/06/2001 08:55PM
RE: in defense of Mush Steve Cooper 06/07/2001 01:27PM
Mushs first wahoos third kurt 06/07/2001 03:21PM
RE: in defense of Eck Tim 06/08/2001 01:44AM
Eck knew he was killing survivors kurt 06/08/2001 05:05PM
With all due respect John Dave McQueen 06/07/2001 06:44AM
RE: With all due respect John John Griffiths 06/07/2001 04:10PM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Steve 06/06/2001 12:19AM
RE: crew of U-470 abandoned Joe Brennan 06/06/2001 06:00AM
RE: other example Rainer Bruns 06/06/2001 01:06PM
realities of war kurt 06/06/2001 03:41PM
RE: realities of war Walt 06/06/2001 10:08PM
RE: realities of war Steve 06/07/2001 10:02AM
RE: wrong spot, defending Mush Rainer Bruns 06/06/2001 11:31PM
Mush and Eck kurt 06/07/2001 04:01AM
RE: Mush and Eck Rainer Bruns 06/07/2001 11:32AM
RE: Mush and Eck Walt 06/07/2001 12:04PM
RE: Mush and Eck Steve Cooper 06/07/2001 01:21PM
RE: Mush and Eck Walt 06/07/2001 04:59PM
RE: Mush and Eck Tim 06/08/2001 02:06AM
RE: Mush and Eck Rainer Bruns 06/07/2001 03:43PM
RE: Mush and Eck Walt 06/07/2001 04:57PM
different opinions kurt 06/07/2001 03:56PM
RE: different opinions Rich Mickle 06/07/2001 11:03PM
RE: different opinions Siri Lawson 06/08/2001 03:56AM
RE: different opinions Rich Mickle 06/08/2001 08:51AM


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