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in defense of Mush
Posted by: kurt ()
Date: June 06, 2001 08:55PM

<HTML>In defense of Cmdr Mush Morton, he fired on miliatry troops, who were on their way to reinforcing Japanese islands slated for invasion. If they had survived, they would had been in the line against US soldiers.

Also, these troops were armed and firing at the Wahoo. How much and with what is a matter of dispute - by some accounts the Japanese had armed some of the landing craft/lifeboats with machine guns and even light artillery. Some troops in the water were using handguns to take potshots at the Wahoo. Other accounts say that the enemy fire was confined to a handful of potshots from small arms. But the point is that if you use your lifeboats like gunboats, expect them to be treated like gunboats, not lifeboats. The Japanese did not give, nor expect mercy in any shape or form, and the Pacific theater was generally fought in a no holds barred no prisoners taken or expected manner. We\'ve had some threads regarding the IJN and IJA behavior, but basically they acted without mercy, and expected none in return.

Eck fired on unarmed civilians (well, merchant crew, who are not truly uniformed civilians in terms of international law) in order to protect his location from being disclosed. This is a much weaker argument for military necessity than Mush\'s.

While Mush\'s third patrol (where the sinking of the Buyo Maru you mention) was highly praised, this particular action was not commented on by his superiors in the patrol report endorsements - neither approving nor condemning it. In general, it was not emulated by other US sub forces - I am not aware of any other incident of the systematic active killing of sinking victims by US subs.
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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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