General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: TV Series Hell in the Pacific - Atrocities
Posted by:
Gavin
()
Date: June 29, 2001 08:01AM
<HTML>I am loathe to comment on these sort of posts and have provided John with some info via e-mail in an attempt to de-sensationalise the post. But, the basic facts are true the event is the closing stages of the battle of the Bismarck sea in first week of march 43 and japanese infantry were attacked in the water to prevent them being re armed when they gained the new guinea shore.
Was it right? Probably not, but I strongly advise that comparisons between the pacific and european wars (particularly by europeans in hindsight) is a subject that really serves no purpose because the realities of the two wars are so different.
My suggestion to u-boat net is leave the whole topic of war crimes alone. The whole uboat offensive is a crime by any reasonable standards as it was part of Hitlers war and made little or no effort to recover survivors. It also killed on an indiscriminate basis. Harsh comparisons can be drawn between this and raider warfare. It was absolutely abhorent in my opinion and a great number of people need to remember this as they wax lyrical about the deeds of certain \'aces\" and ask questions about Nazi medals. It may not be palatable to the general readership here but without a doubt the U-boat ace in these pages is cut more slack than he should be. We should never forget also the slave labourers and concentration camp inmates that helped to build these weapons.
Having said that, the allies did many many things that could be called war crimes nowadays no matter what the provocation was. (Air Forces conscipuously). (Though the navies would just about be squared away 100% innocent in west I think - not withstanding all the posts on this net about the last three days of a 5 year war ignoring all before!!!)
Like I said leave the WC alone because it doesnt serve any purpose and honestly the battle of the atlantic has far more interesting topics.
Hope this constructively moves the debate forward.
GD
</HTML>
Was it right? Probably not, but I strongly advise that comparisons between the pacific and european wars (particularly by europeans in hindsight) is a subject that really serves no purpose because the realities of the two wars are so different.
My suggestion to u-boat net is leave the whole topic of war crimes alone. The whole uboat offensive is a crime by any reasonable standards as it was part of Hitlers war and made little or no effort to recover survivors. It also killed on an indiscriminate basis. Harsh comparisons can be drawn between this and raider warfare. It was absolutely abhorent in my opinion and a great number of people need to remember this as they wax lyrical about the deeds of certain \'aces\" and ask questions about Nazi medals. It may not be palatable to the general readership here but without a doubt the U-boat ace in these pages is cut more slack than he should be. We should never forget also the slave labourers and concentration camp inmates that helped to build these weapons.
Having said that, the allies did many many things that could be called war crimes nowadays no matter what the provocation was. (Air Forces conscipuously). (Though the navies would just about be squared away 100% innocent in west I think - not withstanding all the posts on this net about the last three days of a 5 year war ignoring all before!!!)
Like I said leave the WC alone because it doesnt serve any purpose and honestly the battle of the atlantic has far more interesting topics.
Hope this constructively moves the debate forward.
GD
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