General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: STARLING ORDER - Reply from Axel Niestle
Posted by:
kurt
()
Date: August 15, 2002 08:25PM
<HTML>Oliver:
"The RN felt that U-boat men had done many things outside the rules of war.."
??? This sounds as if the RN never ever operated subs themselves???
Yes, the RN operated subs, and quite ruthlessly, too. But even a cursory glance thru British diplomatic correspondance of the time will show that Britian, as one might expect of a dominant maritime power, felt very strongly that sink on sight sub warfare against merchantmen was a criminal act outside of the rules of war. Their sub operations simply, in British eyes, retaliated in kind, and were justified in doing so, in Briitsh eyes, because the Germans did first.
There were a number of Japanese military personnel executed for war crimes after the war - a tiny, tiny fraction of those who did evil, but still a few. None were IJN officers executed for war crimes committed against US submarine POW's or against allied merchantmen.
I stand by my statements.</HTML>
"The RN felt that U-boat men had done many things outside the rules of war.."
??? This sounds as if the RN never ever operated subs themselves???
Yes, the RN operated subs, and quite ruthlessly, too. But even a cursory glance thru British diplomatic correspondance of the time will show that Britian, as one might expect of a dominant maritime power, felt very strongly that sink on sight sub warfare against merchantmen was a criminal act outside of the rules of war. Their sub operations simply, in British eyes, retaliated in kind, and were justified in doing so, in Briitsh eyes, because the Germans did first.
There were a number of Japanese military personnel executed for war crimes after the war - a tiny, tiny fraction of those who did evil, but still a few. None were IJN officers executed for war crimes committed against US submarine POW's or against allied merchantmen.
I stand by my statements.</HTML>
