General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: machine gunning survivors
Posted by:
Lawrence
()
Date: February 02, 2001 10:58AM
<HTML>It is an emotive and highly controversial topic. There are genuine accounts of U-boats accidently hitting lifeboats that were being lowered during the course of finishing off a freighter, but, although tragic, these were definite accidents( an example can be had in Wolfgang Hirschfield\'s excellent book).
Regarding Luftwaffe strafing of survivors in the water, this is another huge are of debate. During the course of extensive research of the Lancastria sinking (the worst British maritime disaster ever) there were repeated accounts of the Dornier aircraft that bombed her \"strafing survivors in the water\". From German sources this was confirmed as true...BUT... there is a perspective to be taken into account. The survivors struggling in the water were numbered in their thousands and functioning warships were present, which remained legitimate targets. Some would (and have) also said that a soldier struggling through water is still a soldier and a fair target. Like I said it is a difficult subject.
I object stongly to the image often portrayed of U-boat commanders and Luftwaffe piolts as remorseless killing machines machine gunning survivors either in the sea or along packed roads in France 1940. However, the former event definitely happened once (U852) and the latter event also took place. Stupid movies don\'t help this topic either, you would think that sixty years or so after WW2 when people are trying to approach the subject with an open, objective mind, there would be a greater effort to bury the \"infamous image\".
Anywa, enough rambling.
Cheers
Lawrence</HTML>
Regarding Luftwaffe strafing of survivors in the water, this is another huge are of debate. During the course of extensive research of the Lancastria sinking (the worst British maritime disaster ever) there were repeated accounts of the Dornier aircraft that bombed her \"strafing survivors in the water\". From German sources this was confirmed as true...BUT... there is a perspective to be taken into account. The survivors struggling in the water were numbered in their thousands and functioning warships were present, which remained legitimate targets. Some would (and have) also said that a soldier struggling through water is still a soldier and a fair target. Like I said it is a difficult subject.
I object stongly to the image often portrayed of U-boat commanders and Luftwaffe piolts as remorseless killing machines machine gunning survivors either in the sea or along packed roads in France 1940. However, the former event definitely happened once (U852) and the latter event also took place. Stupid movies don\'t help this topic either, you would think that sixty years or so after WW2 when people are trying to approach the subject with an open, objective mind, there would be a greater effort to bury the \"infamous image\".
Anywa, enough rambling.
Cheers
Lawrence</HTML>
