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Eck knew he was killing survivors
Posted by: kurt ()
Date: June 08, 2001 05:05PM

<HTML>Your post is partially correct.

Yes, there were only a handful of survivors, huddled in one raft... after Eck was done killing everyone else.

After sinking the Peleus, Eck surfaced. About half of the Peleus crew had survived the sinking, and were clinging to debris and in life rafts.

Eck captured two enemy crewman from the water, interrogated them, and put them back in a raft. He also recovered some debris - all to confirm the identity and size of the sinking victim - all well and good and not uncommon practice in parts of the Atlantic far from allied air support. Henke on U-515 did this a number of times as well....

Then Eck decided that he wanted to eliminate all \'wreckage and debris\' that might tell the allies that a sinking had occurred - the Peleus had sunk so fast no SSS or radio message was sent out - killing the survivors and sinking the debris would finish the job.

Eck had the guns manned, and ordered the debris and rafts destroyed by point blank machine gun fire - including the 20mm and 37mm AA guns - even the rafts he knew had survivors in them.

He knew he was deliberately shooting and killing survivors.

He tried hard, sailing among the debris field, shooting at anything he could find by lamplight - it was dark now - for five hours, quitting at 1AM.

A handful of survivors managed, in the dark, to avoid detection and escape destruction. After nearly 50 days in a raft, they were picked up by an allied ship.

Eck and his crew were captured shortly afterwards on the Indian Ocean coast when we went hard aground fleeing allied ASW forces.

The rest is history. Eck was arrested and tried with war crimes, sentenced to death, and shot after the war, along wqith two other crewman. Two other served prison sentences that were cut short after the war.

It is interesting, in all this debate about Eck and Morton, that no one has mentioned the IJN. While Morton, and Eck\'s respective actions were unique aberations, Japanese I-boats routinely and frequently massacred the survivors of sinkings - I-8 was particlarly notorious in this. Yet no war crimes trials for IJN sub commanders that I know of. Maybe none of the guilty parties survived the war.

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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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