General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Disturbingly harsh, Kurt
Posted by:
Dietzsch
()
Date: June 30, 2001 03:34PM
<HTML>I disagree with you, Kurt. Someone who is no position to threaten you, can easily be made POW. An infantryman without ground under his feet is no threat to anybody. Only if they put up a fight when being summoned to surrender, or being hauled aboard a rescuing vessel, they are \'fair game\' (what a horrible way to describe any person, even it is an enemy), but as stated by someone else before, nobody would do such an idiotic thing.
It\'s good to be loyal to the cause of anti-nazism, but not at the expense of treading on the graves of those that fought honourably, like the vast majority of the U-Boot Waffe personnel.
I also disagree with the notion of the infantry being shot in the water, because they might come back to fight another day. Question. Is someone who helps my enemy a person who I can legally fight? I think that\'s indeed the case. That would mean, that the seamen that were torpedoed and shelled by the U-Boats were also \'fair game\'. They did not wear a (military) uniform, but they did perform duties that were detrimental to the German war effort. I really think that this argument nullifies the eternal argument about U-Boat warfare being a crime against civilians.
If I would subscribe to your opinion, the Germans would have been perfectly right in machine-gunning surviving seamen, because they might come back to sail another vessel full of food and ammo for the Brits one day.
The U-Boot Waffe did not do this, fortunately. A British submarine officer who ordered his men to shoot German infantrymen in the water was spoken to by his superiors and ordered not to do it again, lest it provoke the Germans into taking equal measures.
It looks like you are harsher in your opinion of what can be tolerated in warfare than both the RN and the Kriegsmarine. This can\'t be said for the US Navy in those days. Unfortunately. Note: I\'m not trying to tread on USN personnel\'s graves here. Just stating facts.</HTML>
It\'s good to be loyal to the cause of anti-nazism, but not at the expense of treading on the graves of those that fought honourably, like the vast majority of the U-Boot Waffe personnel.
I also disagree with the notion of the infantry being shot in the water, because they might come back to fight another day. Question. Is someone who helps my enemy a person who I can legally fight? I think that\'s indeed the case. That would mean, that the seamen that were torpedoed and shelled by the U-Boats were also \'fair game\'. They did not wear a (military) uniform, but they did perform duties that were detrimental to the German war effort. I really think that this argument nullifies the eternal argument about U-Boat warfare being a crime against civilians.
If I would subscribe to your opinion, the Germans would have been perfectly right in machine-gunning surviving seamen, because they might come back to sail another vessel full of food and ammo for the Brits one day.
The U-Boot Waffe did not do this, fortunately. A British submarine officer who ordered his men to shoot German infantrymen in the water was spoken to by his superiors and ordered not to do it again, lest it provoke the Germans into taking equal measures.
It looks like you are harsher in your opinion of what can be tolerated in warfare than both the RN and the Kriegsmarine. This can\'t be said for the US Navy in those days. Unfortunately. Note: I\'m not trying to tread on USN personnel\'s graves here. Just stating facts.</HTML>
