General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Glory?
Posted by:
Georg Georgsson
()
Date: November 22, 2000 08:15PM
<HTML>Oh boy!! I really rattled the cage here! 
I think I proved my point here, (in some way). I think you have to see my comment in an objective vay. Of corse war is war, and mistakes happen. There are many different stories on heroism, on both sides, U-boat captains that spare ships, since they discover the nationality, as Ragnar stated, and soldiers honour and respect for the enemy as the thread regarding the burial at sea of a U-boat crew member states.
There is also stories of foul play, were the germans were blamed for actions, that could be done by others. I can mention the sinking of the Icelandic trawler Petursey and the attack on Frodi on march 11-12 1941. According to Jurgen Rohwer, they were probably attacked by U-37, but since the boat survived the war, it should be documented in the log? I remember reading about the attacks, and there was rumours that it was brittish U-boat that did the attack, and the rumour was based on the chell scrapnels retreived from the Frodi, but it could not been prooved.
Kurt, as a Vietnam veteran, you have certainly had your share of orders that were not right, according to your morale, but as a soldier you could not disobey. As you mention, the leaders often are to blame, but ain´t the captain of the boat the leader of the crew, and responsible for the actions taken?
We can look at another german military leader, Heins Guderian (I think I spelled the name right), he was a real gentleman of war. I read that he had two german soldiers in his unit executed after military trial for raping russian women. It is also a fact that he was one of the few top military leaders that was not convicted of any war crimes at the Nüremberg trials.
So I see the U-boat personell as a soldiers, pure and simple, trying to do their job.
So I hope that I did not offend any with my topic.
//Georg
P.S. Ragnar, of course we are the best in the world, if we measure \"per capita\". The best WWII site on the web is Icelandic ain´t it??</HTML>
I think I proved my point here, (in some way). I think you have to see my comment in an objective vay. Of corse war is war, and mistakes happen. There are many different stories on heroism, on both sides, U-boat captains that spare ships, since they discover the nationality, as Ragnar stated, and soldiers honour and respect for the enemy as the thread regarding the burial at sea of a U-boat crew member states.
There is also stories of foul play, were the germans were blamed for actions, that could be done by others. I can mention the sinking of the Icelandic trawler Petursey and the attack on Frodi on march 11-12 1941. According to Jurgen Rohwer, they were probably attacked by U-37, but since the boat survived the war, it should be documented in the log? I remember reading about the attacks, and there was rumours that it was brittish U-boat that did the attack, and the rumour was based on the chell scrapnels retreived from the Frodi, but it could not been prooved.
Kurt, as a Vietnam veteran, you have certainly had your share of orders that were not right, according to your morale, but as a soldier you could not disobey. As you mention, the leaders often are to blame, but ain´t the captain of the boat the leader of the crew, and responsible for the actions taken?
We can look at another german military leader, Heins Guderian (I think I spelled the name right), he was a real gentleman of war. I read that he had two german soldiers in his unit executed after military trial for raping russian women. It is also a fact that he was one of the few top military leaders that was not convicted of any war crimes at the Nüremberg trials.
So I see the U-boat personell as a soldiers, pure and simple, trying to do their job.
So I hope that I did not offend any with my topic.
//Georg
P.S. Ragnar, of course we are the best in the world, if we measure \"per capita\". The best WWII site on the web is Icelandic ain´t it??
</HTML>| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Glory?
|
Georg Georgsson | 11/22/2000 08:15PM |
|
RE: Glory?
|
MPC | 11/22/2000 08:40PM |