How many laconia survivors

Other commentators, in a case of more blatant bias, see the final stages of the tragedy as anti-American, as if their well-documented and equally hasty decision to intervene could be omitted from the fact-based tale. But by the end, I admired him. Not only does The Sinking of Laconia clear up one of the most controversial moments in WWII history, but it elevates the main characters above historical archetype, and imbues them with colour and contradiction.

It airs on SBS on March Sign out. A pivotal scene in 'The Sinking of Laconia'. Previous Next Show Grid. Together, they began heading for the African coast. In the middle of the day, Hartenstein was overflown by a B Liberator long-range bomber from the rd Bombardment Squadron.

The aircraft was transiting eastward from a very secret base on Ascension Island on toward Africa. U's deck was still crowded with survivors, she was towing as many as four lifeboats loaded with people, and she had a large Red Cross flag draped over the gun deck. The B circled low over the U-Boat for 30 minutes assessing the situation and then flew off to the west.

The B pilot radioed a report of what he had seen and asked for instructions. The reply was clear and direct: "Sink the sub. He dropped bombs and depth charges that caused only minor damage to the submarine but destroyed two lifeboats and killed dozens of Laconia survivors perhaps hundreds. Hartenstein had no choice but to cast the lifeboats adrift and put the survivors on his deck back into the sea so that he could dive and save his boat. As the B was beginning its second pass, U submerged.

The B pilot saw this and reported that the sub had been sunk. He was credited with a submarine "kill" and was later decorated for this action. In all, 1, of Laconia's original compliment of 2, survived the sinking. In response to this attack, he issued a sweeping order to the entire U-Boat fleet that became known as the Laconia Order. The central portion of this order said: "All attempts to save survivors of sunken ships, also the picking up of floating men and putting them on board lifeboats, the setting upright of overturned lifeboats, and the handing over of food and water are to be discontinued.

These rescues contradict the primitive demands of warfare to destroy enemy ships and their crews. Up to this point, German U-Boats operated more or less under the prevailing maritime doctrine known as the Cruiser Rules, which called for ships to engage in the kinds of actions Hartenstein had done in this case.

The Laconia Order unleashed the new and brutal doctrine of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare that remained in place for the rest of the war with dire consequences for many merchant seamen. Richardson III; there was no discipline at all or even much of an inquiry from the Americans. Captain Richardson's reasons for giving the order to attack were that he believed the rules of war at the time did not permit combat ships to fly Red Cross flags, he feared the German submarine would attack the two British freighters responding to the area, and he assumed the German submarine was only rescuing Italian prisoners of war.

The bomber pilot, Lieutenant James D. Harden—who, like his crew, was on his first mission—radioed their base on Ascension Island in the south Atlantic for instructions. The B dropped another two bombs. Do not rely on enemy showing slightest consideration. That afternoon the two Vichy vessels rescued scores of British and Polish survivors and set a course for Dakar and Casablanca. Among those aboard was Janet Walker. She darted through the throng, but found no sign of little Doreen.

Not every survivor had been picked up. Doris Hawkins and 67 others were in a leaky lifeboat miles from shore. The boat required constant bailing; it had five oars but no sail and rudder.

Their cries and rambling speech and often-repeated pleas for water were terrible to hear. After 25 days at sea, a Laconia crewman in the boat saw what appeared to be a passing convoy. Those who could roused themselves to watch the shapes, finally realizing the ships must be at anchor. Washington and London hushed up the Laconia incident to avoid negative headlines, finding it impolitic to draw attention to an episode in which more than 1, men, women, and children perished.

It would be 20 years before, thanks to two U. Air Force historians, Dr. Maurer Maurer and Lawrence J. The case deflated when the former commander in chief of the U.

Navy in the Pacific, Admiral Chester W. Spared the death penalty, the admiral served 10 years at Spandau prison. He died in Think of the fact that the enemy in his bombing attacks on German towns and cities has no regard for women and children.