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U-852- Wilhelm Eck. Just read about him in a book called Battle Beneath the Waves- contrastly, an American submarine commander was discussed as sinking a Japanese troop ship in the Pacific. After the sinking the surviving Japanese soldiers, manning the landing craft that were able to be launched before the ship sank,were gunned down by machine gun and cannon fire. The commanders dicernment was that any surviving Japenese in these "type" of craft were still considered enemy ships to be dealt with. I wonder if it was a Japanese commander that did this if he would have been tried for attrocities.

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I had known that Japanese submariners went after all and sundry (including stranded ship mates) as fair game, but I had only known of one instance of a German U-Boat commander machine-gunning survivors in the water....very disheartening piece...nevertheless very interesting and eye-opening...thanks immensely for posting Kai...

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"GARRY OWEN"-Traditional war-cry of the US 7th Cavalry.
"CURRAHEE"-War-cry of the US 506th PIR.
"Everybody thinks that they are going to get the chance to punch some Nazi in the face at Normandy-and those days are over, they are long gone"-Lt Chris Burnett

Nice controversial site. One I have to definately disagree with is the accusation made about Erich Topp.

The rest I can see as being possibilities or actually happening.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

The incident with the sinking of the David H. Atwater by U 552 is factual. The David H. Atwater was sunk at night on 3 April 1942 (not March 1942). Topp first struck the Atwater with his 88mm and then strafed the ship with machinegun fire. Under the advice of Hardegen who recommended to save torpedoes while patrolling the US coast, Topp continued to fire with the 88mm and machine guns.

As the Atwater crew attempted to man their lifeboats, they were struck by machine gun fire. Coast Guard patrol vessel #218 arrived on the scene shortly after the sinking and found only 3 survivors and 3 bodies floating in the sea. The Coast Guard cutter Legare heard the gunfire and immediately rushed to the scene and found one lifeboat riddled with machine-gun bullets and one body. This incident helped promote the belief that u-boats would shoot survivors of torpedoed ships.

The incident is well documented. Sadly, it did occur.

I like to think that since the attack happened in the evening, Topp never saw the crew attempting to man the life boats. But, U 552 was only 600 yards away while she fired at the Atwater. It would seem nearly impossible that no one would have seen the crew on deck. Out of repect to Herr Topp, I have never asked him about this incident.

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"Angriff, Ran, Versenken!"-Onkel Karl
"Sink 'Em All"-Uncle Charlie

I am almost speechless on this one incident.

WOW--I don't doubt what is said and documented but--it's just really difficult for me to believe that this happened under his commnad.

I guess in the heat of combat--anything is possible?

Ivan--thanks for the story.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

The truth is always the truth and we have to bear that even how tragic it is!

Thanx for confirming the story, Herr Kaleun!

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And I am still in shock--as I do know Erich Topp through correspondance.

Susanne and I could have "dropped on by" to see him when we were near Remagen but--felt it would have been too rude to just "drop on by" having not made arrangements beforehand.

At least we did get to stay the day with Remy, and we accidently bumped into a few other RKTs having dinner with a Gebirgsjager RKT at Forsthaus Graseck.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Gentlemen, This was war, remember? Many allied ships were decoys disguised as merchant ships. When the sub would surface, out popped the big guns hidden on the deck, often in, or under, or around life boats. Who would take the chance on this fact, especially at night? I would have run to the other side of the ship that wasn't being fired upon had I been there. Then I would grab something that floats and jumped.

We can only speculate as to why things happened.
50 years later we learned that the Lutsatnia(sp)was indeed carring arms for use against Germany. Perhaps we will find out more later but I doubt it.

Gary

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Beer, it's not just for breakfast!

So why didnt every Uboat do the same in that case?

The Lusitania was carrying arms to fight Germany? I must admit I didnt know of this, but carrying arms to where, she was on an outward journey wasn't she to States if memory serves, where we in UK arming USA against Germany?

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

Ill put the whiskey bottle away now, indeed it was sailing out of the USA.

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

That incident about U-552 DID happen, as Herr Kaleun said. But the men David H. Atwater were still on board the ship. It would have been a war crime if once being in the weater or in life boats they would have been shot. I don't see any crime here.

But we have that in the other side if the world, many US Navy submarine commanders should be trailed as war criminals. And the evidence that proves that is a lot.

The perfect example is USS Wahoo which after sinking a Japanese troop cargo with over 9.000 Japanese soldiers on board, nearly 6.000 survivours were machine-gunned by orders of the captain. And there are not only witnesses and documents, but a complete colour film portraying the action and the smiling faces of the crew! There is even one image where a Japanese soldier has been able to swin some three metres away from the submarine and then he is shot. As a colour film you can clearly see the water turning red with blood.

[img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Not very good work by the propaganda office of the US...

Was this on History channel or on some CD, I wonder? It would be "interesting" to see it some day though not very mind lifting...

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Yes, Kai. You can watch this in a programme called "The colour of war" by History Channel. The episode was "The submariners" or something like that. I have in on tape. Really good and heart-breaking programme.

Also, in that programme there were photos and shots of some Lieutenant named George Bush being rescued by a submarine after he was shot down in the Pacific. Very interesting.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

The Laconia troop-ship disaster.

In one of the saddest episodes of the war, on 12th September 1942 the German submarine U-156 sinks the British troopship Laconia in the South Atlantic. She is carrying 1,500 Italian prisoners of war, 180 Polish guards, and 811 British passengers and crew. The submarine surfaces and Captain Hartenstein starts to pick up survivors but is overwhelmed by the numbers. So he sends out a radio signal offering not to attack any ship that comes to the rescue. Two British and one French warship start the rescue work, but a US Army Liberator aircraft, flying from the newly established base on Ascension Island, attacks the submarine with bombs. As a result, Admiral Dönitz issues an order that ‘all attempts to rescue the crews of sunken ships will cease forthwith’. Capt. Hartenstein, who had done his best to help the survivors, was himself killed six months later when his submarine was sunk by US navy aircraft.

http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/dchi...&sectioncode=3

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