The sinking of the Laconia two part BBC series

by smiddy3 5 Replies latest social entertainment

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  smiddy3

  I have just finished watching this program and found it quite disturbing in the sense that both sides of the war effort had so little regard for human life .

  It might sound strange to say that in time of warfare when civilian casualties are rife on both sides ,however I think this is an exception.

  Except for the courage and heroic efforts of the German Commander of the U-Boat who tried and helped so many people to survive.

  Werner Hartenstein

  His name should be Honored by all the nationalities he saved.

  And I was appalled by the Americans who bombed the submarine on the surface of the water with a red cross flag in full view with civilians on deck and lifeboats in tow with many more civilians on board.

  I think this was an exceptional incident in a time of war that both sides should have given way.
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  smiddy3

  I thought a few people at least would have made some comment on this post maybe I shouldn`t have posted it in entertainment. ?

  Then again maybe nobody has ever seen this series.
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  stillMS

  I'm glad for you, smiddy3, that you're disturbed by the events happened almost a hundred years ago, but I guess there was really very little regard for human life in a war with 50+ million casualties. It was a cruel time, and massacre was not an exception those days.
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I had never heard of it, so thanks for posting this
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  Crazyguy

  Wasn’t this a setup to help get America into the war. If sonand im thinking of the right ship, ofcourse America would retaliate and bomb the German Uboats. Gotta make it as nasty as possible!
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  smiddy3

  Approximately 75 years ago still , and yes Cg America had not yet joined the war and they were helping to protect allied shipping.

  However their were all nationalities women and children on the u-boat deck as well as those that were tethered in life rafts behind the u-boat .

  The German commander gave assurances he would not target any rescue vessel and did not believe he would be subjected to attack displaying the red cross flag and having civilians standing on deck.