The American Commander who Screwed Up Sub Warfare

Factual Questions
21

RickJay, Spiny Norman

Thanks for the info. I thought it was unlikely that a warship could just pop out a Red Cross flag after an attack.

I agree that it was nice of the capitan to recognize an mistake on his part and try to help out. It’s a shame he was fired upon, but a sub is clearly a warship, not a Red Cross vessel, and the allies had not agreed to a cease fire.

As far as a cease fire, I thought you used a white flag, not a Red Cross flag, to ask that the other side stop shooting.

22
  • this is where it gets tricky. (As if it wasn’t…)

A ship (or building) flying a white flag is surrendering, AFAIK. Trying to escape after surrendering is a war crime.

Ground troops can use the white flag to parley (sp?) - that is, people who are carrying the white flag aren’t to be fired upon, and are to be allowed to return to their own forces after negotiations.

If for instance a CO wishes to give an isolated enemy a chance to surrender, he might send out an officer to parley and perhaps negotiate a bloodless victory - which is, in the end, what makes the difference between a good and a great general.

The parley was attempted by radio here, and didn’t work out.

S. Norman

23

I had never heard of this incident until this thread, but from what I’ve read here (and on the linked web pages), I would also have ordered the attack.

How many lives would have been saved had the Liberator been able to sink the U-boat? As it was, it was out of commission for six months while repairs were done. How many lives were saved because this sub was not able to sink more ships for six months? Not only the lives that were on those anonymous unsunk ships, but the lives of people who were waiting on the supplies they were carrying.

There was a war going on, and the U-boats were taking a devastating toll on the effort to repel the Axis forces. The decision to attack the U-boat was the only one that could reasonably have been made.

And before you get too sentimental about the honorable German captain, note that the only reason he chose to rescue the survivors is that he heard them speaking Italian, and therefore on his side of the war.