There was a movie, MacArthur’s Children , where this was a plot point. During the postwar occupation, a Japanese naval officer who had strafed lifeboat survivors refused to evade responsibility for it. He was tried and executed as a war criminal. It was, however, a fictional movie.
There wasn’t any other choice. It certainly wasn’t an orderly withdrawal to prepared positions on the German-French border. It was a pell-mell dash to the east with allied units following as fast as their supply lines allowed. There were no great battles. The action consisted of a series of small engagements that happened whenever allied forces could catch up to the retreating Germans.
Here is apretty complete description of the breakout south of St. Lo. The destruction of the German 7th Army in the Falaise Pocket and the chase across France.
Had GHWB wished to strafe survivors (which I file in the “improbable but not entirely impossible” folder), there remains the fact that he had a piss-poor weapon to hand. The TBF/TBM had only two forward-firing .50 calibre machine guns and a limited amount of ammunition; in addition, it was such a clumsy bird — its unofficial designation among pilots was “turkey” — that unless the pilot started his strafing run from an absolutely perfect position, he would most likely run into the ocean before he managed to bring his guns to bear (assuming, of course, that he didn’t give it up as a bad job and abort).
If he were inclined to strafe (presumably) unarmed enemy personnel, he would probably achieve better results by flying in a circle and letting his ball-turret gunner blaze away.
I read the Harper’s article when it was first published, and as an eager anti-Bushie hoped that it would be filled with all kinds of horrific details. It was, however, not. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but IIRC, nobody was certain if the lifeboat had been strafed or who had done it (if it had been done). There was some speculation that Bush might have done it by people who’d been there, but there was nothing like guncamera footage showing it, or official documention stating that it had happened.
Nor, had Bush done it, would I think that it’d be exactly cruel of him to do so. The .50 cal rounds would have been overkill for meatbags, so even if someone had survived being hit by one, they probably wouldn’t have lived for very long unless they had immediately been treated.
Thanks **Bosda, Samclem **and Tuckerfan. for the GQ answers and the rest for the input…Let me clarify my “most disturbingly” comment wasn’t that I believed that there was a cover-up but that it was widely covered, seemed to be true and I never heard of it. Your info makes me feel better.
I respect the folks who are taking the “was it war crime” question, but I think the GQ answer is "almost certainly yes, but if you were on the allied side you would not be charged.” I offer you this:
Admiral Donitz was sentenced to 11 and half years in prison at Nuremberg and the basis of the indictment against him was the “Laconia Order”* forbidding U-Boats from attempting any rescues and furthermore, from providing any assistance whatsoever to survivors of submarine attacks. The illegal piece of the order “no attempt of any kind must be made to rescue the crews of ships sunk”.
Chester Nimitz was called for the defense and said the U.S. practiced total sub warfare in the Pacific and didn’t do anything different at times – it didn’t matter Donitz was still found guilty (& Nimitiz wasn’t charged).
If you could be found guilty for not actively offering aid to shipwrecked in a lifeboat (as Geneva says you have to) I cannot imagine that strafing unarmed lifeboats is OK
[*The U.S. had attacked U-boats making rescue efforts of the sunk Laconia, it was not uncommon for U-boats to aid survivors of their attack by providing provisions and pointing out the direction closest to land. Some U-boat Captains would continue to do this despite the order].
The Avenger was not clumsy in flight. It got the “turkey” monicker from its (for the time) enormous size when coming down to land on a carrier deck looking even larger with flaps extended. It was certainly clumsier when landing than all the earlier and much smaller planes the preceded it, but it was a very good flier.
I have flown a number of different airplanes and never once have been in one that felt “clumsy.” They all seemed about the same to me.
I don’t know which is more depressing: the topic of these threads or being reminded of my posting style from seven years ago.
FWIW, combat aircraft were required to unload all ammunition and as much fuel as possible before returning to base, to minimize damage in the event of a crash on the flight deck/airfield. I’m sure a lot of guys dropped their bombs & sprayed their rounds into the open sea, but plenty others blasted away at anything available so long as it wasn’t wearing a big red cross.
Franco-German relations being what they were, there had been a lot of defensive fortifications built there during past decades. And the border was in the area because of the natural features, such as the Rhine river and Ardennes forest, that divided the two countries and formed additional defensive areas. There were no similar defensive features in France itself. So once the first line of defense (the English Channel and the coast) had been penetrated, the natural fall-back position was the German border.
I’m wrong on Donitz (“overstate” if I was being generous - but wrong is the truth).
He **was **charged as a war criminal at Nuremberg for the Laconia Order but he was sentenced by the Tribunal for other crimes. The tribunal found him guilty (by issuing the Laconia Order but because of Nimitz, and similar British Admiralty order order to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare, his issuing of the Laconia order was specifically **not **included in his sentence.
Bottom-line: Charged, found guilty, but “specifically** not **sentenced” is the GQ answer (not as I said put in jail for it)