The Laconia Affair

270 pp. From the archives of World War II comes this enthralling story of the fateful encounter of U-156 and the Laconia in South Atlantic waters. "The Laconia incident was a series of events surrounding the sinking of a British troopship in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II and an attack on the subsequent rescue attempts. On 12 September 1942, RMS Laconia carrying some 2,732 crew, passengers, soldiers and prisoners of war (POWs), was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat submarine U-156 off the coast of West Africa. Operating partly under the dictates of the old prize rules, the U-boat commander, Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein, immediately commenced rescue operations. U-156 broadcast their humanitarian intent on open radio channels to all Allied forces in the area, and were joined by the crews of several other U-boats in the vicinity. After surfacing and picking up survivors, who were accommodated on the foredeck, U-156 headed on the surface under Red Cross banners to rendezvous with Vichy French ships and transfer the survivors. En route, the U-boat was spotted by a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) B-24 Liberator bomber. The pilots, having reported the U-boat's location, intentions, and the presence of survivors, were then ordered to attack the sub. The B-24 killed dozens of Laconia's survivors with bombs and strafing attacks, forcing U-156 to cast their remaining survivors into the sea and crash dive to avoid being destroyed. The pilots of the B-24 mistakenly reported that they had sunk U-156, and were awarded medals for their bravery. Rescue operations were continued by other vessels. Another U-boat, the U-506, was also attacked by US aircraft and forced to dive. A total of 1,113 survivors were eventually rescued, whilst 1,619 died (mostly Italian prisoners). The event changed the general attitude of Germany's naval personnel towards rescuing stranded Allied seamen. The commanders of the Kriegsmarine (German navy) were shortly issued the "Laconia Order" by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, which specifically forbade any such attempt, thus helping to usher in unrestricted submarine warfare for the rest of the war. Neither the US pilots nor their commander were punished or investigated, and the matter was quietly forgotten by the US military. During the later Nuremberg Trials, a prosecutor attempted to cite the Laconia Order as proof of war crimes by Dönitz and his submariners. The ploy backfired badly, causing embarrassment to the US when the full story of the incident emerged. The incident has been the subject of a bestselling book,[specify] numerous articles and a 2011 television film, The Sinking of the Laconia." Includes black-and-white photographs.