We Remember

Author	Topic: We Remember
Dryth'tor Lifecrafter Member # 7331	written Sunday, November 11 2007 11:08 Profile Homepage #0 Stories of the best and worst of human nature, originating from the World Wars, are welcome here. One that stood out in my mind was after the Canadian troops had liberated a small town in Holland following one of the bloodiest battles of the invasion, they were invited to stay for Christmas dinner. As part of the dinner, each man got a box of candy and an orange to go with his ration pack. After the meal, every soldier gave his candies and orange to one of the children. When the snow fell, they had toboggan races with the Canadians pulling the children through the snow on makeshift sleds. When the troops had advanced to the next riverbed, the Rhine River, they engaged in no military activity whatsoever. One man, Pte Frasier, went so far as to stand in full view of German forces and wave, and got a response in kind. These are perhaps not the most moving stories of the war, but they've left quite a mark on me. -------------------- The Survival Elite Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00
Excalibur Agent Member # 8030	written Sunday, November 11 2007 12:27 Profile Homepage #1 Stemming from the war are stories from pilots concerning "foo fighters." Even though I have no reason to believe such incidents did occur, it's always interested me. -------------------- "On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea" Luke 21:25 Posts: 1384 | Registered: Tuesday, February 6 2007 08:00
Najosz Thjsza Kjras Lifecrafter Member # 6388	written Sunday, November 11 2007 21:25 Profile #2 Reposted from Axis of Evil Knievel: On this date in 1942, the RMS Laconia took a pair of German torpedoes off the coast of West Africa. Within hours, the ship -- which had been carrying civilians, British sailors and Italian war prisoners -- drifted to the bottom of the sea along with hundreds of passengers who were either already dead or who soon would be. Meantime, roughly two thousand survivors struggled to reach the lifeboats that had not been destroyed by the torpedo blasts; others swam helplessly or clung to floating debris, hoping not to be gobbled by the sharks that lived nearby. As it turns out, the German U-boat that scuttled the Laconia soon picked up most of the survivors, assisted by several other submarines that were ordered to join the effort by Kreigsmarine commander Karl Donitz. After a two-day rescue operation, the Germans had managed to pack hundreds of survivors into the ships -- above deck as well as below -- while roping lifeboats behind them to tow hundreds more. The German submarines then headed slowly toward the African coast, draped in flags of the International Red Cross. Although the U-boat commanders alerted other forces in the region that they were carrying survivors from the Laconia, the fleet was struck by bombs and depth charges from an American B-24 several days later on September 16. Hundreds of survivors perished as the U-boats submerged and US bombs obliterated several lifeboats. None of the U-boats was destroyed, and roughly 1500 passengers of the doomed Laconia survived the ordeal. Although it could be -- and has been -- argued that the US attack on the German boats constituted a war crime, there is little legal ambiguity about the German response. In the wake of the attacks, Commander Donitz issued a notorious order that would later help to secure his conviction during the Nuremberg trials. The Laconia Order, as it became known, insisted that German U-boats -- which were already carrying out unrestricted naval warfare -- were no longer to assist survivors of their attacks: All efforts to save survivors of sunken ships, such as the fishing out of swimming men and putting them on board lifeboats, the righting of overturned lifeboats, or the handing over of food and water, must stop. Rescue contradicts the most basic demands of the war: the destruction of hostile ships and their crews. . . . . Stay firm. Remember that the enemy has no regard for women and children when bombing German cities! The Laconia Order -- like so many other aspects of the Second World War -- openly violated the protocols of international law. Nearly three years after the Laconia episode, Karl Donitz succeeded Adolf Hitler as the German head of state. It was his government, which lasted all of three weeks during May 1945, that ultimately surrendered to the Allies. Following the war, Donitz served a decade in Spandau Prison, the infamous West Berlin facility that also house Albert Speer and neo-nazi icon Rudolph Hess. Donitz’ prosecution was made all the easier because he refused to order that his naval archives be destroyed. As he explained to Guther Hessler -- a U-boat commander who also happened to be his son-in-law -- “we have a clear conscience.” Posts: 794 | Registered: Tuesday, October 11 2005 07:00