Atrocity, Deviance, and Submarine Warfare: Norms and Practices during the World Wars

Chapter 6. Pigboat Warfare: Acts of Extreme Deviance

164  Pigboat Warfare Acts of Extreme Deviance Perhaps the most notorious war crime attributed to submarines during World Wars I and II is shooting survivors in lifeboats, on rafts, and in the water. Many believe that following the sinking of ships, submarines (especially German ones) would surface and shoot the survivors in the water. These activities were vividly illustrated in such war movies as Action in the North Atlantic (1943), Corvette K-225 (1943), Western Approaches (1944), Hell Boats1 (1970), Murphy’s War (1971), and the 2000 movie U-571. Were there such cases? Who was involved? Clearly, if such atrocities were committed , they violated all known rules and codes of warfare, not to mention basic decency. Rather than choose a few cases, I here present a more thorough review of cases of atrocities by submarines. Examining these detailed cases one after another reveals that we are not dealing with only a few, discrete cases, or—as some would have us believe—one case only. In a book that discusses collective memory, it is appropriate to remember all these different—often repressed and forgotten—cases. WorlD WAr i Imperial Germany’s use of unrestricted submarine warfare during World War I reached one zenith between May and July 1917, when the ferocious destruction of shipping by U-boats was so severe that a successful starvation blockade of the United Kingdom seemed like a genuine possibility.2 However, the new and cruel nature of Germany’s submarine warfare could already be seen in 1915, with the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7 and two other British passenger liners: the Arabic, sunk on August 19, 20 miles from Pigboat Warfare 165 the coast of Wales, by the submarine U-24, commanded by Remy Schneider , which caused the death of 44 victims;3 and the Hesperian, sunk on September 6, 80 miles southwest of Fastnet, Ireland, by U-20, commanded by Walther Schwieger, which caused the death of 32 victims.4 The Lusitania and Others The sinking of the Lusitania has become a landmark event representing the cruelty and immorality of unrestricted submarine warfare. On February 4, 1915, Germany issued a warning that all waters around the United Kingdom and Ireland were to be considered war zones and that Germany would take action against shipping (including merchant ships) in this zone. The German warning appeared as follows next to Cunard advertisements in a number of newspapers on May 1 and reappeared on May 8. NOTICE Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travelers in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk. Imperial German Embassy, Washington, D.C., April 22, 1915.5 This ominous German warning did not leave much to the imagination. One of the first victims to this warning was the Lusitania, sunk on May 7, with the awesome loss of 1,198 lives.6 Another sinking that caused much public turmoil was that of the Sussex . On March 24, 1916, the 1,353-ton ferry Sussex was crossing the English Channel from Folkstone to Dieppe with 380 passengers aboard. In the early afternoon, without any warning, a torpedo fired by the German submarine UB-29, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Pustkuchen, hit the ferry.7 Approximately 50 people died, either from the explosion or from drowning or exposure. The public uproar and turmoil that followed this brutal massacre forced Germany to ease off temporarily from firing on passenger ships.8 166 atroCIty, deVIaNCe, aNd SuBmarINe warfare Passengers and crews were fired on already in March and April 1915. On March 27, the German submarine U-28, commanded by March von Forstner , sank the British passenger ship Aguilla9 and fired on its passengers.10 This might have been the first incident when a U-boat fired on survivors. On the next day, the same U-boat stopped the 4,800-ton Elder Dempster liner RMS Falaba and gave its crew and passengers only five minutes to evacuate the ship. Obviously, launching lifeboats and...