Posted on 07/04/2010 5:08:52 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Editorials – 10-11
Fourth of July-1940
For a Safe Holiday
While Britain Waits
Remembering Stephen Foster
New York’s Drydock
The Tenth Deficit
Chile and the Nazis
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jul40/f04jul40.htm
Italians invade the Sudan
Thursday, July 4, 1940 www.onwar.com
In East Africa... The Italians advance from Abysinia into the Sudan occupying Kassala and Gallabat just over the border. The Italians use more than two brigades at Kassala which is defended by only two companies of the Sudan Defense Force.
In Romania... A new Cabinet is formed. The prime minister is Gigurtu and the Foreign Minister Manoilescu who represents the Iron Guard. The policies of the new government are clearly pro-German and anti-Semitic.
In the English Channel... The Luftwaffe attacks a convoy south of Portland; the Stuka dive-bombers sink 5 of the 9 ships involved.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/04.htm
July 4th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Royal Navy: In attacks on Thames-out convoy OA178 off Portland, JU87’s sink the auxiliary AA ship HMS Foyle Bank and four merchantmen. Leading Seaman Jack Foreman Mantle (b. 1917), gunner in the ‘Foyle Bank’ continues in action at his pom-pom gun although mortally wounded. He is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Channel convoy loses five out of nine ships to Stukas.
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - aircraft factory at Hamburg.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft sent, all bombed. Opposition intense.
102 Sqn. Six aircraft sent. Five bombed. One returned early. Opposition heavy.
2 Group: One aircraft of 15 Sqn. bombed oil refineries south of Zwolle (Netherlands, 80Km east of Amsterdam), one aircraft ( Blenheim) bombed Schipol but attacked by 15 fighters, rear gunner killed.
18 Sqn. Bombing - North-West Germany, one aircraft FTR.
101 Sqn. Three aircraft bombed a pipeline by the Kiel Canal.
Corvettes HMS Windflower and Nasturtium launched.
Destroyer HMS Nizam launched.
Minesweeper HMS BLACKPOOL launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Toulouse: General Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, has been sentenced in his absence to a four-year term of imprisonment by a military court in Toulouse.
De Gaulle, who was the under-secretary for National Defence in the French government when he fled to London in June, was also fined 100 Francs. He has already been reduced in rank to Colonel. Vice-Admiral Muselier, commanding Free French air and naval forces, is also to be prosecuted.
GERMANY: Berlin: The German News Bureau reported:
We have learned concerning the attack of the British fleet on French warships in the port of Oran, that some of the ships were not under steam at the time of the sudden British assault, and were so positioned in the harbour that they could not bring their heavy artillery to bear. The battleships Dunkerque and Provence, as well as the combat flotilla leader Mogador, now lie burning in Oran harbour. The battleship Bretagne was apparently blow up by a British-laid mine as it put to sea. The battleship Strasbourg, five flotilla leaders and a large number of torpedo boats and submarines succeeded in fighting their way through the encircling British ships and broke through to the Mediterranean.
U-453 and U-454 are laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ROMANIA: The country has a new cabinet. Gigurtu is Prime Minister and Manoilescu is Foreign Minister. The policies of the new government are clearly pro-German and anti-Semitic.
PORTUGAL: Lisbon: The Duke of Windsor is appointed Governor of the Bahamas.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Alexandria: Admiral Cunningham is able to reach agreement with French Admiral Godfrey on the demilitarisation of battleship ‘Lorraine’, four cruisers and a number of smaller ships.
Colonial sloop FS Rigault de Genouilly sunk off Algiers by submarine HMS Pandora. (Dave Shirlaw)
GIBRALTAR: The first aerial combat takes place between British and French aircraft about 30 leagues(104 miles) southwest of Gibraltar. Three French Curtiss Hawk fighters attack a British Sunderland flying boat that was on patrol against U-boats. The Sunderland shot down one fighter and damaged a second.
EAST AFRICA: Italian forces advance into Sudan, occupying Kassala and Gallabat.
U.S.A.: New York: A bomb in the British hall of the World’s Fair goes off, killing two people.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Dauphin laid down Montreal.
Corvette HMS Hepatica (later HMCS Hepatica) laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
Minesweepers HMCS BURLINGTON and NIPIGON are laid down in Toronto. (Dave Shirlaw)
Churchill was making things abundantly clear to the world that a deal with Hitler wasn’t likely.
Yet more war crimes by the British.
The British didn’t mark the craft as a prison ship, making it a prime target.
There is evidence that the British guards shot up at least one lifeboat to prevent the civilians from escaping. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a2618994.shtml
The evacuation had to be organized by a German officer Otto Burfeind (one of the internees) who was recognized for his actions.
The British sent a rescue aircraft to drop cigarettes to the survivors.
The crew and guards saved themselves first, leaving the prisoners to their fate.
Crewmen
Killed 42 (including those killed in the initial explosion and engine room flooding)
Saved 119
Guards
Killed 37
Saved 163
Prisoners and Internees
Killed 713
Saved 586
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/406.html
The captain (who appears to have been an honorable man - see below) and two of his officers did stay at their post until the ship went down. Added to the two officer killed in the initial blast, that leaves 8 other officers lost in the sinking.
“The lifeboats were secured behind heavy wire mesh (some witnesses specified ‘barbed wire’ and reported lacerations to survivors) and sufficient only for the original cruising complement of 400. Alastair Maclean, in his book ‘The Lonely Sea’ (Collins 1985), claimed that obstructing access to the lifeboats was ordered in spite of protests by the ship’s captain, who pointed out that it rendered the boat a death trap. Safe evacuation of prisoners in an emergency was clearly not a priority.”
http://www.blackshouse.demon.co.uk/arandora_star.htm
Everyone have a safe 4th of July.
War crimes?
Because there weren't enough lifeboats?
Even though the captain & other crew members went down with their ship?
I'd say, more likely simple incompetence increased by the stresses of wartime.
It reminds us, again, that Brits are want to take risks with safety when they think they might get away with it.
For a more recent example, you could consider all that oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico...
But if you are really interested in a serious definition of the term "war crimes," you might take a gander at Poland, and see what the Nazis were up to there.
Back in the days when the New York Times was still editorially sane, the National Gross Debt and deficits still mattered to them.
Today they could care less.
But for those of us who do still care, we can note:
The National Debt here complained about was only 42% of GDP.
Today's Gross Debt is nearing 100% of GDP -- only ever exceeded during the post-war years of 1945 thru 1947.
And Roosevelt's deficit, which the NY Times also complains about, was then only 3.6% of GDP.
Today's deficit is over 10% of GDP.
But one thing remains constant: Democrats are always Democrats.
As the NY Times here pointed out, very little of that new debt went for increased military spending.
Then as now, most went for those typical Democrat buy-more-votes pork-barrel programs.
Article 46 of the Geneva Convention makes specific mention of this though:
"The Detaining Power shall supply prisoners of war during transfer with sufficient food and drinking water to keep them in good health, likewise with the necessary clothing, shelter and medical attention. The Detaining Power shall take adequate precautions especially in case of transport by sea or by air, to ensure their safety during transfer, and shall draw up a complete list of all transferred prisoners before their departure."
I can't think of a case where anyone was ever prosecuted for failing to properly mark a prison ship that was subsequently attacked though.
The ship should have been well lit, marked with a red cross, and properly identified as carrying prisoners. Instead, it was repainted grey, and may well have been an armed merchant cruiser. (One of the surviving crewmen is listed as Deck Hand [Naval Gunner}, http://www.bluestarline.org/arandora_crew_list.htm which supports the German communique in panel 9 that the ship was ‘an armed English steamer’. (BBC reports only ‘heavy machine guns’ for protection)
In any event they probably got better treatment on that ship than did the survivors when shipped out again, this time on the Dunera. http://www.aufrichtigs.com/01-Holocaust/Dunera/Robert_Aufrichtig_-_Dunera_Internee.htm
Some of those associated with the Japanese hell ships were executed (and others imprisoned); but not properly marking the ships which were sunk in air or submarine attacks were among the least of their crimes. I do note that in one case, as here, the captain was determined to be innocent of the wrongdoing.
CougarGA7: "Not marking a prison ship is a war crime. "
CougarGA7: quoting from Article 46 of Geneva Convention:
"The Detaining Power shall take adequate precautions especially in case of transport by sea or by air, to ensure their safety during transfer..."
From just this, I'd say any claim that Brits committed a "war crime" is based solely on anti-British animus.
The Geneva Convention does not here spell out what "adequate precautions" consist of.
Surely it would be entirely "adequate" to provide as much protection for those prisoners as the Brits provided their own sailors?
So I'll put it in the form of a challenge: can you cite a country, besides the United States, which treated its prisoners better than Brits treated theirs?
Yes, I think we can say that Brits are sometimes risk takers, and less concerned with safety than we Americans think appropriate (again cite the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, for recent example).
But that is a far cry from calling them "war criminals," imho.
The Germans. The German military behaved correctly toward POWs from countries that were parties to the Geneva convention.
And, more to the point here:
Descriptions of some US internment camps
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/quwby.html
Description of an internment camp in Germany that housed a batch of whiny American journalists.
http://www.traces.org/americaninternees.html
As as a side note, observe proper markings on the ship used for the repatriations at the bottom link - above the map, and at the bottom of the page.
You're joking, right?
Did possibly the Germans not notice Poland's signature on the Geneva Conventions?
Or Czechoslovakia's? How about Latvia's, Estonia's, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece or Hungary's signatures?
And let's see, would Malmedy in December 1944 be a good example of German "correct behavior" towards POWs?
Yes, somewhere I did read that about 95% of western allied POWs survived in German POW camps -- but that did not include Jews or blacks.
So I conclude that "correctness" in the German military mind was a matter of highly subjective interpretation.
I think you are missing the point here. I’m not concerned with how the Germans treated their prisoners or who was the best steward of their prisoners. That’s not the issue at hand here.
Leaving a ship loaded with prisoners marked in a state that would make it appear as an armed merchant or even just a regular merchant that is already a target of enemy submarine warfare would constitute a case of not providing “adequate precautions” in my opinion and I think it would prove to be the case in a war crime tribunal as well. PAR if you know the specific cases on the Japanese hell ships can you point me towards them since that would help my point here.
The Germans committed some heinous war crimes during the war, and some of the perpetrators got off Scott free as well for varying reasons, some of which would not put us in the best of light as well. But that doesn’t mean we can just ignore other missteps by other governments just because they were on our side. It’s like saying its OK that my buddy robbed a 7-11 because my enemy robbed a large bank. We were fighting a terrible foe during the war, but it didn’t make us (the Allies) Saints because of that fact.
Malmedy wasn't Wehrmacht. It was SS (note my careful use of the phrases 'German military). And that puts aside that pesky little piece of evidence that some of the prisoners made a break for it causing the guards to open fire.
As for Poles - yes, the Germans were much more correct in their treatment of Polish prisoners of war than were our Soviet allies. But let's look at that in a bit more detail. Recall the American treatment of German POWs in World War II. Until the eradication of the German government, the captured soldiers were treated as POWs, with all of the rights that come with that. Immediately after the surrender, they were reclassified, and stripped of many of the rights that they had enjoyed.
Similarly, the Germans initially treated the Polish POWs with all of the rights of that status. (In fact, many from the eastern portions of that country were repatriated to the Soviet zone, some from the western zone were released). In February, 1940, after Poland ceased to exist, they converted the enlisted men to civilian status, and offered them the choice of becoming civilian workers or internment in civilian camps (with the Jews, of course, passing to SS control). (Officers were still treated as POWs. Indeed, the bulk of the Jewish officers survived the war, although they did suffer rougher treatment after their separation from the Catholic Polish officers in 1940) Some numbers and estimates here: http://www.zchor.org/meirtchak/biblio.htm
Latvian and Estonian? are you referring to the traitors who joined up with the Red Army after the Soviets overran those countries? To the extent that they served in the Soviet army, they don't qualify as being 'from countries that were parties to the Geneva Convention'
Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia? They weren't even countries at the beginning of World War II, and weren't in 1929 when the Geneva Convention came into being So they, by definition, couldn't be parties.
Hungary? They were a German ally. At least get your sides right.
That only leaves Greece from your list. If you have any documentation of widespread mistreatment of Greek POWs by military units, I'll be happy to look at it.
British subs sank two unmarked Hell ships, I believe US submarines sank 5. At least one was sunk in an air attack launched from the USS Hornet. Another was severely damaged in an air attack.
Recommended reading http://www.oryokumaruonline.org/oryoku_maru_story.html
I recall, but am not sure, that this was the ship where the captain was not convicted, but the guards and the interpreter were quite properly executed after the war.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 308 July 4, 1940
Operation Catapult. At 3.30 PM, British submarine HMS Pandora sinks French mine-laying gunboat Rigault de Genouilly, sailing from Oran, Algeria. French bombers attack the British fleet at Gibraltar, without damage, in retaliation for the sinking of French warships. Likewise, French submarines, armed merchant cruisers and destroyers at Dakar are ordered to attack British shipping.
Churchill speaks in the House of Commons justifying the capture or sinking of French warships on July 3, to prevent them falling into German or Italian hands. He does not apologise but leaves judgment “to the world and to history”. He also dispels the notion “that we have the slightest intention of entering into negotiations in any form and through any channel with the German and Italian Governments. We shall, on the contrary, prosecute the war with the utmost vigour by all the means that are open to us.” Churchill receives his first standing ovation from the House as Prime Minister.
Italians advance from Ethiopia just over the border into Sudan and attack 2 British forts at Kassala and Gallabat, forcing British garrisons to withdraw. The Italians stop here and fortify the towns with anti-tank defenses.
Germans arrive on the last of the Channel Islands, Sark. They receive the island’s surrender from the Dame of Sark (hereditary ruler of this island). When asked if she is afraid, the Dame replies “is there any need to be afraid of German officers?” Apart from a curfew and other restrictions, the Islanders have little cause for fear. The Channel Islands have fallen without a shot fired. Germany invests heavily in fortifying the islands, which will be completely bypassed come D-day.
In a prelude to the first phase of the Battle of Britain, German bombers and motor torpedo boats attack Convoy OA178 in the English Channel between Cherbourg, France, and Bournemouth, England, sinking 5 merchant ships (British SS Elmcrest & SS Dallas City, Dutch SS Britsum & SS Deucalion, Estonian SS Kolga) and damaging many more. In addition, German bombing of Royal Navy base in Portland harbour sinks British auxiliary anti-aircraft ship Foyle Bank (176 lives lost, 157 men rescued) and tug Silverdial.
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