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Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage in an effort to sink it. Accounts differ greatly as to the number of shots fired and the damage done. The two surviving Greek sailors reported the shooting went on for a long time, and that at least four of their compatriots were killed by it.
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on 30 November 1945. Lenz, due to his protests and his written confession, received a life sentence, while
Schwender, the only man involved who had been under direct orders, was sentenced 15 years in prison. Schwender was released from prison on 21 December 1951; Lenz was released on 27 August 1952.
409:, he was prohibited from firing weapons even in action. Eck and Hoffmann were executed because in their roles as the boat's senior officers, responsibility for the actions of their crew, as well as their own, fell directly on their shoulders. All three were shot by
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464:) were also recorded as committing similar actions, though such instances were quietly hushed up at the time and years after the war ended; no legal proceedings were ever carried out against their crews. The crew of the
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The German crew's report stated, however, that they had fired several short machine gun bursts into the wreckage and were unable to see their targets in the dark. The men shooting were later proven to be the ship's
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came to the conclusion, that "regardless of whether or not Heinz Eck and the others were guilty of war crimes, poor judgment, or of just following orders, the outcome of the trial was
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commander of the Second World War who was tried, convicted, condemned and executed after the war for ordering his crew to shoot the survivors of a Greek merchantman sunk by
292:. The question of whether this "dispersal" order explicitly or implicitly encouraged the killing of the sailors in the water, or whether this was an unfortunate example of
679:. Naval Institute Press and Savas Publishing Company. (Includes long essay on Eck with extensive discussion of the trial testimony and his actions, by Dwight Messimer.)
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The operation to sink the rafts and wreckage was not hugely successful, but the submarine was able to evade pursuit, and managed to sink the
British merchant ship SS
386:(which Eck had failed to destroy), provided conclusive testimony. Following the war's conclusion, all the above named crew members were placed on trial at the
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was the subject of a post-war trial. During the trial, Eck acknowledged he realized that by sinking the rafts, he was denying the seamen a chance of survival.
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This is a fictionalized account of the Peleus Affair, the only documented case in World War II in which a U-boat machine-gunned survivors in the water
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left a large debris field, amongst which were several survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. This debris could betray the presence of
328:(who was under direct orders and fired very few rounds). Eck was also present during the incident; the remaining crew were below decks.
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had been committed by German submarines during the First World War, as in the case of the machine-gunning of the survivors of the
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on 1 April, this time hastily leaving the scene rather than pausing. A few weeks later on 30 April the boat was spotted by a
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In prison, Lenz provided his captors with a signed confession. This, when combined with the testimony of the
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during the Second World War, compared to the thousands of individuals from the other branches of the
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640:. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press.
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could not be tried after the war, because they were by then dead, as were the crew of the German
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Eck, Hoffmann, and
Weisspfennig were sentenced to death. Weisspfennig was condemned because as a
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on 1 December 1941 and assuming his first command on 15 June 1943. From 18 January 1944 he led
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to enemy aircraft and shipping patrolling the area. Eck decided to sink the wreckage with
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for less prominent war criminals) for the deaths of the steamer's crew. The judge was
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Dwight R. Messimer: Heinz-Wilhelm Eck - Siegerjustiz and the Peleus Affair. In:
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Dwight R. Messimer: Heinz-Wilhelm Eck - Siegerjustiz and the Peleus Affair. In:
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550:, San Bernardino, California, Saturday 1 December 1945, Volume 52, page 2.
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German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary
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and local militia and sent to prison camps to await the end of the war.
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German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United
Kingdom
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German navy officer and world war II U-boat commander (1916–1945)
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on a patrol heading for South
African waters and then on to the
214:(27 March 1916 – 30 November 1945) was a German
18:
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Associated Press, "Six in U-Boat Crew
Executed for Murders",
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Silent
Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II
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Silent
Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II
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Silent
Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II
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on a coral reef while under attack from six bombers of
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481:However, the historian Dwight R. Messimer from the
351:, thus preventing her from diving. Eck went to the
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609:"Review of An Operational Necessity at uboat.net"
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777:Curiohaus trials executions by firing squad
675:Savas, Theodore P., editor. (1997, 2004).
636:Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999).
561:Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942–1945
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69:Learn how and when to remove this message
725:"Heinz-Wilhelm Eck Siegerjustiz and the
421:The incident was the only case in which
32:This article includes a list of general
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659:. Great Britain: Midland Publishing.
7:
316:who was not supposed to be handling
425:U-boat personnel were convicted of
347:, which managed to damage her with
38:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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607:Allen, Tonya (26 November 1999).
802:U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine)
205:, 15 June 1943 – 3 May 1944
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782:Executed German mass murderers
1:
792:Executed people from Hamburg
548:The San Bernardino Daily Sun
787:Executed military personnel
528:Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
495:'s best-selling 1967 novel
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523:Battle of the Bismarck Sea
324:and an enlisted engineer,
110:30 November 1945 (aged 29)
706:"The Boats – U-852"
435:. Similar and even worse
382:survivors and the log of
320:), the second in command
131:Execution by firing squad
497:An Operational Necessity
121:Allied-occupied Germany
53:more precise citations.
686:. Da Capo Press 1997.
655:Sharpe, Peter (1998).
589:. Da Capo Press 1997.
368:Somaliland Camel Corps
242:from 1934, becoming a
489:(victor's justice)".
390:(an extension of the
165:Years of service
483:U.S. Naval Institute
450:submarines (such as
236:and served with the
191:12th U-boat Flotilla
343:bomber flying from
310:Walter Weisspfennig
302:engineering officer
187:4th U-boat Flotilla
127:Cause of death
747:War crimes details
407:Geneva Conventions
388:Hamburg war trials
355:coast and beached
341:Vickers Wellington
326:Wolfgang Schwender
499:was based on the
443:Llandovery Castle
396:Melford Stevenson
294:collateral damage
290:automatic weapons
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767:1916 births
753:2009-10-25)
572:Clay Blair
476:Noreen Mary
51:introducing
761:Categories
614:1 December
534:References
503:Incident.
441:HMHS
437:war crimes
427:war crimes
405:under the
137:Allegiance
34:references
733:uboat.net
710:uboat.net
459:USS
452:HMS
432:Wehrmacht
337:Cape Town
306:Hans Lenz
168:1934–1945
751:Archived
738:25 March
715:25 March
507:See also
333:Dahomian
318:firearms
260:SS
197:Commands
145:Service/
729:Affair"
576:(2001 )
563:(1998)
234:Hamburg
140:Germany
117:Hamburg
97:Hamburg
47:improve
727:Peleus
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501:Peleus
454:Torbay
448:Allied
380:Peleus
353:Somali
314:doctor
278:Peleus
272:affair
270:Peleus
262:Peleus
216:U-boat
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147:branch
36:, but
471:U-247
466:Wahoo
461:Wahoo
384:U-852
357:U-852
282:U-852
251:U-852
221:U-852
202:U-852
740:2007
717:2007
688:ISBN
661:ISBN
642:ISBN
616:2011
591:ISBN
457:and
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