The Sinking of the Laconia: Survivors' Stories

Theres some thoughts in the link below

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/books-films-tv-radio/31755-sinking-laconia-survivors-stories.html

Good egg? Who knows and I was moved by his humanity if he was accurately portrayed. I'm not sure one good deed deserves a memorial though. Any idea how many ships he sent to the bottom with their crews after this incident?

 

20 ships sunk in total.

No idea of how many chaps he sent down to Davey Jones....


His memorial is off the coast of Barbados.

It's called 'the wreck of U156'

 

Andy
Good egg? Who knows and I was moved by his humanity if he was accurately portrayed. I'm not sure one good deed deserves a memorial though. Any idea how many ships he sent to the bottom with their crews after this incident?
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He is credited with 117,500 tons of shipping sunk - certainly "one of the aces" and according to uboatnet only one ship after Laconia.
(They give details of ships sunk and crew rescued / lost.)

Ships hit by U-156 - U-boat Successes - German U-boats - uboat.net

Given the nature of the unrestricted submarine warfare which all the combatant nations engaged in had by the time of the Laconia become a " standard operating procedure".

Before engaging in unrestricted warfare it was not uncommon for German submarines to offer assistance and one U-Boat towed lifeboats to within sight of the Irish Coast of Cork in 1939.
U-35 and DIAMANTIS

I do think Hartenstein was in a catch-22 , he could not move off an leave the Italians and then again he could have just rescued them and left the civilians , he opted to try and help all and for this he does deserve credit.

Was the order to attack the correct thing to do , was the destruction of lifeboats and the people safe in them any different from the sinking of the Laconia , or could this be viewed as being worse ?
Tough calls all round and it does seem that for various reasons the chance to rescue something decent from the sinking was lost.

 

Still got this to watch on my Sky+ box.

 

I thought the drama was very well done, and it is exceptional to see something like this on the BBC these days!
My only comment was that after watching the survivors stories programme, I couldn't help thinking that the story of their experiences in the lifeboats could have been covered in a bit more detail in the drama.
But all in all, well worth watching.

 

Mathsmal, although I have the doc. saved on I player to watch I think I would have to agree with you regarding the experiences of those who were in the lifeboats.
Auntie has done well with this one.

 

I am afraid it didn't quite come up to scratch for me. Just my opinion but as an ex-seafarer I spotted quite a few inaccuracies. That said, maybe some will have a better idea of what the Merchant Service had to put up with when they sailed from these shores during WW2. I missed the last piece with the real survivors telling their story; I hope it is still on iplayer.

Regards
Hugh

 

I enjoyed it in general, but I think there were a number of mostly minor issues with it. The German refugee woman was unnecessary and her involvement with the officer of Laconia hardly believable. The beards were just too well groomed, and they reused the same shot of the sub with just two life boats again and again. Most importantly however, the English subtitles were really really bad. There were lots of errors in them. I am appalled that they can't get something that simple right, and it has an impact.

Having said all that, this was a decent programme trying to look at all sides, and I think it worked. I am not surprised however that they did not take up the survivors' offers.

I liked the way the Germans were played - they were quite believable. I have a friend who is a bit of a mix of the engineer and the 1st officer.
All the best

Andreas

 

My grandfather was an Italian POW aboard the HMS LACONIA and was rescued by U-156. He never forgot the heroism of the crew and was thankful for the rest of his life.

 

My grandfather was an Italian POW aboard the HMS LACONIA and was rescued by U-156. He never forgot the heroism of the crew and was thankful for the rest of his life.
Wellcome, Folgore1 at WW2Talk!

Your words seems very interesting, almost for me.

Do you have any newspaper clip of the epoch?

Your grandfather went later in the "Capellini"? If you wish, please explain at us more vital experiences from him.






Jan.