The Laconia Incident 1942
In September 1942, the German submarine torpedoed and sank the Royal Mail Ship Laconia off the West African coast. The RMS Laconia had been converted to an armed troopship and was carrying some troops, mostly Poles, to guard the Italian prisoners of war aboard. There were also a number of civilian passengers. The ship was bound for Freetown. As the Laconia sank the crew abandoned the ship without setting free the Italian prisoners, though many broke out of the hold in which they had been locked up. Several of the Italians were prevented from boarding the lifeboats by the Polish guards.
As the ship went down the U-Boat commander recognized a large number of civilians and prisoners of war in the lifeboats and the water, rather than the British troops he had expected the ship to be carrying. The U-Boat surfaced, broadcast radio signals in the clear that it was conducting a humanitarian rescue, and flew Red Cross flags. It also signaled the German Navy command requesting assistance. The Germans diverted other U-Boats to the scene, along with surface ships of the Vichy French Navy from Dakar. Meanwhile the first German U-Boat, U-156 was spotted from the air by an American bomber. The Germans signaled to the Americans that they were conducting rescue operations.
The American pilot Lt. James Harden, did not reply to the German signal and radioed for instructions, informing the duty officer of the submarine’s activities. The duty officer, Captain Robert Richardson, evaluated the situation, including the assumption that the submarine was rescuing only the Italian prisoners, and ordered the bomber to attack the submarine. Harden returned to the scene and made several passes over the submarine and the lifeboats which it had under tow, bombing and strafing. U-156 had over 200 survivors from the Laconia both below decks and crowded on the superstructure. Faced with the destruction of his ship if he remained on the surface, the German captain had no choice but to submerge.
The lifeboats in tow were cut adrift and requested to remain in place, so that their position could be sent to rescue units. Two of the boats headed to Africa. Of the 120 people on these boats, only 20 survived. Other German U-boats carrying survivors likewise found themselves attacked by American bombers, as ordered by Captain Richardson. In all 1,619 died in the incident, most of the dead were Italian prisoners of war, many of whom never got out of the sinking Laconia. Survivors numbered 1,113, the majority rescued by the Germans and the Vichy French.
Because of the visible armament installed on Laconia, the German U-boats believed the ship to be an armed transport, not a ship carrying passengers when it was attacked. After the war, it was determined that the order to attack the U-Boats involved in the rescue operations was a prima facie war crime as a violation of the Law of Naval Operations, which protects ships involved in humanitarian operations. The Army neither investigated the incident nor made any changes to its procedures. Instead, in reaction to Lt. Harden’s claim that he had sunk U-156 (he had not) he and his crew were decorated for their actions.