1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Objective research on factual information regarding German military related warcrimes.
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John W. Howard
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by John W. Howard »

Hello Gents:
Let's keep it calm, please.
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by Hans »

There is research & then there is research.
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by lwd »

Hans wrote:There is research & then there is research.
And just what is that suppose to mean? My first take was just another snide one liner from someone who can't support their postion by fact or logic but I could be wrong, perhaps you actually had a point. Mind sharing it with the rest of us?
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by phylo_roadking »

John, thanks for your comment above - sadly I've been away for a couple of days sans laptop.

THIS is the vital one-liner from the above series of posts...
QUEENFISH was ordered into port; CDR. Loughlin was relieved of command, tried by court-martial and convicted of one of the three charges, negligence in obeying orders.
It's quite clear that the USN took the appropriate action once they were aware of what had happened.

AND THAT IS ALL THE WAR CRIMES LEGISLATION ACTUALLY EVER REQUIRED OR STILL REQUIRES NOW - that if there IS some element of wrong-doing or suspected wrong-doing that it be investigated and determined under trial conditions. Commander Loughlin was a serving naval officer - so the CORRECT place for this to happen was indeed at Court Martial. I really don't see any ommissions there...
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by Schultz »

submarines don't have room for pow's in any navy
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by lwd »

At least in any quantity. It should be noted however that it was a POW that provided the name of the ship (Awa Maru) sunk by the Queenfish.
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by PA. Dutchman »

I have included the link to this site, I have read a good number of the entries. If you do yourself you will find that terrible murders and abuses were committed by all the military units and governments involved in World War Two, all of them. Allied and Axis both were responsible during the war and examples of them can be found at this site.

The quote at the end of these entries is from the person who has set this website up.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/ma ... cific.html

MASSACRE ON THE HIGH SEAS

On quite a number of instances, massacres have taken place at sea. In the Atlantic, on March 13, 1944, the Greek registered freighter SS Pele's was torpedoed and sunk by the U-852 (KL Heinz-Wilhelm Eck) Survivors on the life rafts were machine-gunned while other submarine crew members threw hand grenades into the rafts. Thirty two of the survivors were killed, only three were alive when rescued. Eck and three of his crew were sentenced to death by the War Crimes Court in Hamburg and on November 30, 1945, were shot. On the merchant ship Daisy Moller, 53 of her crew were machine-gunned to death by the crew of the Japanese submarine RO-110 on March 18, 1944, after the submarine had rammed the lifeboats. Only 16 crew members survived. The Nancy Moller, en route from Durban to Colombo, sunk by the I-165 on March 18, 1944. Thirty two of the crew were killed by pistol and machine-gun fire. The SS Ascot sank on February 29, 1944, after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Indian Ocean. Survivors were machine-gunned on the rafts and in the water. Of the 52 crew who had abandoned ship, only eight survived.

The American Liberty ship Jean Nicolet, was torpedoed on July 2, 1944, while en route from Fremantle to Colombo. Her complement of 100 were taken on board the foredeck of the Japanese submarine I-8 and one by one led to the stern of the vessel where they had to run a gauntlet of Japanese sailors who beat them with clubs, iron bars and bayonets before being kicked or pushed into the sea. While squatting on the forward deck waiting their turn, the remaining survivors were washed overboard when the submarine submerged. Of the 100 passengers and crew of the Jean Nicolet only 23 survived to tell the tale. Similar atrocities were perpetrated on the survivors of the tanker British Chivalry (February 22, 1944) sunk by the I-37. Survivors in two lifeboats were machine-gunned, killing 20 crewmembers, the rest drifted for thirty-seven days before being rescued.

The Dutch ship Tjisalak (March 26, 1944) torpedoed in the Indian ocean by the Japanese submarine I-8. A total of 98 crew and passengers (including some British subjects) were massacred by sword and spanners used as clubs by the submarine's crew. Only five survived the massacre. The MV Sutley (February 26, 1944) and the SS John A Johnson (October 29, 1944) both of whose survivors were fired upon while clinging to rafts. The SS Mellore, a British ship en route from Australia to Bombay with general cargo, torpedoed by the I-8 on June 29, 1944. Of the 209 passengers and crew, 79 were killed. During an operation in the Indian Ocean, ships of the Japanese South-West Area Fleet sunk the British motor vessel Behar on 18th March, 1944. Seventy-two of her survivors, including twenty-seven Europeans and forty-five Indians, were taken on board the Japanese cruiser Tone whose captain had received orders to 'dispose of all prisoners'. The prisoners were hit in the stomach with rifle butts or kicked in the testicles and as they lay squirming on the deck, were then beheaded. The American freighter David H. Atwater, sunk by the U-552 (Kptlt. Erich Topp) off the coast of Virginia on April 2, 1942, the crew were machined-gunned as they took to the lifeboats. Only three of the 27 crew survived the massacre. The crew of the German destroyer Erich Giese, sunk during the Battle for Narvik, swimming desperately in the water, were fired upon by British destroyers trying to prevent them reaching shore and joining up with German troops already there. The British cargo ship Kwantung sunk by the I-156 south of Java was carrying 96 crew and some 40 military personnel. Machine-gunned while in the lifeboats, only 35 survived to be rescued.

“Savage deeds were committed by all armies and navies during World War II but only when committed by Germans or Japanese were they classed as war crimes by the Allies”
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by lwd »

PA. Dutchman wrote: ... “Savage deeds were committed by all armies and navies during World War II but only when committed by Germans or Japanese were they classed as war crimes by the Allies”
Part of the reason for that is that in many cases especially the more well known ones where allies commited infractions the crimes they commited were also crimes under their own military justice system and were tried as such. The term "war crimes" was used for cases where the crime was not tried under the defendents own national system. This and the fact that such activities were actifly encouraged, at least to some extent, by the high command of the German and Japanese governments was an important factor. Now the Soviets also committed a considerable number of offenses in this area but there was no mechanism to bring the perpetrators to justice.
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by John W. Howard »

For the time being I am going to lock this topic until I am able to research some of the US submarine incidents cited here. I have a couple of good sources, which should clarify some of the posts here. Best wishes.
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Re: 1945 US SUBMARINE: No Mercy for Shipwrecked Japanese

Post by John W. Howard »

Here is a little backround on the AWA MARU sinking and court-martial: In the summer of 1944, the US became concerned about the welfare of her POW's left in the often by-passed southern Pacific areas; the Japanese were having difficulties supplying their own troops there, let alone Allied POW's. The US asked Japan through Swiss intermediaries if she would ship Red Cross packages to these southern Pacific areas if the US provided them. The Japanese refused to agree until February 1945. Then the AWA Maru was chosen to transport the Red Cross packages, 2000 tons worth, but she was also loaded with ammunition, spare aircraft parts, and other military supplies for her southern Pacific garrisons. The Japanese broadcast her route and she was to proceed with special markings, lighted white crosses, for identification purposes.
There was much scepticism on the part of US naval officers, given the seemingly excessive number of Japanese hospital ships making the rounds of Japanese garrisons, but the process was dictated by the US government, specifically the State Department, and outside of US Navy hands. Submarine command broadcast safe-passage notifications for AWA MARU by radio three times a night for three days in plain language. US submarines followed AWA Maru's progress and noted her loading her holds with thousands of bales of raw rubber; 1700 passengers, mostly merchant seamen, and other strategic materials. AWU MARU changed her return route and broadcast this change to US forces. Submarine command again sent out safe passage notifications three times a night for three days in plain language. On March 28 Admiral Lockwood sent an encoded message addressed to all submarines telling them that AWA MARU was passing through their areas, describing her markings, and instructing the subs to let her pass unmolested.
Elliott Loughlin, the commander of the US submarine QUEENFISH, received the encoded message, which contained no course, speed, or route, nor was it directed to any specific sub. Loughlin had never been briefed on AWA MARU, nor had his communications officer ever shown him any of the previous plain message notifications related to AWA MARU. (more later)
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