In the first years of the Second World War, the much-feared German U-boats frequently surfaced to help survivors of their torpedoed targets, providing them with food, water, medical treatment, lifeboats and directions to the nearest landmass.
That practice, however, ended in mid-September 1942 when a German U-boat sank the Laconia, a British troop ship with some 2,700 people aboard, including 1,500 Italian POWs, in the South Atlantic. As other Axis ships approached to aid in the rescue effort, however, the U-boat came under attack by a U.S. Army Air Force bomber, killing dozens of survivors and forcing the submarine to dive. Several days later, the overall German U-boat commander, Admiral Karl Doenitz, issued the so-called “Laconia Order” that forbade future rescue attempts.
The unrestricted submarine warfare that followed -- and that later landed Doenitz on the dock in the Nuremberg trials --helped lay the foundation for the drafting of Article 18 the Second Geneva Convention.
When Secretary Hegspeth asserted during his triumphant briefing Wednesday, "Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it," is this what he had in mind?
Jim on the sinking of the IRIS Dena and leaving sailors to die, in RS today: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/sinking-iran-ship-war-crime/