Home > Laconia incident

At 10 p.m. on September 12, 1942, U-156 was patrolling off the coast of West Africa midway between Liberia and Ascension Island. The submarines's commanding officer, Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein , spotted a large British ocean liner sailing alone and attacked.

At 10:22 p.m. the liner, sailing under the name Laconia, transmitted the following message on the 600-meter band

SSS SSS 0434 South / 1125 West Laconia torpeded

As the ship began to sink, Hartenstein surfaced, hoping to capture the ship's senior officers, and was appalled to see over two thousand people struggling in the water. The 20,000-ton Laconia was carrying not only her regular crew of 136 but also some 80 civilians, military material and 268 British soldiers, and about 1800 Italian prisoners of war with 160 Polish soldiers on guard.

Hartenstein immediately began rescue operations. Laconia sank at 11:23pm. At 1:25am September 13 Hartenstein sent a coded radio message to Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (Commander-in-Chief for Submarines) alerting them to the situation. It read:

Head of submarine operations, Admiral Dönitz immediately ordered two other U-boats to divert to the scene. Soon U-156 was crammed above and below decks with nearly two hundred survivors including five women, and had another 200 in tow aboard four lifeboats. At 6am on September 13 Hartenstein broadcast a message on the 25-meter band in plain English to all shipping in the area giving his position, requesting assistance with the rescue effort and promising not to attack. It read:

If any ship will assist the ship-wrecked "Laconia" crew, I will not attack providing I am not being attacked by ship or air forces. I picked up 193 men. 4, 53 South, 11, 26 West. --German submarine.

U-156 remained on the surface at the scene for the next two and a half days. At 11:30am on September 15, she was joined by U-506 commanded by Kptlt. Erich Würdeman and a few hours later by both U-507 under Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht and the Italian submarine Cappellini . The four submarines with lifeboats in tow and hundreds of survivors standing on the hulls headed towards the African coastline and a rendezvous with Vichy French surface warships which had set out from SenegalThe Republic of Senegal is a country in western Africa south of Senegal River. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. The Gambia forms a virtual enclave w and DahomeyDahomey was an African kingdom situated in what is now Benin. The kingdom was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until the late nineteenth century, when it was conquered by French troops from Senegal and incorporated into France's West Africa.

The next morning, September 16September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). There are 106 days remaining. Events 1597 Yi Sun-sin led 12 ships of the Korean fleet against an invasion by 133 Japanese ships. The Koreans sank 31 enemy ships and forced a Japanese retreat, at 11:25am, the four submarines, with Red CrossThe terms Red Cross and Red Crescent are often used as short names for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, or its two leading international organs, the ICRC and the IFRCS. This page is about the symbol itself, see respective articles fo flags draped across their gun decks, were spotted by an American B-24 LiberatorThe Consolidated B-24 Liberator was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft, and was used by most of the Allied air forces in World War Two. Designed as a heavy bomber, it served with distinction not only in that role, but also bomber from Ascension Island. Hartenstein signalled to the pilot requesting assistance. Lieutenant James D. Harden of the U.S. Army Air ForceThe United States Army Air Force or USAAF was a part of the U. military during World War II. The direct precursor to the U. Air Force, the USAAF formally existed between 1941 and 1947. History Prior to the start of World War II, the USAAF was known as the turned away and notified his base of the situation. The senior officer on duty that day, Captain Robert C. Richardson IIIRobert Charlwood Richardson III (born 1918) was an officer, first of the United States Army Air Corps, then with the United States Air Force, eventually attaining the rank of Brigadier General. Richardson was born in Rockford, Illinois. In 1932, he attend, replied with the order "Sink sub."

Harden flew back to the scene of the rescue effort and at 12:32pm attacked with bombs and depth charges. One landed among the lifeboats in tow behind U-156 while others straddled the submarine itself. Hartenstein cast adrift those lifeboats still afloat and ordered the survivors on his deck into the water. The submarines dived and escaped. Many hundreds of the Laconia survivors perished, but Vichy vessels managed to re-rescue about a thousand later that day. In all, some 1500 passengers survived. An English seaman, Tony Large , endured forty days adrift in an open life boat before he was finally picked up.

The Laconia incident had far-reaching consequences. Until then it was common for U-boats to assist torpedoed survivors with food, water and directions to the nearest land. Now that it was apparent that the Americans would attack rescue missions under the Red Cross flag, Dönitz ordered that rescues were prohibited; survivors were to be left in the sea.

Dönitz's "Laconia order" convicted him of war crimes at Nuremberg in 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar despite Admiral Chester Nimitz's testimony that American submarines in the Pacific operated under the same instructions. Dönitz was sentenced to 11 years 6 months in prison; he served just over 10 years in Spandau Prison, West Berlin.