I came across this from the University of Hamburg. It makes an interesting and controversial read. Comments are welcome. Cap Arcona, Thielbek, Athen.
Several points to make on this: The largest loss of life at sea was the sinking of the liner Wilhelm Gustlaff in the Baltic in January 1945, by a Soviet submarine. This vessel was carrying refugees and wounded troops away from the Eastern Front, and about 8000 people died. A very simplistic statement. It may well be true, as the article states elsewhere, that Fighter Command had less access to intelligence than Bomber Command as to the whereabouts of the concentration camps and their inmates, but even if the incident could be described as a cock-up, it was still just that and not murder. The RAF pilots had been ordered to "attack enemy shipping" and would have seen no particular reason not to. No-one at the time would have thought on May 3rd "the war is nearly over, lets not kill anyone else". WW2 was one of the hardest fought wars ever, and it was very much a question of "its not over till its over" (to take a quote from the next time we defeated Germany). For all anyone knew, it was quite feasible that the remaining Nazi leadership would attempt to escape. And Fighter Command did not exist by then; it was the "2nd Tactical Airforce". The article gives army ranks to the RAF pilots - two mistakes that reduce the articles credibility. . Can anyone find a quote where Churchill actually did say this? It is considerd that Churchill had personally ordered the bombing of Dresden. If he did say this, it was an attempt to deflect criticisms away from himself.
The loss of life was of course a trajedy however many of the statements are without documentary evidence. The war was nearly over however it was not yet over. If intelligence had led the allies to believe SS troops and their families were escaping in these vessels, the orders to sink the ships leaves no stain on the RAF pilots.
Am amazed at the accuracy of the Tiffie attacks. All 64 rockets and 15 of 16 bombs. Higher ratios than the Banff boys etc. Still I guess they were TAF types. The whole article almost reads like it's trying to spread the blame evenly.
