Eighty years ago the last trace of chivalry is expunged from the U-boat war

 

U-156 sank the British liner Laconia in the South Atlantic. Chivalrously the German captain tried to rescue the survivors, taking some onto his boat's casing and towing lifeboats. He also broadcast over an open frequency announcing that he was taking the survivors to be transferred to Vichy French ships. The Allies were more ruthless and the U-156 was bombed by a B-24 even though it was flying a Red Cross. Another U-boat that attempted to assist was also attacked. 1,700 mostly Italian PoWs were killed but 1,000 were saved. The German commander Admiral Doenitz issued a direct order that his U-boats were to refrain from such humanitarian acts.

After the debacle of convoy PQ17, which had drawn direct criticism from Stalin,  the British took advantage of lengthening nights to run another convoy to the Soviets through the Arctic. There were forty merchant ships in PQ18 and an impressively strong close escort of about the same number of warships that included HMS Avenger an escort carier, the first time one had been used on this run. Avenger's aircraft were key to the convoy's defence but it still lost thirteen merchantmen, albeit in exchange for four U-boats and 44 German aircraft. Honour had been satisfied but the cost was still too high and Arctic convoys were suspened until the winter.

The scale of German reprisals for resistance activity in France had steadily been growing in scale since the SS had been given the responsiblity for internal security. This culminated in the shooting of 116 hostages in a single day. The policy was manifestly ineffective and  Germany's growing need for labour meant that anything that so directly alienated French opinion was untenable.