The 1942 Laconia Order, The Murder of Shipwrecked Survivors and the Allied Pursuit of Justice 1945-46

摘要

This article examines the post-war trials of three German naval officers in connection with the Laconia order of 1942. It sets their behaviour, and the order, in the context of maritime custom and the practices of the German submarine arm between 1939 and 1945. It establishes linkages between the three trials and highlights the British Admiralty's faltering pursuit of the German submarine arm over the supposed practice of murdering shipwreck survivors from Allied vessels.