Laconia Order
The Laconia Order (Laconia-Befehl) was issued by German Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) Karl Dönitz during World War II as a result of the Laconia incident.
Prior to this incident, vessels of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine), like most other navies, customarily picked up survivors, with the exception of german submarines, which were already under orders not to do that as per the War Order No. 154. In 1942, off the coast of west Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, the German vessels attempting to rescue survivors of the ocean liner RMS Laconia were attacked by an American aircraft.
Contents
[hide]The order
The order was as follows:
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Nuremberg trial
This order, along with War Order No. 154 of 1939, were introduced by the prosecution at the post-war Nuremberg Trial of Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. In the judgement, it was found that by issuing these two orders, Dönitz caused Nazi Germany to be in breach of the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936. However, as evidence of similar conduct by the Allies was presented at his trial, his sentence was not assessed on the grounds of this breach of international law. [1]
See also
References
- Unclassified articles missing geocoordinate data
- All articles needing coordinates
- Atlantic and Arctic theatres of World War II
- World War II crimes
- World War II Battle of the Atlantic
- U-boats involved in international incidents
- Conflicts in 1942
- Military history of Germany during World War II
- RMS Laconia (1921)