Baralong incident

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As baralong incidents (Engl. Baralong Incident ) is the German sinking submarine SM U 27 by the British boat trap U HMS Baralong south on 19 August 1915 the waters of the Irish Queenstown (now Cobh called). All surviving crew members of the German submarine were killed by the crew of the British submarine trap, which led to an exchange of notes between the German government and the government of the United Kingdom that lasted for months . Under the conditions of the First World War , however, the sequence of events could never be satisfactorily clarified, which is why the Baralong incident was never officially classified as a war crime , although it fulfilled all the criteria for it.

Starting position

Soon after the start of the war in August 1914, a sea ​​blockade was imposed on the German Reich by the British , which was intended to exert economic pressure and which the Germans perceived to be contrary to international law. At this time, the imperial navy saw the possible uses of the few ocean-going submarines, especially in the fight against allied warships and troop transports. After the first spectacular successes in Weddigen and Hersings , the British Admiralty withdrew its ships from the endangered areas and switched to locking the North Sea accesses. On the German side, due to the lack of submarine successes against warships, a rethink took place, so that merchant ships came into the focus of naval warfare. On October 20, 1914, SM U 17 sank the first merchant ship, the English steamer Glitra , - with contraband on board - according to the price regulations . By the end of the year only two more merchant ships (also according to the price regulation) had been sunk. On February 22nd, 1915, the German Reich government ordered unrestricted submarine warfare against merchant ships from warring and neutral states within a defined restricted area around the British Isles. After SM U 20 under Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger sank the British passenger ship RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915 (1,198 dead) and triggered violent diplomatic entanglements, the submarine war was finally restricted on September 18, 1915 and passenger ships in general and all neutral ships Ships excluded from sinking. The focus of submarine warfare was initially shifted to the Mediterranean.

Sequence of events

HMS Baralong
Illustration of what happened as described by the Baralong captain

On August 19, 1915, the German submarine SM U 27 patrolled under Lieutenant Bernd Wegener about 70 nautical miles south of Queenstown in search of enemy ships. The submarine had stopped the freighter Nicosian , which was loaded with mules for the British Army, and was preparing to sink it in accordance with the Prize Ordinance. The crew of the Nicosian had already left their ship and were in the lifeboats when another small merchant ship under the American flag came closer and made preparations to take the crew of the Nicosian . Since the second ship was initially covered by the Nicosian , it could only be seen by the German submarine crew when it was only 600 meters away. Having come so close, the ship turned out to be the British submarine trap HMS Baralong , which immediately opened fire with its on-board guns and sank SM U 27 with 34 rounds at a short distance. The twelve surviving submariners were then swimming in the water or on board the Nicosian on the orders of the commander of HMS Baralong , Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Herbert (1884-1961), shot. Several affidavits by American crew members are available for this. However, what happened in the engine room of the Nicosian , in which four Germans died, remained unclear . According to one possible scenario, this happened when the Germans tried to sink the Nicosian by opening the bottom valves; But it is just as likely that the four men who had just witnessed the killing of their comrades only hoped to be able to get to safety here.

consequences

In Germany, after the incident became known in the US press, it sparked a storm of indignation and calls for Herbert to be convicted of murder, which the UK refused. Herbert even received the usual sinking premium for a submarine of £ 1,000 and is said to have feared retaliation from the Germans throughout his life.

At the end of November 1915, the German government sent a protest note to the British government, which also contained affidavits from six crew members of the Nicosian . The exchange of notes between the governments of the two countries “ did not lead to any result, as the British government denied everything and refused to investigate the case. “The German government issued its own“ memorandum ”with the title“ The Baralong Case ”for this exchange of notes . The case was also picked up by German war propaganda. In addition to publications that were supposed to show the guilt of Great Britain, a picture postcard with the inscription “ To England. In memory of the murder of the 'Baralong'. “On the back of this card is a poem accusing Great Britain of lying and violating international law and threatening her with revenge. A medal was also issued, the obverse of which bore the inscription " COMING HOME OF THE WINNER " and the lapel of a hand holding a dagger with the date of the incident and the inscription " BARALONG MOERDER ".

The United States tried to clarify whether the Baralong was still flying the US flag at the time of the attack. According to some statements, she was only caught after the Baralong had already opened fire on the submarine. The US reaffirmed that even in the event of a ruse, its flag should only be used in accordance with martial law.

During the Second World War , the director Helmut Käutner was supposed to make a propaganda film about the Baralong case. The German high command of the navy finally stopped the project because it shared Käutner and the film company Terra 's assessment that the German side could also be discredited as a result.

Similar incidents

literature

  • Douglas Botting: The Submarines. Bechtermünz, Eltville 1992, ISBN 3-86047-032-9 .
  • Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1993, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 , p. 127.
  • Joachim Schröder: The emperor's submarines. The story of the German submarine war against Great Britain in World War I. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6235-3 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 14f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schröder (2003), p. 168.
  2. ↑ See also: Medal commemorating the sinking of 'U.27' by Q-ship 'Baralong', 1915 - National Maritime Museum. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Kemp (1998), p. 15f.