High Command of the Navy.
2nd Section, Naval War Staff/F. 0. U-Boats B. No. Top Secret 6420. A. 1
Copy No. 57. 7 October 1943
TOP SECRET
Operation Order "Atlantic" No. 56 for U-Boats in the Atlantic dated 7 October 1943
5. B * * *
b. Rescue ships—A so-called rescue ship is generally attached to every convoy—a special ship of up to 3,000 g.r.t., which is intended for the picking up of survivors after U-boat attacks. These ships are for the most part equipped with a ship-borne aircraft and large motor-boats, are strongly armed (depth-charge throwers) and very maneuverable, so that they are often called U-boat traps by the commander. In view of the desired destruction of ships' crews, their sinking is of great value.
Extract from an order to U-boats, on the value of sinking rescue ships attached to convoys, given the "desired destruction of ships' crews"
Date: 07 October 1943
Literal Title: Operation Order "Atlantic" No. 56 for U-Boats in the Atlantic dated 7 October 1943
Defendant: Karl Doenitz
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: D-663
Citations: IMT (page 2666), IMT (page 2686), IMT (page 9618), IMT (page 9451)
HLSL Item No.: 452887
Document Summary
Blue Series Subject Index
D-663: ATROCITIES -- Naval warfare: Destruction of ships and crews, Doenitz oral evidence -- Extermination of shipwrecked crews, Doenitz oral evidence -- Godt oral evidence / NAVAL WARFARE, SUBMARINE -- Rescue ships, sinking of, Doenitz or ev.