The Laconia Incident: When Humanity Collided with the Reality of Total War

You are now listening to World War 2 Stories. I'm your host Steve Matthews. Today, we dive into one of the most morally complex and haunting episodes of the Second World War – a story that challenges our understanding of good and evil in wartime, tests the boundaries between humanity and military necessity, and raises profound questions about what we owe one another even in our darkest hours.

This is the story of the Laconia Incident – a World War II tragedy that began with an act of war, transformed into an unprecedented rescue mission, and ended with a controversial attack that would reshape submarine warfare for generations.

Episode Transcript

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You are now listening to World War Two stories.
I'm your host, Steve Matthews. Today, we dive into one of the
most morally complex and haunting episodes of the Second
World War, a story that challenges our understanding of
good and evil in wartime, tests the boundaries between humanity
and military necessity, and raises profound questions about

(00:22):
what we owe one another, even inour darkest hours.
This is the story of the LaconiaIncident, a World War 2 tragedy
that began with an act of war, transformed into an
unprecedented rescue mission, and ended with a controversial
attack that would reshape submarine warfare for
generations. The Setting September 1942 To

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understand the Laconia Incident,we need to place ourselves in
the Atlantic Ocean in September 1942.
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military
campaign of World War 2 is raging.
German U boats are decimating Allied shipping, threatening to
cut the vital supply lines between North America and

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Britain. Every merchant vessel sunk
brings Britain closer to starvation and defeat.
For U boat commanders, the mission is clear.
Hunt and destroy Allied ships tostarve Britain into submission.
The nature of submarine warfare is inherently brutal.
Attack without warning, sink thetarget and disappear back into

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the depths. There is rarely time or capacity
for rescuing survivors. The vast emptiness of the
Atlantic becomes a graveyard forcountless sailors.
Meanwhile, the Allies are transporting not just supplies,
but troops and prisoners of war across these dangerous waters.
One such vessel is the RMS Laconia, a former Cunard luxury

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liner converted into a troop ship.
Built in 1921 as an elegant ocean liner, the Laconia had
once carried wealthy passengers in comfort across the world
seas. Now, stripped of her luxurious
fittings and painted battleship Gray, she serves the grim
business of war. On September 12th, 1942, the

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Laconia is steaming approximately 900 miles South of
Freetown, Sierra Leone, carryinga complex human cargo.
Aboard are 463 officers and crew, 286 British military
personnel, 80 civilians including women and children,
and most significantly, 1793 Italian prisoners of war

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captured in North Africa, along with 103 Polish soldiers
guarding them. The Italians are mostly held in
the converted cargo holds, crowded, uncomfortable spaces
deep in the ship's belly. Many are sick from tropical
diseases. All are exhausted from their
capture in the North African campaign.

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The civilians include families of British officials from West
Africa sent home for their safety as the war intensifies.
At this moment, the 19,695 ton Laconia is alone in the vastness
of the Atlantic, maintaining radio silence and zigzagging to
avoid EU boat threat. But despite these precautions,

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she has already been spotted by one of the most experienced U
boat commanders in the Krieg's Marine.
The Attack 8:10 PM September 12th, 1942 Corvette and Capitan
Warner Hartenstein commands You 156, a Type IXC submarine
operating as part of the German Navy's Grub Ice Bar Polar Bear

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group targeting shipping around the Cape of Good Hope.
At 42 years old, Hartenstein is no young hot head, but a
seasoned naval officer who had served in World War One.
Described by his crew as fair, calm and professional, he is
already sunk more than 100,000 tons of Allied shipping.
On his current patrol through his Periscope, Hartenstein

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observes the large vessels zigzagging through his sector.
He notes its size, its course, and, most importantly, it's
clear military Gray paint. To Hartenstein, this is
unquestionably A legitimate military target.
A troop transport supporting theAllied war effort at 8:10 PM.

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You won 56 fires, 2 torpedoes. The first strikes the Laconia on
the starboard side near hold #2,which contains hundreds of
Italian prisoners. The explosion is catastrophic,
killing many instantly and trapping others below decks.
The second torpedo misses, but the damage is already severe.

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The Laconia immediately begins to list aboard the stricken
vessel. Chaos erupts.
Captain Rudolph Sharp orders abandoned ship, but the
situation deteriorates rapidly. The blast has destroyed many
lifeboats on the starboard side.The ship's severe list makes
launching the remaining boats difficult.

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In the darkened holds, Italian prisoners struggle desperately
to escape as water rushes in. According to survivor accounts,
some Polish guards fire on prisoners attempting to flee,
while others help them escape. Some British crew members make
heroic efforts to free the Italians, while others focus
solely on saving themselves and the civilian passengers.

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It is a scene of both humanity'sworst instincts and it's noblest
qualities playing out simultaneously.
Within 10 minutes of the torpedostrike, Italian prisoners who
have managed to reach the deck begin jumping into the ocean,
their voices calling desperatelyin Italian carry across the
water to 156, which has surfacedto observe its handiwork from

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approximately 1000 yards away. Standard procedure for U boat
commanders confirming a kill. This moment marks the first
critical turning point in our story for his Hartenstein
watches the Laconia's death throws through his binoculars.
He hears something unexpected. Italian voices crying for help.

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He quickly realizes he has not sunk A troop transport, but a
ship carrying Italian prisoners of war.
Citizens of Germany's own Axis ally.
Hartenstein's decision a moment of humanity.
What happens next defies the conventions of submarine
warfare. Rather than submerging into
parting the scene, standard U boat procedure after an attack

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Corvette and Capitan, Hartenstein makes an
extraordinary decision. He will attempt to rescue the
survivors. This decision cannot be
overstated in its exceptional nature.
U boats were not designed as rescue vessels.
Every minute on the surface madethem vulnerable to Allied
aircraft. Their cramped interiors had no

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space for additional passengers.Taking on survivors compromised
their fighting capability and endangered their own crews.
Yet Hartenstein orders his submarine to approach the
massive, struggling survivors inthe water.
His crew throws ropes and floatsto those nearby and helps pull
exhausted men aboard EU boat's deck.

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Priority is given to the injuredinto women and children among
the British civilians. By midnight, U-150 SIXS deck is
crowded with survivors and more cling to ropes trailing in the
water alongside the submarine, Hartenstein has taken aboard 193
people, including British civilians and crew, Italian

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prisoners and even some British military personnel onto a vessel
designed for a crew of 60. Then, in an even more remarkable
move, Hartenstein does somethingunprecedented in U boat warfare.
At 1:25 AM on September 13th, hetransmits an uncoded radio
message to all stations. If any ship will assist the

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shipwrecked Laconia crew, I willnot attack.
I have picked up 193 men four degrees 53 minutes S 11 degrees
26 minutes W German submarine. This open transmission,
revealing his position and intentions to all listeners,
including Allied forces, represents an extraordinary risk

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for a submarine. Commander Hartenstein repeats
this message in English on the international distress
frequency, adding I am surrounded by lifeboats.
The German naval command, ratherthan reprimanding this breach of
protocol, responds with surprising support.
Admiral Carl Donutz, commander of EU Boat Fleet, orders two

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additional submarines to assist U5O6, commanded by Capitan
Looking at Eric Wordman in U5O7 under Corvette and Capitan
Horoschacht. The Italian submarine Capellini
is also diverted to the rescue site.
Donuts goes further, negotiatingwith the Vichy French
authorities at Dakar in what is now Senegal to send warships to

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collect the survivors. The French agreed to dispatch
the cruiser galore in two sloops, Anamite and DuMont
Deerville, to the rescue coordinates.
By dawn on September 13th, an extraordinary scene unfolds in
the Mid-Atlantic. A German U boat flying both a
swastika flag in a large Red Cross flag, surrounded by

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lifeboats and survivors clingingto ropes, openly broadcasting
its position and awaiting both reinforcements and enemy ships
for a humanitarian mission. The rescue operation September
13th to 15th, 1942. Over the next two days, the
rescue operation expands. U5O6 and U5O7 arrive and begin

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taking survivors aboard and towing lifeboats.
Hartenstein has organized the survivors into groups with the
most vulnerable on the submarineand others in lifeboats being
towed in an improvised convoy heading slowly toward the
meeting point with the Vichy French ships.
By September 15th, approximately1000 Laconia survivors have been

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rescued by the German and Italian submarines.
The scene is without precedent in naval warfare, enemy
submarines openly conducting a major humanitarian rescue while
broadcasting their positions. But not all survivors have been
found. Some lifeboats separated from
the main group during the chaotic night time abandonment

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of the Laconia drift away from the rescue area.
One such lifeboat contains DorisHawkins, a British missionary
nurse who will spend 27 days at sea before being rescued by a
British vessel. Another contains Tony Large and
51 other survivors, beginning what will become a 39 day ordeal

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that only four will survive. Meanwhile, the unprecedented
radio messages from U156 have been intercepted not just by
German naval command, but by Allied forces as well.
The British Admiralty, suspicious of a German trap,
orders its ships to remain clearof the area.
But at the American Air Base on Ascension Island, approximately

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1000 miles from a Laconia site, the messages are received with
fateful misunderstanding. The attack September 15th, 1942
On the morning of September 15th, U156 continues its rescue
work. The submarine is moving slowly
on the surface, flying a large Red Cross flag alongside its

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naval Ensign. It is towing lifeboats
containing dozens of survivors. Additional survivors crowd its
deck, a mixture of British civilians and crew, Italian
prisoners and Polish guards. At 11:32 AMA lone aircraft
appears on the horizon, an American B24 Liberator bomber

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from the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, based on Ascension
Island. The aircraft is piloted by
Lieutenant James D Harden, who has been ordered to search for
the German submarines reported in the area.
As the bomber approaches, Hartenstein orders his men to
wave the Red Cross flag. More prominently, he has

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survivors display white sheets on the submarine's deck.
There can be no mistaking the unusual nature of the scene
below. A submarine engaged in obvious
rescue operations. The B24 makes several passes
over U156. Aboard the submarine.
There is initial relief. Surely the American pilot can

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see they are conducting A humanitarian mission.
Some survivors later report thatthe aircraft dipped its wings,
which they interpreted as acknowledgement of the
situation. But then, without warning the
B24 attacks. It drops several depth charges
and bombs that narrowly missed the submarine but create huge

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geysers of water that drenched the survivors on deck.
One bomb lands close enough to damage you 150 SIXS bow and
injure several survivors. Hartenstein has no choice.
Despite having survivors still aboard his submarine and others
and towed lifeboats, he orders an emergency dive.

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Those on deck are thrown into the sea.
The ropes connecting the lifeboats are caught.
U156 disappears beneath the waves, abandoning the rescue
operation that had already savedhundreds of lives.
The American bomber makes several more passes, reportedly
machine gunning survivors in thewater, though this detail

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remains contested in some historical accounts.
What is certain is that the attack ends the organized rescue
effort and condemns many survivors to death who might
otherwise have been saved. The aftermath.
Immediate consequences The attack on U156 creates immediate
chaos. The submarine surfaces briefly

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after the bomber departs, managing to retrieve some
survivors who had been on its deck, but many are left behind.
Hartenstein radios the other German submarines, warning them
of the air attack and advising them to submerge of aircraft
approach. The other U boats continue
rescue operations more cautiously, staying submerged

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during daylight hours and surfacing only at night to
collect survivors. Eventually, U5O6 and U5O7
managed to transfer their survivors to the Vichy French
warships when they arrive on September 16th, with the
handover taking place under the cover of darkness.
The final human toll of the Laconia sinking is devastating.

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Of the 2732 people aboard the vessel between 1658 and 1757
Parish, the majority being Italian prisoners of war who
were either trapped below decks during the initial sinking or
lost when the rescue operation was abandoned.
The survivors, approximately 1083 people, include those

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rescued by the German submarines, those picked up
directly by the Vichy French ships, and those in lifeboats
that drifted away and were eventually found by other
vessels. But beyond the immediate human
cost, the Laconia incident has profound and far reaching
consequences for naval warfare and military ethics.

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The Laconia Order September 17th, 1942 Two days after the
attack on U156, Admiral Carl Donuts issues what will become
known as the Laconia Order to all U boat commanders.
The directive explicitly forbidsany future rescue attempts.
One, no attempt of any kind mustbe made at rescuing members of

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ships sunk, and this includes picking up persons in the water
and putting them in lifeboats, riding capsized lifeboats and
handing over food and water. Rescue runs counter to the
rudimentary demands of warfare for the destruction of enemy
ships and cruise orders for bringing in captains and chief
engineers still apply. Rescue the shipwrecked only if

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their statements will be of importance for your boat.
Be harsh. Having in mind that the enemy
takes no regard of women and children in his bombing attacks
on German cities, This order marks a significant hardening in
the conduct of submarine warfare.
While rescuing survivors had always been difficult and
dangerous for submarines, it hadnever been explicitly forbidden.

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Now the door to such humanitarian actions is firmly
closed. The Laconia order will later
become evidence in the Nurembergtrials after the war, with
prosecutors arguing it constituted in order to kill
survivors, though Donuts will ultimately not be convicted on
this specific charge as Allied submarine commanders had
followed similar practices. The human stories survival and

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suffering Beyond the strategic and policy implications, the
Laconia incident is ultimately ahuman story, one of survival,
suffering and moral choices madeunder the most extreme
circumstances. For those who survived the
sinking but were not rescued by the German submarines or Vichy
French ships, a harrowing ordealof survival at sea began.

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Multiple lifeboats separated during the chaotic evacuation
and subsequent events drifted across the Atlantic with limited
supplies and no certain prospectof rescue.
One of the most remarkable survival stories is that of Tony
Large, a 20 year old British Merchant Navy officer.
Large found himself in a lifeboat with 51 other

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survivors, including Italian prisoners and British personnel.
Their lifeboat would drift for 39 days before being spotted by
a British vessel near the coast of Brazil, by which time only
four men remained alive. The others had succumbed to
thirst, exposure and starvation during the prolonged ordeal.

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Large's account of those 39 daysreveals both the worst and best
of human nature. Early cooperation gave way to
conflict. As resources dwindled, water
became so precious that men would drink their own urine or
attempt to catch rainwater in their mouths during brief
squalls. Some went mad from thirst and

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salt water consumption. Others simply lost the will to
live and slipped quietly into the sea during the night.
Doris Hawkins, the missionary nurse, kept a diary during her
27 days adrift in another lifeboat.
Her account demonstrates remarkable composure and
compassion as she tended to injured survivors despite her

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own suffering. We have nothing, she wrote.
No water, no food, no shelter. But we have our lives, for which
we thank God. For the survivors rescued by the
German submarines, the experience was equally surreal.
British civilians and military personnel found themselves being
treated with unexpected humanityby the very enemy who had just

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torpedoed their ship. Several survivors later recalled
the bizarre experience of receiving first aid and
chocolate from German submariners who, under different
circumstances, would have been trying to kill them.
One British survivor, after being given a tour of U156 by a
German officer, remarked, I wentdown EU boat as an enemy but

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came up as a friend. Such moments of human connection
amid the brutality of war under score the moral complexity of
the entire incident. The controversy Why was U156
attacked? The attack on U156 remains one
of the most controversial aspects of the Laconia incident.

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Why would an American bomber attack a submarine that was
clearly engaged in humanitarian rescue, flying a Red Cross flag
and surrounded by lifeboats? The official explanation came
from Captain Robert C Richardson, 3, the senior
American officer at Ascension Island who had ordered the
attack. Richardson claimed he was

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unaware of the rescue operation,despite the repeated radio
messages from Hartenstein that had been intercepted at
Ascension. He maintained that his orders
were simply to attack any enemy submarine found.
The Subs were fair targets, Richardson later insisted.
International law and the laws of humanity have no place in a

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Total War. To Richardson, the presence of
survivors in a Red Cross flag made no difference.
U156 remained an enemy warship that needed to be destroyed.
Some historians have suggested amore strategic motivation.
Ascension Island was a crucial Allied air base, vital for

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transatlantic flights and anti submarine operations.
The presence of multiple German submarines relatively near the
island, even if engaged in rescue operations, might have
been perceived as a security threat that needed to be
eliminated. Regardless of the humanitarian
context. Others point to a fundamental
breakdown in communication and understanding.

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The bomber crew, inexperienced and trained to attack enemy
submarines on site, may have been inadequately briefed about
the unusual situation they wouldencounter.
By the time they recognize the rescue operation, they had
already committed to an attack run and felt compelled to
complete their mission. Whatever the reason, the attack

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transformed what had been an unprecedented moment of humanity
and submarine warfare into a return to its inherent brutality
and set the stage for an even more merciless phase of the
Battle of the Atlantic. The Legacy military moral and
historical impacts. The Laconia incident left an
indelible mark on naval warfare,military ethics, and the

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historical understanding of World War 2's moral
complexities. In military terms, the incident
in subsequent Laconia order accelerated the evolution of
submarine warfare toward greaterruthlessness.
U boat commanders, already operating under extreme pressure
and danger, now had explicit orders not to attempt rescues

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under any circumstances. The Battle of the Atlantic
became even more unforgiving, with survivors of sunken ships
left to their fate and less surface vessels could reach
them. This hardening of tactics was
not limited to German forces. Allied submarine commanders,
particularly in the Pacific theater, had generally followed

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similar practices of not rescuing survivors from Japanese
ships. The Laconia incident served to
formalize what it often been thereality of submarine warfare on
all sides that the tactical vulnerabilities of submarines
made rescue operations impractical and dangerous in
most circumstances. In moral terms, the incident

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represents one of the war's moststark illustrations of the
tension between humanitarian impulses and military necessity.
Hartenstein's decision to rescuesurvivors, including enemy
personnel, stands as a remarkable assertion of basic
human decency amid the dehumanizing logic of Total War.
Yet Richardson's decision to attack, regardless of the

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humanitarian activity underway, reflects the competing
imperative of destroying enemy capability whenever possible.
This moral tension would be examined after the war during
the Nuremberg Trials, where Admiral Donuts faced charges
related to the Laconia Order. In a significant development,
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the US Pacific

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Fleet, provided testimony that American submarines had operated
under essentially similar ordersnot to rescue survivors if doing
so would endanger the submarine.This testimony contributed to
Donuts acquittal on the specificcharge of ordering the killing
of shipwreck survivors, though he was convicted on other
counts. Historically, the Laconia

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incident occupies an unusual position, simultaneously well
documented yet relatively obscure and popular
understanding of World War 2. Unlike famous naval battles or
major campaigns, this complex episode, with its ambiguous
moral dimensions fits awkwardly into simpler narratives of the
war. Yet for those who study military

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ethics, naval history, or the human dimension of warfare, the
incident remains A compelling case study in the limits of
humanity during Total War. The fate of the participants,
the key figures in the Laconia drama, met varied fates as the
war continued. Corvette and Capitan Werner
Hartenstein continued commandingYou 156 after the Incident.

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On March 8th, 1943, less than six months after his
humanitarian actions at the Laconia, his submarine was
spotted on the surface by AUS Navy aircraft near Barbados.
U156 was sunk with depth charges, killing Hartenstein and
his entire crew of 53. Before his death, Hartenstein

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reportedly reflected on the Laconia incident with a fellow
officer saying we did what we thought was right.
The sea does not care for nationalities in its mercy.
His actions during those few days in September 1942 remain A
remarkable counterpoint to the prevailing brutality of
submarine warfare. Admiral Carl Donutz, who had

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supported the initial rescue operation before issuing the
Laconia Order, rose to become the commander in chief of the
German Navy and in the war's final days, Hitler's designated
successor. After Germany's surrender, he
served as the head of the short lived Flensburg government
before being arrested, tried at Nuremberg, and sentenced to 10

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years imprisonment for war crimes related to unrestricted
submarine warfare. Though not specifically for the
Laconia Order, Captain Robert C Richardson, three, who ordered
the attack on U156, continued his military career after the
war, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant General in
the US Air Force. He never expressed regret for

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his decision, maintaining until his death in 2011 that attacking
the submarine was the correct military action, regardless of
the humanitarian operation underway.
Tony Large, one of the four survivors of the 39 day lifeboat
ordeal, returned to England and lived until 2011, frequently
sharing his story as a testamentto human endurance and the will

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to survive. Doris Hawkins published her
diary of 27 Days Adrift, providing one of the most
compelling first hand accounts of survival at sea from World
War 2. The Italian prisoners who
survived first capture in North Africa, then the torpedoing of
the Laconia, then rescued by German submarines and finally

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transferred to Vichy. French ships faced yet another
twist in their journey when the Allied invasion of North Africa
in November 1942, Operation Torch, resulted in many being
recaptured by American forces. Reflections The Meaning of the
Laconia Incident As we reflect on the Laconia Incident from our

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vantage point today, several aspects of this extraordinary
episode stand out for consideration.
First, the incident reveals the unsettling truth that even in
the most clear cut moral conflicts in history and World
War 2 is often presented as such, the reality on the ground
or at sea was frequently more complex.

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When Hartenstein made the decision to rescue survivors
from the ship he had just torpedoed, he acted against
military logic but in accordancewith a deeper human ethic.
When Richardson ordered the attack on a submarine engaged in
rescue, he prioritized military objectives over humanitarian
considerations. Neither man fits easily into

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simple categories of hero or villain.
Second, the incident demonstrates how institutional
pressures and the logic of TotalWar can override individual
moral choices. Hartenstein's humanitarian
impulse, initially supported by his chain of command, was
ultimately rejected through the Laconia order, which

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institutionalized the priority of military effectiveness over
mercy. The needs of the war machine
ultimately prevailed over the humanitarian instincts of
individual participants. Third, the story highlights the
often neglected multinational dimension of World War 2.
The Laconia carried British crewand passengers, Italian

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prisoners and Polish guards. The rescue involved German and
Italian submarines and Vichy French warships.
The attack came from an Americanbomber.
This single incident encompassednearly the entire spectrum of
the war's participants, reflecting it's truly global
nature. Finally, the Laconia Incident

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serves as a powerful reminder ofthe human cost of abstract
military policies. Whether we consider the Italian
prisoners trapped in the sinkingship, the survivors adrift for
weeks and open lifeboats, or theGerman submariners who died
attempting to return to their mission after their humanitarian
interlude, each represents the human reality behind strategic

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decisions made in distant headquarters.
Perhaps the most fitting epitaphfor the Laconia incident comes
from a survivor who was rescued by U156 and later transferred to
a Vichy French ship. In a letter written after the
war, he observed for a brief moment, the war stopped.
Men from different sides looked at each other and saw not

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enemies but fellow humans in distress.
Then the world remembered it wasat war in the moment passed in.
That brief moment when a German submarine commander chose to
rescue rather than abandoned thesurvivors of his attack,
including citizens of enemy nations.
We glimpse what naval historian Arthur Martyr called a gleam of

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humanity in a dark time. That the moment ended with bombs
falling on a rescue mission onlyunderscores its fragility and
the implacable demands of Total War.
The Laconia incident, with all its moral ambiguity and human
drama, reminds us that even in humanity's darkest conflicts,
the capacity for compassion remains flickering, vulnerable

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but never entirely extinguished.This has been World War Two
stories. I'm Steve Matthews.
Join us next time as we continueexploring the moments that
shaped the greatest conflict in human history.