Anthony "Crap" Miers
Ubåt vet jag inte,sorry
Detta hände 4/7 1941
Between Andros and Euboea,a caigue and schooner were sighted,both flying a
swastika ensign and carrying German troops.Miers surfaced and sank both
vessels with gunfire,subsequently using two Lewis guns from the bridge to
ensure that no soldiers survived.His first lieutenant,Paul Chapman later
reported: "Everything and everybody was destroyed by one sort of gunfire or
another".
Detta hände den 9/7 1941:
Four vessels were spotted east of Kithira.They were carrying
petrol,ammunition,food supplies,and 75 Bavarian mountains troops going on
leave from the German garrison on Crete.Torbay surfaced and destroyed the
nearest caique,and all aboard her,with 4-inch,Lewis and Bren guns.
As Torbay approached the second vessel,its German skipper,Ehlebracht,jumped
overboard with some of the crew and soldiers.Those who remained aboard
raised their arms in surrender.
Torbay was by now running short of ammunition,so Miers sent a boarding
party to sink the vessel with demolition charges.The SBS commandos,Corporal
Bremmer,who was leading the boarding party,saw a German about to throw a
grenade,and shot him with his Bren gun.Another member of the boarding party
shot a German who raised a rifle.While the demolition charges were being
set in the caique Bremmer rounded up and disarmed seven more Germans, and
took them back to the submarine.Miers refused to allow them to be taken
below,shouting furiously that submarines did not take prisoners.Bremmer
went to look for a raft or float but could not find one,and went below.
What happened after that is not entirely clear.The German skippermwho was
till in the water,later reported that the men aboard the caique were
ordered into a rubber dinghy.Trobay`s log states that all aboard the caique
were forced to launch and jump into a large rubber float.It is not known
whether the soldiers aboard the Torbay were also ordered into the
float.When Bremmer asked what happened to his prisoners he was told that
they have been shot in the water.No mention was made of a raft or float.
Miers may have thrown them into the sea and told Corporal Sherwood of the
SBS,and then Lt. Chapman to shoot them.Both refused.Miers then ordered
another crewmember to shoot them,and threatened to shoot the man if he did
not obey.
Miers was not a popular officer,and seems to have been prone to resorting
to such bullying tactics.On a later patrol he threatened to shoot Bremmer
when the commando refused to paddle ashore in a folding canoe in a gale.
Unlike Bremmer,the signalman ordered to shoot the unlucky soldiers in the
water did not call Mier`s bluff.According to Ehlebracht,fire was opened on
the rubber dinghy,killing two and wounding two others.The submarine then
circled twice around the troops swimming in the water and used machine-gun
fire in an attempt to bring them together.And the massacre started.Eight of
them were killed.
But Torbay left to chase the other vessels,only one of which
escaped.Ehlebracht and some other survivors clung to the wreck of the
caique,which remained afloat,and they were later rescued.
Miers made no attempts to conceal his actions.His log records: "Submarine
cast off,and with the Lewis gun accounted for the soldiers in the rubber
raft to prevent them regaining their ship"
Miers was congratulated on the success of his patrol,and was not
reprimanded for disregarding the Hague Convention in his treatment of
prisoners.It has been speculated that this may have been because German
dive-bombers had strafed British survivors in the water during the battle
of Crete.
However ,when Miers` report reached Admiral Horton in London,the Flag
Officer Submarines was concerned about German reprisals,and wrote to the
Board of Admiralty: "As far as I am aware,the enemy has not made a habit of
firing on personnel in the water or on rafts even when such personnel were
members of the fighting services;since the incidents referred to in
Torbay`s report,he may feel justified in doing so."The Admiralty wrote a
strong letter to Miers instructing him not to repeat the practices of his
last patrol.[
dessa är rejäla slängskott
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