Heinz-Wilhelm Eck
Encyclopedia
Heinz-Wilhelm Eck was a German U-Boat
commander of the Second World War, who was tried, convicted, condemned and executed postwar for ordering his crew to shoot the survivors of a Greek merchantman sunk by .
and served with the German Navy
(Kriegsmarine
) from 1934, becoming a Lieutenant-Captain (Kapitänleutnant) on 1 December 1941 and assuming his first command on 15 June 1943. From 18 January 1944 he led on a patrol heading for South Africa
n waters and then on to the Indian Ocean
. While en-route he encountered the lone Greek steamer , and sank her with two torpedoes on 13 March.
was to be the subject of a famous post war trial. During the trial, Eck acknowledged he realized that by sinking the rafts, he was denying the seamen a chance of survival.
Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage in an effort to sink it. Accounts differ greatly as to the number of shots fired and the damage done. The two surviving Greek
sailors reported the shooting went on for a long time and that at least four of their compatriots were killed by it. The German crew's report stated, however, that they had fired several short machinegun bursts into the wreckage and were unable to see their targets in the dark. The men shooting were later proven to be the ship's engineering officer, Hans Lenz (who claimed he had done so under protest to spare an enlisted man from having to do it), Walter Weisspfennig (the ship's doctor
who was not supposed to be handling firearm
s), the second in command August Hoffmann and an enlisted engineer, Wolfgang Schwender (who was under direct orders and fired very few rounds). Eck was also present during the incident; the remaining crew were below decks.
The operation to sink the rafts and wreckage was not hugely successful, but the submarine was able to evade pursuit, and managed to sink the British cargo ship SS Dahomian off Cape Town
on 1 April, this time hastily leaving the scene rather than pausing. It was just a few weeks later, on 30 April, the boat was spotted by a Vickers Wellington
bomber, flying from Aden
, which managed to damage her with depth charges, thus preventing her from diving. Knowing all was lost, Eck made for the Somali
coast, where his ship was beached on a coral reef while under extensive air attack from six bombers of 621 Squadron
Royal Air Force
. Of Eck's crew, 58 made it to shore, where they were captured by the Somaliland Camel Corps
and local militia and sent to various prison camps to wait out the end of the war. Seven of the crew had been killed by the constant air attacks.
for minor war criminals) for the deaths of the steamer's crew. The judge was Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson. After a four day hearing, at which crew members, survivors and experts were all called, all five men were found guilty.
Eck, Hoffmann, and Weisspfennig were sentenced to death. Weisspfennig was condemned because as a non-combatant
under the Geneva Convention, he was prohibited from firing weapons even in action. Eck and Hoffmann were executed because in their role as the boat's senior officers, responsibility for the actions of their crew, as well as for themselves, fell directly on their shoulders. All three were shot by firing squad at Lüneberg Heath on 30 November 1945. Lenz, by virtue of his protest at the time and his written confession, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
, while Schwender, the only man involved who had been under direct orders, was given seven years.
The incident is notable as it was the only case in which U-Boat personnel were convicted of war crime
s committed during the Second World War, compared to the thousands of people from the other branches of service. Similar and even worse war crime
s had been committed by German submarines in World War I, as in the case of the machine-gunning of the survivors of the hospital ship. It is also notable and controversial, because both British and American submarines (such as and ) were recorded as killing survivors of their targets, and yet their crimes were hushed up at the time and for some years after the war; no legal proceedings were ever attempted against their crews. The crew of the Wahoo could not be tried after the war, because by that time they had died. The same applies to the crew of the German U-247, which had shot the shipwrecked survivors of the Noreen Mary fishing trawler; by the end of the war, they had died.
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
commander of the Second World War, who was tried, convicted, condemned and executed postwar for ordering his crew to shoot the survivors of a Greek merchantman sunk by .
Service history
Eck was born in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and served with the German Navy
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
(Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
) from 1934, becoming a Lieutenant-Captain (Kapitänleutnant) on 1 December 1941 and assuming his first command on 15 June 1943. From 18 January 1944 he led on a patrol heading for South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n waters and then on to the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. While en-route he encountered the lone Greek steamer , and sank her with two torpedoes on 13 March.
The Peleus affair
The sinking Peleus left a large debris field, amongst which were a number of survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. This field would provide unmistakable evidence of the presence of an enemy submarine, and thus would betray the position of the U-852 to aircraft and shipping patrolling the area. Eck then controversially decided to sink the wreckage with the use of hand grenades and automatic weapons. The question of whether this "dispersal" order explicitly or implicitly encouraged the killing of the sailors in the water, or whether this was an unfortunate example of collateral damageCollateral damage
Collateral damage is damage to people or property that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome. The phrase is prevalently used as an euphemism for civilian casualties of a military action.-Etymology:...
was to be the subject of a famous post war trial. During the trial, Eck acknowledged he realized that by sinking the rafts, he was denying the seamen a chance of survival.
Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage in an effort to sink it. Accounts differ greatly as to the number of shots fired and the damage done. The two surviving Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
sailors reported the shooting went on for a long time and that at least four of their compatriots were killed by it. The German crew's report stated, however, that they had fired several short machinegun bursts into the wreckage and were unable to see their targets in the dark. The men shooting were later proven to be the ship's engineering officer, Hans Lenz (who claimed he had done so under protest to spare an enlisted man from having to do it), Walter Weisspfennig (the ship's doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
who was not supposed to be handling firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s), the second in command August Hoffmann and an enlisted engineer, Wolfgang Schwender (who was under direct orders and fired very few rounds). Eck was also present during the incident; the remaining crew were below decks.
The operation to sink the rafts and wreckage was not hugely successful, but the submarine was able to evade pursuit, and managed to sink the British cargo ship SS Dahomian off Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
on 1 April, this time hastily leaving the scene rather than pausing. It was just a few weeks later, on 30 April, the boat was spotted by a Vickers Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
bomber, flying from Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, which managed to damage her with depth charges, thus preventing her from diving. Knowing all was lost, Eck made for the Somali
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
coast, where his ship was beached on a coral reef while under extensive air attack from six bombers of 621 Squadron
No. LXI Squadron RAF
No. 61 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed as a fighter squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. It was reformed in 1937 as a bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force and served in the Second World War and after until disbanded in...
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Of Eck's crew, 58 made it to shore, where they were captured by the Somaliland Camel Corps
Somaliland Camel Corps
The Somaliland Camel Corps was a unit of the British Army based in British Somaliland from the early 20th century until the 1960s.Camels are a necessity in East Africa, being as important as ponies are in Mongolia...
and local militia and sent to various prison camps to wait out the end of the war. Seven of the crew had been killed by the constant air attacks.
Standing Trial after the War
In prison, Lenz provided his captors with a signed confession. This, when combined with the testimony of the Peleus survivors and the log of U-852 (which Eck had failed to destroy), provided conclusive testimony. Following the war's conclusion, all the above named crew members were placed on trial at the Hamburg war trials (an extension of the Nuremberg trialsNuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
for minor war criminals) for the deaths of the steamer's crew. The judge was Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson. After a four day hearing, at which crew members, survivors and experts were all called, all five men were found guilty.
Eck, Hoffmann, and Weisspfennig were sentenced to death. Weisspfennig was condemned because as a non-combatant
Non-combatant
Non-combatant is a term in the law of war describing civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities, as well as persons such as medical personnel and military chaplains who are regular soldiers but are protected because of their function as well as soldiers who are hors de combat ; that is, sick,...
under the Geneva Convention, he was prohibited from firing weapons even in action. Eck and Hoffmann were executed because in their role as the boat's senior officers, responsibility for the actions of their crew, as well as for themselves, fell directly on their shoulders. All three were shot by firing squad at Lüneberg Heath on 30 November 1945. Lenz, by virtue of his protest at the time and his written confession, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
, while Schwender, the only man involved who had been under direct orders, was given seven years.
The incident is notable as it was the only case in which U-Boat personnel were convicted of war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s committed during the Second World War, compared to the thousands of people from the other branches of service. Similar and even worse war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s had been committed by German submarines in World War I, as in the case of the machine-gunning of the survivors of the hospital ship. It is also notable and controversial, because both British and American submarines (such as and ) were recorded as killing survivors of their targets, and yet their crimes were hushed up at the time and for some years after the war; no legal proceedings were ever attempted against their crews. The crew of the Wahoo could not be tried after the war, because by that time they had died. The same applies to the crew of the German U-247, which had shot the shipwrecked survivors of the Noreen Mary fishing trawler; by the end of the war, they had died.
See also
- Dudley W. MortonDudley W. MortonDudley Walker Morton was a submarine commander of the United States Navy during World War II. He was commander of during its third through seventh patrols. Wahoo was one of the most-celebrated submarines of World War II, sinking at least 19 Japanese ships, more than any other submarine of the time...
- Anthony MiersAnthony MiersRear Admiral Sir Anthony Cecil Capel Miers VC, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar was a Royal Navy officer, who served in the submarine service during the Second World War...
- Battle of the Bismarck SeaBattle of the Bismarck SeaThe Battle of the Bismarck Sea took place in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. During the course of the battle, aircraft of the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force attacked a Japanese convoy that was carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea...
- Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
External links
- War crimes details (Archived 2009-10-25)