Question regarding German sea rescue missions

Stuka_Hunter

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Hello

I sadly dont know under which category to post this, so I ask the moderator to move it if necessary.

Regarding the sea rescue squadrons of the Luftwaffe: how were Allies instructed to react upon seeing them? Were they treated hostile like bombers, or were they left alone?

I suppose the latter, like were the field medics in combat left out of being shot, were they properly marked, but I am not 100% it went the same for sea rescue airplanes.
 
See http://stores.militaryhistoryshop.com/blog/the-luftwaffe-seenotdienst-air-sea-rescue-service-of-world-war-ii/
For short : At least from July 1940 onwards, German rescue aircraft were dealt with by the RAF in the same way as other
enemy aircraft, after they were
- met with fighter escorts
- suspected of making reconnaissance reports
- and because rescued pilots would return to the fight again (British Air Ministry Bulletin 1254)

From then on, rescue aircraft weren't painted white, but got standard camouflage schemes.
 
Probably bad luck for the Brits .... :-\
How could a british fighter pilot have known, that an aircraft, that was a legal target,
was carrying British airmen ?
The same was true the other way round, I think. The armament of British rescue launches or
of the Shag bat quite probably wasn't only meant for parading.
 
Well, if Allies were so big on "but the Geneva convension" thing when they had to deal with many civilian deaths, I was shocked to read that Churchill himself proclaimed that rescue aircraft were never mentioned in the Geneva convension. Even when 5 Dorniers came to pick up survivors from one Allied vessel, 4 were shot down.

Victor writes the history I guess... :-X
 
Stuka_Hunter said:
Victor writes the history I guess...

Either that, or Loser should have thought twice before perpetrating einen totalen Krieg unto the rest of the the world.
Payback, bitch, yada yada.

Whining about GVA convention afterwards sounds soooo responsibly mature...
 
Wilhelm Gustloff?
City of Benares?

Plenty of similar events to discuss.

Chris
 
dan_inbox said:
Stuka_Hunter said:
Victor writes the history I guess...

Either that, or Loser should have thought twice before perpetrating einen totalen Krieg unto the rest of the the world.
Payback, bitch, yada yada.

Whining about GVA convention afterwards sounds soooo responsibly mature...

What does Total War have to do with Seenotdienst? Up untill 1943 Total War policy didnt even exist.
 

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