“After the crew of the steamer had been handed over, it was
learned that the engineer artificer of the steamer had told the
stoker Blank that the captain had intended to ram the
submarine.”
The document on Page 237, an excerpt from the Prosecution’s Exhibit
GB-82, shows that the _Vendia_ case formed the subject of a protest by
the German Government to the Danish Government.
I shall deal now with the sinking of the _City of Benares_ on 18
September 1940. In this connection I should like first to read several
sentences from the Prosecution’s document, because in my opinion it is
characteristic of the probative value of the entire Exhibit GB-191. I
read from the British Document Book, Page 23, starting at the passage
where the Prosecution stopped reading. The Tribunal will remember that
the _City of Benares_ had children on board. The Foreign Office report
says here:
“The captain of the U-boat presumably did not know that there
were children on board the _City of Benares_ when he fired the
torpedoes. Perhaps he did not even know the name of the ship,
although there the evidence suggests strongly that he had been
dogging her for several hours before torpedoing her. He must
have known, however, that this was a large merchant ship,
probably with civilian passengers on board, and certainly with a
crew of merchant seamen. He knew the state of the weather, and
he knew that they were six hundred miles from land and yet he
followed them outside the blockade area and deliberately
abstained from firing his torpedo until after nightfall when the
chances of rescue would be enormously reduced.”
The next document I submit is Dönitz-84, Page 238, the War Log of U-boat
48, which sank the _City of Benares_. I read the entry of 17 September
1940:
“Time 1002. Convoy sighted. Course about 240 degrees, speed 7
nautical miles. Contact maintained, since underwater attack is
no longer possible because of the heavy swell. No escort can be
seen with the convoy.”