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Reinout and Axel,
The sinkings previously mentioned were deliberate, and the information was found on a web site for Royal Navy hospital ships history. I do not believe that the ships mentioned were of the Q-ship variety. 1 case of mistaken identity I can understand, but 8 is not mistakes. Especially when a couple are done within a few months time frame. As far as Allied "war crimes" being publicly prosecuted, I don't think you'd find a whole lot of sympathy for any perpetrators. However in the light of some of the things that (for instance) the Germans did in WW1 or even WW2, it is understandable why some of the incidents occurred on the Allied side. Once again this comes down to what was official policy and unofficial acts. I am NOT making any apologies for what ever atrocities were committed by the Allies, but I will unequivocably state that they pale by comparison to those the Germans committed in Belgium in WW1, or those committed during WW2. And as awful as the civilian collateral casualties were during the strategic bombing, they don't compare to the systematic extermination of a people, race, or religion due to political belief or "racial purity". One could not be helped, the other was totally controllable. Along with that, Germany made the mistake in two different wars of allying herself with countires who were also participating in mass genocide. So if they were cast in a bad light it's only due to their own choices, and their willingness to condone & participate in systematic genocide. I think the German people of today understand the wrong of it better than many other countries. The winners always make the rules and as unfair as it sounds, that's just the way it is. I look more up to Germany for her reparations she has made to the Jewish, Slavs, Poles, Gypsies that the Nazi's tried to exterminate. I am unfamiliar whether or not she made any reparations to the Belgians for atrocities committed in both WW's, or the Dutch. The Japs on the other hand need to be brought to task for the stuff they did in Nanking in 1937/38 and other places during the war, and make reparations to their victims families.
VBR,
Jim
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