17. Thousands of prisoners of war were killed by friendly fire during World War II
In 1942 RMS Laconia, transporting nearly 1,800 Italian prisoners of war, fell victim to a German U-Boat. The U-Boat took on as many survivors as it could, towed others in rafts, and notified the British of its situation and position. It also displayed red crosses on its decks. Nonetheless, American bombers attacked it, forcing it to abandon the survivors and crash-dive. Over 1,400 Italian prisoners died before the entire event resolved itself, which included three distinct friendly fire incidents. Similar events occurred in the Pacific. American submarines sank Japanese transports laden with prisoners of war being sent to slave labor camps. Their losses and facts of their deaths remained suppressed for many years after the war.
Operation Chastise, the RAF bombing raids which destroyed dams on the Eder, Mohne, and Sohr Rivers in Germany generated catastrophic flooding, destroying whole villages and towns. The floods destroyed railroad and traffic bridges, filled mines, disrupted communications. The loss of the dams also disrupted hydroelectric power distribution, essential to Germany’s industry. Accounts of casualties vary. Roughly 1,600 died in the floods and their immediate aftermath. Somewhere between 1,100 and 1,500 prisoners of war, mostly Soviets and Poles held in slave labor camps were killed as well. Late in the war, several trains relocating American and Allied prisoners of war were bombed by Allied aircraft, unaware of their contents.
