I know this is old but I'm still reading through many of the threads here. I don't often bother to comment on new threads let alone old ones but this made me change my mind.
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Originally Posted by Targan
Not all. Just the bastards involved in allowing the pride of the Australian fleet to pull alongside for a routine cargo check of a freighter only to have it suddenly uncover hidden gun turrets and torpedo tubes, run up a German flag and rake the Sydney from end to end. For that war crime yes, I'd kill the whole gwerman crew. And not shed a single tear for them.
And as you well know, "I was just following orders" is not an acceptable defence in a war crimes trial. Is not and should not be. Even in basic training I had sufficient explanations given to me to know an illegal order when I hear it.
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Sir, you are completely wrong in your description of events and the actions of the crew of the Kormoran. Further, the Kormoran was not built as a raider, it began life as the freighter Steiermark in 1938. She was taken up by the Kreigsmarine and converted to armed merchant status sometime in 1939-40, entering Kreigsmarine service as the Kormoran in 1940.
The crew of the Kormoran should be congratulated for accomplishing such an audacious act, if the roles had been reversed then Australians would be proclaiming the Australian sailors as heroes. The reason the loss of the Sydney rankles so much is that it was considered utterly unthinkable for a commerce raider to sink a major warship let alone a cruiser. Because the entire Sydney crew were lost, there was no explanation of events except for what the crew of the Kormoran could provide and no Australian wanted to hear that an armed raider had done the impossible and sunk a light cruiser that was also the pride of the RAN.
The action occured as follows
Sydney was patrolling the Western Australian coastline, Kormoran was in the region resupplying after attacking merchants in the Indian Ocean. She was reported as a suspicious vessel and Sydney was directed to investigate. The captain of the Kormoran (KorvettenKapitan Detmers) was aware that a RAN warship was in the region and he was keen to avoid a confrontation. Maintaining the disguise as the Dutch freighter Straat Malakka, the Kormoran sent messages to the maritime control office in Perth stating that they were being tailed by a suspicious ship. The maritime control personnel replied that the Dutch had nothing to worry about because it was an Australian warship. Detmers knew it was the Sydney and that he could not outfight her.
Sydney was trying to establish the identity of the Kormoran, she was in the right place with the right look for the Straat Malakka but she could not display the correct Flag Of The Day for identity confirmation. The captain of the Sydney, Captain Burnett, was relatively inexperienced for his command and dithered. His actions cost not only his life, but his ship and, inexcusably, his entire crew. He continued to radio naval command in Perth for information and directions regarding his treatment of the "Dutch" freighter. He was suspicious enough to request further orders but not suspicious enough to maintain proper distance or to cover the Kormoran with Sydney's guns.
Kapitan Detmers realized he could not avoid the Sydney and prepared to bluff his way out of a confrontation. However, Captain Burnett's dithering meant the encounter was stretching out longer than desired and the Sydney was getting closer to the Kormoran all the while. Knowing his ship could not stand up to close range fire from Sydney's guns, Detmers ordered his ship to make ready for combat while Sydney was within 1600 metres. Kormoran crew recall seeing below decks crew from Sydney up on deck to have a look at the "Dutch" ship. They also stated that Sydney did not appear to consider the "Dutch" freighter a threat as many of her guns were unmanned. With the Sydney closing to 1000 metres or so, Detmers order the Kreigsmarine flag to be raised and the gunshields dropped so as to attack the Sydney.
Kormoran's gunners, already having trained many of their guns on critical points of the Sydney, opened fire. In the opening minutes, they hit A & B turrets, the bridge, the combat control centre and the onbord seaplane whose fuel caused a major fire. Kormoran took hits from Sydney's X & Y turrets and sustained major damage but she followed up with a torpedo attack on Sydney which caused serious below waterline damage. Further attacks by both ships were made but the main damage was done. Most of Sydney's command/control staff were dead or injured in the opening minutes. Both ships limped off with Sydney presumed to have sunk through damage while the Kormoran was scuttled.
Before it's even said, I am not playing up the Germans at the expense of the Australians. I am fourth generation Australian, every generation having served in either Colonial military or Federal military forces (all three services). The Germans pulled off something considered impossible, luck certainly had something to do with it. Inexperience and a lack of aggressive action by Burnett also had a lot to do with it but the audacity, skill & luck of the Germans should not be twisted to make them out to be piratical scum because some Australians don't want to accept that they accomplished the unthinkable.