Attacks on Red Cross Aircraft
Operated by the Luftwaffe
It would be apparent and obvious that German
aircraft would be shot down over both the North Sea and the English Channel
and the Luftwaffe were quite within their rights to provide a search and
rescue service to assist downed aircrew that had been shot down over water
and were in need of rescue and be taken back to Germany.
This rescue service was inaugurated during
the early part of the war and the Luftwaffe used Heinkel He59 and Dornier
Do18 float planes for this purpose. The operated from bases in Norway,
Denmark, Belgium and all along the French coast. According to RAF intelligence,
these aircraft, painted white with numerous red crosses painted on them,
often carried armament and were observed shadowing or being used for the
purpose of observation in guiding formations of bombers to shipping targets.
On a number of occasions these search and rescue aircraft were observed
circling above a number of British convoys for no apparent reason. The
RAF was forced to issue the following communiqué:
Enemy aircraft
bearing civil markings and marked with the Red Cross have recently flown
over British ships at sea and in the vicinity of the British coast, and
they are being employed for purposes which His Majesty's Government cannot
regard as being consistent with the privileges generally accorded to the
Red Cross.
His Majesty's Government
desire to accord to ambulance aircraft reasonable facilities for the transportation
of the sick and wounded, in accordance with the Red Cross Convention, and
aircraft engaged in the direct evacuation of the sick and wounded will
be respected, provided that they comply with the relevant provisions of
the Convention.
His Majesty's Government
are unable, however, to grant immunity to such aircraft flying over areas
in which operations are in progress on land or at sea, or approaching British
or Allied territory, or territory in British occupation, or British or
Allied ships.
Ambulance aircraft
which do not comply with the above requirements will do so at their own
risk and peril.
Communiqué
issued by the Royal Air Force July 14th 1940
When the RAF realized that
the German search and rescue aircraft were posing a threat to allied shipping
convoys and the armament carried was for the purpose of attack and not
purely for defence, it issued orders that such aircraft would be shot down.
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