In re Eck and Others (The Peleus)

On March 13–14, 1944, German commander Heinz Eck (defendant) and his four subordinate crew members (defendants) were aboard a submarine and torpedoed the Peleus, an Allied merchant ship. Survivors of the Peleus escaped the demolished ship using life rafts. Under Eck’s commands, his crew used a machine gun and grenades to severely injure and kill the Peleus survivors floating in the water. Only three survived and were rescued after 25 days at sea in the life rafts. Eck and his crew members were charged with wrongfully killing the survivors. Eck did not dispute that he issued orders to his crew to kill the survivors. One crew member shot at the survivors even though admitting that he did not agree with Eck’s orders. At trial, a medical officer aboard the submarine admitted that he was aware of German Navy regulations forbidding medical officers from using weapons for offensive purposes. Nonetheless, the medical officer opened fire on the survivors in response to Eck’s order. An engineering officer responded to Eck that he disagreed with the orders to kill before taking over firing the machine gun from a crew member and firing at the survivors. As a defense, Eck’s crew asserted that they were merely acting upon the orders of their superior, Eck. Eck himself argued that his orders to kill the survivors were not given out of mere brutality or malice but were necessary to eliminate the existence of the Peleus and to ensure protection of his submarine and crew.