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While Galway was caring for some of the survivors of the SS Athenia, torpedoed off the Donegal coast on September 3 1939, America, Britain and Canada unleashed a vitriolic attack on Germany for sinking a passenger ship. Included among her 1,418 passengers and crew were more than 300 Americans. A total of 117 people were killed, some unfortunately as they were being lifted from the sea by the rescue boats including the Knute Nelson (which had brought 430 survivors into Galway), and three British warships, the HMS Electra, HMS Fame and the HMS Escort, which had rushed to the scene. Among the dead were 28 American citizens.
Hitler was caught off guard. He did not want an argument with America on the opening days of the war. Even though both Britain and France had declared war on Germany the morning of September 3, just hours before the Athenia was sunk, he still hoped for a diplomatic solution. He wanted a softly softly approach to the war on its opening phase. He believed that even at this late stage, he might yet be able to persuade the Western Powers to accept German sovereignty in Europe, just as the British had established colonies in Asia. If he was successful, and he was a master at persuasion, then his invasion of Poland would have been gained at a low price. To that end he had issued strict orders that only enemy warships could be attacked. Merchant ships had to be stopped and searched, the crew put safely in lifeboats before the ship could be fired upon. And under no circumstances could passenger ships be sunk.
http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/43903/the-man-who-sank-the-ss-athenia-
Hitler was caught off guard. He did not want an argument with America on the opening days of the war. Even though both Britain and France had declared war on Germany the morning of September 3, just hours before the Athenia was sunk, he still hoped for a diplomatic solution. He wanted a softly softly approach to the war on its opening phase. He believed that even at this late stage, he might yet be able to persuade the Western Powers to accept German sovereignty in Europe, just as the British had established colonies in Asia. If he was successful, and he was a master at persuasion, then his invasion of Poland would have been gained at a low price. To that end he had issued strict orders that only enemy warships could be attacked. Merchant ships had to be stopped and searched, the crew put safely in lifeboats before the ship could be fired upon. And under no circumstances could passenger ships be sunk.
http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/43903/the-man-who-sank-the-ss-athenia-