[Adrian Roberts]

I have just been watching a DVD that one of my Australian contacts sent me, of a programme aired on Australian TV about the loss and discovery of HMAS Sydney. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Sydney survivors were machine-gunned in their lifeboats by the Kormoran's crew. What the submersible cameras found was that the lifeboats were all still aboard Sydney, the theory being that she had sunk very rapidly when the bow snapped off in heavy seas after being weakened by the torpedo strike several hours earlier, and there was no time to launch any boats.

I clicked on the link to find where this article was from, and was not surprised to find it was from the Guardian: a source that will jump aboard any sensationalists attempt to make fighting men seem less than honourable.