A. V. Sellwood

The worst disaster ever took place in 1945 in the Baltic Sea just twelve miles off the coast of Germany. The German cruise ship, Wilhelm Gustloff had been ordered to take evacuees from the port of Danzig. The thousand-year Reich was collapsing some 980 years ahead of schedule as the Russians moved east with ferocious speed. The port of Danzig had become crossroads attracting refugees fleeing the Russian menace. The ship was unprepared for such an influx of passengers.

She had been converted to a military hospital/floating barracks/ U-boat training ship and had been moored for several years. The engines needed work, and virtually all of the lifeboats had been stripped for duty on other ships. The captain did what he could to obtain several open whaleboats, but the area they were to sail into was filled with mines, enemy aircraft and submarines. It was a sub: marine that was to initiate the tragedy The ship, only twelve miles from land – it might as well have been a thousand given the conditions – was hit by three Russian torpedoes. There were lifeboats for barely one-third of the 6,000 passengers. The weather was horrible, and it had been only by the most bizarre chance that the Russian captain had seen them. Atmospheric interference had also hindered their reception of the submarine warnings. Panic erupted almost immediately, and the captain was forced to issue shoot-to-kill warnings if anyone rushed the boats. Those boats that managed to get away without spilling their contents were found to be devoid of oars – it had been an administrative oversight.

The captain of the battleship Hipper, when he realized what had happened, violated all rules of common sense by turning back to help. Putting his ship in great danger, he lit up the area with searchlights, but the huge ship's sides made rescue virtually impossible despite heroic efforts by his crew. They were running down more boats and survivors than they could save, so he was forced to abandon the area.

… (mer)