Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

80 years ago, the Germans sank the British liner “Lancaster”

On June 17, 1940, a German bomber sank the Lancaster aircraft, evacuating British military and civilians from France. About 9 thousand people were on board the ship, up to 6.5 thousand became victims of the tragedy. This disaster is considered one of the largest in maritime history. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

The British company Cunard Line, the operator of passenger transportation across the Atlantic, lost several ocean liners in two world wars due to German attacks. On May 7, 1915, the U-20 submarine torpedoed the Lusitani turbo ship off the coast of Ireland. The ship sank within 18 minutes. 1198 people out of 1958 were killed on board. The treacherous attack on the peace ship set the public opinion of many countries against Germany and ultimately contributed to the entry of the United States into the First World War. A similar story happened on June 17, 1940 with the Lancastria liner, which, after the start of World War II, was used as a transport for troop transfer. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

In late May – early June this year, British and French troops were defeated in the battle for Dunkirk.

The military failure resulted in Operation Dynamo evacuating the Allied armies by sea to Great Britain. In total, about 338 thousand soldiers were transported across the English Channel and the Pas de Calais, although initially the Admiralty planned to save no more than 45 thousand sol Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster diers and officers. To increase the efficiency of evacuation, civilian and private vessels were mobilized.

At the same time, the British Navy suffered heavy losses. At the end of May, German torpedo boats sank the destroyer Wakeful, and the destroyer Grafton, who came to the aid of it, fell a victim of the U-62 submarine. The French destroyer Burrask was blown up by a minefield. The total losses of the Royal Navy amounted to 71 of the 720 ships involved in the operation. Nevertheless, it is believed that the English sailors successfully coped with the difficult mission assigned to them. The Allies managed to save human resources, which in the future predetermined the defeat of the Third Reich. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

Apart from the losses of the British Navy is the death of a large transport “Lancaster”. A tragedy with a huge number of casualties occurred when the liner took out English soldiers from the port city of Saint-Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire on the west coast of France in Brittany. On that day, the French government of the defeatists, led by Marshal Henri Petain, asked Germany for a truce. Paris was already taken by the Wehrmacht forces, until the complete surrender of France was five days. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

The British were shocked by this news. The English units, which had not yet had time to evacuate from the mainland, urgently needed to be relocated to their homeland: after Peten’s statement, they found themselves in a difficult situation.

By the morning of June 17, out of a total of 124 thousand British troops while in France, 57 thousand were able to get out of there. A large-scale naval operation was launched.

According to current estimates, which historian Anthony Bivor cites in his book World War II , the Cunard Line Lancaster passenger liner took on board more than 6,000 people. Soldiers and officers were 4.5 thousand of them 200 – crew members. The rest are civilians: the staff of the British Embassy and employees of commercial enterprises. The exact number of those on the “Lancaster” is unknown. Moreover, according to other researchers, the total number of evacuated could reach even 9 thousand. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

A giant liner has plowed the oceans since June 19, 1922. In peacetime, he was able to take on board 2180 passengers of three classes and 330 crew members and was originally called the Tirrenia, but was renamed Lancaster at the request of the regular transatlantic voyages. Until 1932, the ship carried out regular flights from Liverpool to New York, and later acquired a cruise specialization, traveled along the Mediterranean Sea and along Northern Europe.

On October 10 of that year, Lancaster saved the crew of the Belgian cargo ship SS Scheldestad, which was in distress in the Bay of Biscay. The outbreak of World War II caught a ship in the Bahamas. By decision of the British government, the ship was requisitioned for military purposes. Unnecessary parts were removed from it by adding guns and repainted in gray color under an armadillo. In the early months of the war, Lancastria transported people and goods between Canada and the United Kingdom. In April 1940, the liner participated in Operation Alphabet to evacuate Allied forces from Norway. On the way back, the Lancasteria was bombarded. However, she managed to avoid serious damage. This instilled in the command confidence in the reliability of the ship before enemy attacks.

During the June evacuation of Lancaster, “was supposed to accompany the ship” Franconia “. However, on the way from Lorient, he received serious damage as a result of an air raid and urgently went to England for repairs. “Lancaster” had to go on the route alone. The ship arrived in Saint-Nazaire late in the evening on June 16, 1940. Due to the nature of the local port, he had to anchor about 8 km southwest of the city. About 30 merchant ships of all sizes were also on the roadstead. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

Early in the morning, representatives of the fleet boarded the Lancasteria to assess the cargo capabilities of the ship. Captain Rudolf Sharp said that he was already carrying 2653 people from Norway, so he could take on board a maximum of 3 thousand passengers. In response, he was asked to take as many people from France as possible “without taking into account the limitations of international law.” For several hours, destroyers, tugboats and fishing boats were transported to the Lancasteria and other large military and civilian vessels. Periodically, they became the target of German aviation.

By noon, the liner was jammed to the eyeballs. People took all available places, including cargo holds.

One of the officers participating in the operation called the figure of 7.2 thousand people. Captain Sharp estimated the number of people at 5.5 thousand.

Subsequent events showed how risky the use of large vessels in the area of ​​operations of enemy aircraft is. German bomber Junkers Ju 88 attacked the Lancaster at 15:50. Three or four bombs hit the ship. Within 15-20 minutes he sank 17 km from Saint-Nazaire. Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

When the liner began to roll to the starboard side, people ran to the opposite side in the hope of restoring balance. It did not help. “Lancasteria” had 16 boats and 2.5 thousand life jackets. However, due to damage to the hull, many boats could not be launched. Women and children were put in the first boat. When loading, she turned over, so I had to remove the second from the deck. Jumping overboard men died when they hit the ship’s hull or broke their necks on life jackets when they fell into the water.

When the Lancaster began to roll over, several people managed to climb onto the bottom of the ship. In the last minutes of their lives, they sang “Roll Out the Barrel” and “There’ll Always Be an England”. The liner finally disappeared under water at 16:12. There was practically no time for a rescue operation involving other vessels. Many passengers caught in the water drowned due to lack of vests, died of hypothermia or suffocated from fuel oil.

German Junkers shot machine guns floundering at sea.

A little later, the British and American ships that came to the disaster area took the survivors. 2477 people were saved. About 100 of them were alive as of 2011. Many families did not recognize the circumstances of the death of their relatives. The fact of the death of 1738 passengers of “Lancaster” was precisely established. It is believed that from 3 to 5.8 thousand people could become victims. There are historians who give an even more impressive figure – 6.5 thousand. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill forbade the publication of information about the incident with Lancasteria, stating that “scary stories are already enough for newspapers today.” Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster

According to one version, the death of “Lancaster” is the largest sea disaster in the history of Great Britain in terms of the number of victims, exceeding the scale of the collapse of the “Titanic” and “Lusitania” combined. Captain Sharp survived and later commanded the Laconia ship. September 12, 1942 he died with the ship after the attack of a German submarine U-156 off the coast of West Africa.

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Terrible plot how the Germans sank Lancaster
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