Poppo
In the Cooler
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2012
- Messages
- 3,457
Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, but it was not the only maritime disaster and not the worst. In 1945, 10,000 men, women and children died on board the Wilhelm Gustloff, set sail from Gdynia, in occupied Poland, and headed to Kiel, northern Germany, but attacked by the Russian submarine in the Baltic Sea.
It sank in less than 40 minutes, bringing down 9343 people, including 5,000 children. Six times the victims of the Titanic. They had escaped from the Russian advance in the operation Hannibal, the name of the evacuation of soldiers, Gestapo agents and many civilians. All died in the explosion, drowned or frozen.
The ship was built by Hitler not for military purposes: first it served as a cruise ship for the middle class Germans, then to transport the reinforcement troops to Franco during the Spanish Civil War, and was finally used as a hospital on the water. In 1938 it had also been used as a floating seat for the Austrian referendum on reunification with Germany.
In 1945 it was equipped with weapons but they were frozen and unusable (as well as sensors and lifebuoys), so it could not counterattack when the Russian submarine centered it with torpedoes. To this was added the disagreement about what to do between the four captains at the head of the liner. They were saved in 900, including a baby. The Gustloff still lies in the depths of the Baltic sea.
It sank in less than 40 minutes, bringing down 9343 people, including 5,000 children. Six times the victims of the Titanic. They had escaped from the Russian advance in the operation Hannibal, the name of the evacuation of soldiers, Gestapo agents and many civilians. All died in the explosion, drowned or frozen.
The ship was built by Hitler not for military purposes: first it served as a cruise ship for the middle class Germans, then to transport the reinforcement troops to Franco during the Spanish Civil War, and was finally used as a hospital on the water. In 1938 it had also been used as a floating seat for the Austrian referendum on reunification with Germany.
In 1945 it was equipped with weapons but they were frozen and unusable (as well as sensors and lifebuoys), so it could not counterattack when the Russian submarine centered it with torpedoes. To this was added the disagreement about what to do between the four captains at the head of the liner. They were saved in 900, including a baby. The Gustloff still lies in the depths of the Baltic sea.
