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Old 01-20-2009, 02:47 PM
 
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This month marks the 64th anniversary of a little-noted but greatest maritime disaster in history. On the bitter, cold day of January 30, 1945, the German transport Wilhelm Gustloff left port from East Prussia with 10,582 crew and evacuees on a ship that was designed to carry 1865 people.

The reason for the overloading was the anxious evacuation of civilians ahead of the rapid advance of the Red Army in which, seemingly, anyone -- men, women and children-- caught in its path became a victim. It was the most barbaric onslaught Europe had experienced since the Mongol invasion. Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a soldier in the Red Army, later noted, in narrative and poem, the terrible atrocities that he had witnessed.

As the Wilhelm Gustloff entered the Baltic Sea, it was detected and followed by a Soviet submarine, the S13, captained by Alexander Marinesko. About 13 miles off the Pomeranian coast, three torpedoes struck the Wilhelm Gustloff. Seventy minutes after the first torpedo hit, the overloaded ship sank beneath the frigid waters of the Baltic, carrying 9,343 people to an icy grave. Amazingly, 1239 people were saved by a German torpedo boat and three minesweepers. To this day, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff stands as one of the least known and deadliest maritime disasters in history.

Note: a detailed account of the Wilhelm Gustloff story can be read on the following website:
A Memorial To The Wilhelm Gustloff
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Old 01-20-2009, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Aloverton
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Walmsley View Post
The reason for the overloading was the anxious evacuation of civilians ahead of the rapid advance of the Red Army in which, seemingly, anyone -- men, women and children-- caught in its path became a victim. It was the most barbaric onslaught Europe had experienced since the Mongol invasion. Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a soldier in the Red Army, later noted, in narrative and poem, the terrible atrocities that he had witnessed.
Or it might be considered the most barbaric onslaught since the Nazi invasion of the USSR 3 1/2 years before. Not meaning to nitpick your great historical note, just thought I'd mention that there had been a pretty barbaric invasion rather more recently.
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Old 01-21-2009, 08:35 AM
 
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Originally Posted by j_k_k View Post
Or it might be considered the most barbaric onslaught since the Nazi invasion of the USSR 3 1/2 years before. Not meaning to nitpick your great historical note, just thought I'd mention that there had been a pretty barbaric invasion rather more recently.
j_k_k,

Thanks for your well-taken comment. On reflection, I tend to agree with you. It was a commentary that I could have better omitted. Just prior to posting the note on the Wilhelm Gustloff, I had read an account of the ferocity of the Red Army's drive across East Prussia. The horrors visited upon the populace beggar description, where many, especially women, chose suicide rather than a fate worse than death. Men and boys didn't fare much better.

This is not to say that the Germans didn't inflict monstrous crimes on the Soviet Union. The terrible privation at the siege of Leningrad and the crimes committed against ethnic groups in the Crimea and elsewhere are facts of history. However, I can't recall reading, in modern history, where there was such a breakdown in military discipline as occurred as the Red Army swept across East Prussia. On the way, many thousands of revenge-minded former prisoners were pressed into the Red Army, without any thought to their suitability for service. As Mahatma Gandhi so well said, "An eye for eye makes the whole world blind."
John
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Old 01-21-2009, 08:41 AM
 
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This was part of a larger effort of the time to rescue POW's, wounded and civilians from the Baltic ports. Other ships carrying refugees were also sunk from mines and torpedo attacks. The operation cost over 15,000 lives in total, but over a million people were saved. It was the largest sea migration of people in such a short span of time in recorded history.
Not much is known, written or remembered about the Baltic during WW1 and WW2, but it is a facinating region to study. "The Baltic..A New History of the Region and Its People" by Alan Palmer is an excellent,and recent book. This is my second time reading it!!
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Old 01-21-2009, 10:42 AM
 
Location: Aloverton
6,560 posts, read 14,395,303 times
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Originally Posted by John Walmsley View Post
This is not to say that the Germans didn't inflict monstrous crimes on the Soviet Union. The terrible privation at the siege of Leningrad and the crimes committed against ethnic groups in the Crimea and elsewhere are facts of history. However, I can't recall reading, in modern history, where there was such a breakdown in military discipline as occurred as the Red Army swept across East Prussia. On the way, many thousands of revenge-minded former prisoners were pressed into the Red Army, without any thought to their suitability for service. As Mahatma Gandhi so well said, "An eye for eye makes the whole world blind."
I would agree that during the previous Nazi invasion it wasn't a similar breakdown in military discipline; however, that unfortunately made it worse, because it was actually well-functioning military discipline as envisioned by the SS. At least without military discipline the atrocities are less efficient, and simply a function of the individual soldier's mood. My thinking is that you get a lot less lurid photos (e.g. Nemmersdorf) but a lot more serious brutality when you have an organized effort (e.g. Warsaw Ghetto).

The regular Heer wasn't generally inclined toward inhumanity, but at times it was forced into it; in most rear areas, the organized war against 'slavic subhumans' was under way some miles behind the front's advance. As the Soviets had earlier had Katyn, the Germans had Babi Yar...except that they had a lot of Babi Yars, and an organized military campaign of systematic slaughter.

An example of a situation in between the two seems to be Nanjing. I am still not certain whether that was more of a breakdown of military discipline (like the Red Army's onslaught) or a deliberate loosening of the leash (sort of like what happened anywhere the Dirlewanger Brigade went), or something in between.

You are very right, in any case, about the maritime disaster being one of the least known huge ones in history. I have done a lot of writing recently about maritime disasters, and I think someone else caught that topic, but I am positive it will be covered in the book.
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