Why did the Wilhelm Gustloff sink?

Just over an hour after the S-13’s torpedoes hit, the Gustloff sunk into the sea. By the next morning, the waters surrounding the Gustloff were filled with bodies, many of them those of children whose lifejackets caused them to float upside down.

Was the Wilhelm Gustloff bigger than the Titanic?

Choose either number, in fact, and the result is the same: even with 1,200 survivors picked up by rescue vessels, the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff was the worst disaster in maritime history, at least four times bigger, in terms of human life, than the sinking of the Titanic.

Was the Wilhelm Gustloff a war crime?

They said the tragedy of Wilhelm Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.” About 1,000 German naval officers and men were aboard and died in the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff.

Was the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff a war crime?

Horrendous as it was, the Gustloff’s destruction was not likely a war crime under the then-applicable laws of armed conflict.

Was the Wilhelm Gustloff found?

Despite the rescue operation, his body was never found. If the DNA tests confirm the body belongs to Szlechta, the other divers will face serious charges. The MV Wilhelm Gustloff, named after the leader of the Swiss National Socialist Party, was launched in 1937.

Was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff a war crime?

By contrast, more than 9,000 died when the Gustloff went down. It remains the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking. Horrendous as it was, the Gustloff’s destruction was not likely a war crime under the then-applicable laws of armed conflict.

Are there still bodies on the Wilhelm Gustloff?

A decomposing body has been discovered off the Baltic cost 40 km from Łeba, in the sunken wreck of WWII transport cruiser the Wilhelm Gustloff. While the body still hasn’t been identified, there is suspicion that it belongs to Robert Szlechta from Poznań, who went missing in 2012.

What did the MV Wilhelm Gustloff do in WW2?

MV Wilhelm Gustloff. She served as a hospital ship in 1939 and 1940. She was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel in Gdynia (Gotenhafen) before being put into service to transport evacuees in 1945.

What caused the Wilhelm Gustloff to sink?

The third torpedo struck the Wilhelm Gustloff amidships, near the engine room. The blast disabled the engines and cut the ship’s power. It also extinguished the lights and silenced the vessel’s communications system. Over the next 90 minutes, the ship sank.

Who was the captain of the German submarine that sank Wilhelm Gustloff?

The sub’s captain, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, was posthumously made a hero of the Soviet Union in 1990 for his role in the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. Image Courtesy WikiCommons. At around 8 p.m. that same evening, Hitler delivered a speech commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Nazi party’s rise to power.

How many people died in the sinking of the Gustloff?

About 1,000 German naval officers and men were aboard during, and died in, the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff. The women on board the ship at the time of the sinking were inaccurately described by Soviet propaganda as “SS personnel from the German concentration camps”.