The Soviets and the largest naval crime known in history “claimed the lives of more than 9,400 Germans”

The attack on the civilian ship Wilhelm Gustloff killed at least 9,400 Germans

Late in World War II, Germany went through one of the bloodiest periods since the declaration of German unity on January 18, 1871, in the midst of the Franco-Prussian War. In addition to the intense Soviet artillery bombardment of German areas and the high casualties on the battlefronts, the Allies used incendiary bombs to destroy German industrial cities such as Dresden, which burned in February 1945, coinciding with the killing of more than 30,000 residents.

By sea, German ships, even civilian ones, were turned into a legitimate target for the Soviet Navy. In addition to the ship Goya, which sank in mid-April 1945, during the same year Soviet submarines targeted the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff, causing the worst naval disaster in human history.

Wilhelm Gustloff

In addition, the ship Wilhelm Gustloff appeared to the world on May 5, 1937 in Hamburg, Germany. This 25 million Reichsmark was designed to commemorate the assassinated Swiss Nazi Party leader Wilhelm Gustloff, who was assassinated in Davos in 1936.

Based on designs for that period, Wilhelm Gustloff represented one of Germany's largest civilian ships, with a length of 208 meters and an estimated Its width is about 24 meters, as the latter was designed at the time to carry about 1,865 passengers on board.

In the late 1930s, the ship Wilhelm Gustloff commanded many civilian voyages. With the outbreak of World War II, the latter was transformed into a hospital ship used to transport the wounded in the military campaign on Norway, before it was later converted into a floating military barracks.

9400 victims

At the beginning of 1945, most Germans lost confidence in their military leaders and were certain of defeat in the war. As the Soviet forces continued to advance on the Eastern Front, a huge number of Germans fled from East Prussia, fearing reprisals from the Red Army against them. In late January 1945, a large number of German refugees, wounded and soldiers boarded the Wilhelm Gustloff ship, hoping to reach Hamburg before the advent of the Soviets.

While Wilhelm Gustloff was designated to receive only 1,865 passengers, on January 30, 1945, more than 10,000 Germans boarded this ship, which tried to stow away across the North Sea full of Soviet submarines.

During the night, the captain of the ship, Wilhelm Gustloff, ordered the lights to turn on after he heard news of a number of naval minesweepers in the area. Through this, the latter tried to send a kind of warning signal to avoid the collision of his ship with other ships that might be sailing in the area. Unfortunately for Wilhelm Gustloff's passengers, the Soviet submarine S13 was on the scene.

Simultaneously noting the movement of the German ship, the captain of the Soviet submarine Alexander Marinesko ordered the preparation of 4 torpedoes, named in succession for the Fatherland, for Stalin, for the People, and for Leningrad, to target Wilhelm Gustloff.

In addition, the German ship, which lacked sufficient armor as a civilian ship, was directly hit, with at least two torpedoes piercing its armor and exploding in the engine room.

In less than an hour, the ship Wilhelm Gustloff sank to the bottom, taking with it thousands of people who found themselves stranded in cold water during a night when the temperature reached minus 15 degrees.

According to estimates, at least 9,400 Germans, most of them civilians, died during this incident, which turned into the worst maritime disaster in human history.