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THE FORGOTTEN TRADEGY THE STORY OF THE SINKING OF HMT LANCASTRIA Brian J Crabb This well-illustrated
volume is not aimed at an academic readership but rather at the survivors
of this tragedy, their families and friends, and the relations of the
many who perished when this liner was sunk. Thus it is a form of memorial
to that loss and a labour of love on the part of the The story is soon told. In June 1940, as part of the withdrawal from France in the face of the invading German army, the Cunard White Star liner, Lancastria was sent to Charpentier Roads, just outside the port of St Nazaire, to embark soldiers and airmen and bring them back to Britain. While anchored there and virtually fully laden with troops a German JU88 bomber scored several hits on the Lancastria, including one bomb down the funnel and a couple in the holds. As a result the liner rolled over onto her port side and sank in about twenty minutes. The precise number who died cannot be known. The ship was carrying about 6000 people and at least 2000 are known to have perished, but given the circumstances accuracy is impossible. What is certain is that this incident rates as the worst ever maritime disaster to take place to a British merchant ship in the Second World War, indeed 'the worst disaster in Britain's maritime history'. This tragedy has never been written up properly and
Crabb's book although not the first volume devoted to this topic is the
most comprehensive. It is a combination of narrative from the author and
statements from the survivors, some of which have appeared in print before,
but this is the first time that all the data has been gathered together
in one place. The book, as befits a tribute to the memory of heroism and
courage as well as disaster, has a roll of honour of all those who are
known to have lost their lives in the calamity, a listing of all honours
awarded The book is very successful, in that it achieves what it set out to do, namely to provide in one volume all that is recorded and remembered about this terrible loss. Its target audience should be pleased with its comprehensiveness, sensitivity, and attention to detail. It is a fitting memorial to those who lost their lives and testimony to the acts of bravery, defiance and endurance which occurred. The eye-witness and participant statements give the text an immediacy and vividness. It is also important to stress that although this was the worst disaster to occur to a British merchant ship in the Second World War, it was not the worst of the war. That unhappy distinction goes to a number of German ships which were sunk in 1945, sustaining casualty figures two or three times those of the Lancastria. These tragedies included the loss of the Goya, Cap Arcona and Wilhelm Gustloff. Crabb acknowledges these in an appendix but it might have been stressed in the text itself. It, of course, in no way lessens the tragedy, but puts this case study in a wider context. Are there other wider lessons to be learnt from this event? The glaring one is how vulnerable ships were to air attack and how essential it was to have air cover. The second is the need for easily launched rafts and adequate numbers of life-belts or jackets and the third was the danger involved with carrying large quantities of fuel oil. Nothing could be done about any of these in the short run and, given the speed and magnitude of the German attack, risks were taken to bring the British troops home. © NMM London Book details: 293 pages, 87 illustrations, hardback £19.95 JMR, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10
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