WOMEN & CHILDREN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1940, Page 6

WOMEN & CHILDREN

MACHINE=GUNNED BY NAZI U=BOAT WHILE STRUGGLING IN WATER. FEW SURVIVORS FROM ABUKIR. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) RUGBY. June G. Details of Nazi machine-gunning of men, women and children struggling in the water were told by one of the very few survivors from the steamship Abukir, which was torpedoed about half and hour after leaving Ostend on May 27, with about two , hundred passengers, including a large number of refugees, of whom 40 to 50 were women and some children. While in Ostend, the ship had been subjected to continual bombing without being hit. These attacks continued until she was some way out at sea when they suddenly ceased. Those aboard thought they were clear of danger, but in fact the Abukir had reached an area in which a U-boat was operating. Two torpedoes were fired, bit' both missed. A little later the submarine was seen on the surface and the Abukir's captain tried to ram her. but the ship’s speed was only eight knots and was too slow. The U-boat fired two more torpedoes, one striking the Abukir amidships. She broke in two and sank in less than a minute. The second officer was carried down with the ship, but was released by her list when she settled on the sea bottom. When he reached the surface, he found the sea swept by a searchlight and immediately a machine-gun started firing at the helpless people struggling in the water. A few of these managed to cling to a large piece of. wreckage, among them a French and a Belgian girl. This handful constitutes the sole survivors, picked up by a British destroyer about six hours later.