5000 ON BOARD

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 7

5000 ON BOARD

MORE NAZI CALLOUSNESS SCENES OF HEROISM (United Free* Aesn— E>ec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, July 26 The British liner Lancastrim, of 16,243 tons, with 6000 troops and a number of civilian refugees, including women and children, on board, was sunk by enemy action on June 17, according to details now made public. It is known that there were 2477 | survivors, and it is possible that others were wounded, swam ashore and became prisoners. The sinking occurred at Saint Nazaire, on the west coast of France, during the evacuation from the Continent. The Lancastria, which was at anchor at the time, had just completed the embarkation of personnel when I German bombers swooped down I and dropped aerial torpedoes. She sank within half an hour of | being hit. British warships and ! tugs picked up some survivors and transferred them to another transport. The German aeroplanes had ineffectually bombed the liner for halt an hour before they scored hits. A heavy list hampered the launching ot the lifeboats. The Germans machinegunned the lifeboats and rafts on which the troops were endeavouring to escape. Three aerial torpedoes found their mark, one going directly down the funnel and exploding in the boiler room. Five hundred men were blown through the side of the ship. Last To Leave Ship The master, Captain R. Sharp, was the last to leave the ship, which went down as he was going over the side. The ship’s surgeon rescued the captain. In the meantime the Germans were machine-gunning the other survivors. They killed everyone on one large raft. The majority of the survivors were picked up by small craft which were ferrying other personnel from the docks to troopships. Some survivors swam ashore.

The survivors all paid tribute to the magnificent courage of the troops and crew. The soldiers sang “Roll Out the Barrel” and “There’ll Always be an England” as the ship went down. Two Church Army sisters rushed to the deck when the order rang out, “Women and children first!” They jumped into a lifeboat, while soma men slid into the sea by ropes, and others leapt overboard. One of th# sisters said: “As the German aeroplanes swept down we saw bullets spurting in the water where the men were swimming for their lives. When our boat was moving away some soldiers watching from a porthole saw that we were wearing lifebelts and cried, ‘Give us a chance.’ We took off our belts and flung them into the sea, into which the soldiers then jumped. Royal Air Force aeroplanes arrived and also dropped lifebelts. “Two old Belgians and a little boy were in the water. The child was praying while the others encouraged him to keep afloat. They were saved. A French trawler picked us | up. Mass of Men in Water An army cook said he saw a soldier seize a young girl, both of whose leg 5 were broken, and swim with her. Both were picked up, but the girl died on the rescue ship. A member of the crew described how a soldier, blinded by the first explosion, was led to the ship’s hospital, where a second explosion killed all who were there, including the doctor. A survivor who was flung into the sea when the Lancastria lurched said the water was an almost solid mass of men, clinging together like flies and covered with thick black oil. “It was every man for himself,” he added. “Overhead three aeroplanes continually swooped, bombing and machine-gunning the men struggling in the water, some of whom had been horribly burned by the explosion.” One survivor describes two “unforgettable” incidents. When the ship was already sinking the chief engineer ordered all his men on deck and then went down below to turn off the steam. The other incident concerned an army sergeant who was seen swimming about the harbour giving all the help he could to other victims, particularly children.