STORY OF COURAGE AND BRUTALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 177, 27 July 1940, Page 9

STORY OF COURAGE AND BRUTALITY.

LINER SUM.

Nazi 'Planes Machine-gun

Victims In Water.

TROOPS AND CREW HEROIC

L'nitc-J Press Association.—Copyright,

LOXUOX, July 26

"lhe British liner Lancastria, with 5000 troops and a number of civilian refugees, including women and child-

ren, 011 board, was sunk by enetnv 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 weet 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 German bombers swoopccl down 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 half an hour before they scored hits. A heavy list hampered the launching of the lifeboats. The Germans machine-gunned the lifeboats and rafts on which the troops were endeavouring to escape. Aerial Torpedoes Hit Vessel. 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. 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 ot|ier survivors. Thoy 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 sur Ivors 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 some men slid into the sea by ropes, and others leapt overboard. One of the 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." Explosion in Ship's Hospital. An army cook said he saw a eoklier seize a young girl, both of whose legs were broken, and swim with her. Both were picked up, but the girl died on the rescue ship. A member of tiie crew described how a soldier, blinded by the first explosion, was led to the ship's hospital, where a second explosion killed a'l who were there, including the doctor.

A survivor Mho was flung into the sea when the Lancastria lurched said the water was an almost solid mass of men, clinging together like fliee 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." Ono 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 vho was seen swimming about the harbour giving all the help he could to other victims, particularly children.