A Samaritan at Sea

In September 1942 a British troopship RMS Laconia was en route from Cape Town to Britain carrying 2,700 people. There were approximately 80 British women and children, 136- man crew, 103 Free Poles and 268 British soldiers guarding 1,800 Italian POWs. It was spotted by a German U- boat and torpedoed and The Laconia sank.

When the U-boat Commander Werner Hartenstein realised there were POWs and civilians on board facing certain death, he went against the order of the Nazi high command and determined to save as many of the survivors as possible. The submarine surfaced and took on board some 200 people and towed another 200 in four life boats – daisy chain fashion, and gave help to about 20 lifeboats and small rafts surrounding the U-boat.

They displayed a makeshift Red Cross flag and sent a message to the Allies to organise a rescue of the survivors. The British Commander in Sierra Leone informed the Americans to look for Laconia survivors but forbore to tell then of the U- boat’s rescue. Three days later they were spotted by a rookie crew of an American Liberator and were attacked.

Reluctantly Hartenstein had to abandon the life-boats and resume the normal activities of a hunting submarine. The German Admiral Doenitz sent a Vichy ship to pick up survivors and issued the Laconia Order to U-boat commanders not to rescue survivors in future. One lifeboat eventually reached the coast of West Africa and a British Merchant seaman injured in the American attack remained with the U-boat until it reached port where he was imprisoned as a POW.

Doenitz awarded Hartenstein an Iron Cross and offered him a desk job but Hartenstein preferred to stay with his men. Later his U- boat U- 156 was sunk with no survivors.

Last week I watched over two nights Alan Bleasdale’s dramatised version of this incident. As the characters came to life there were echoes of The Titanic. The story was told from the point of view of the U-boat’s crew and the passengers on the Laconia. I believe it was an Anglo German production so it was fairly even handed and was well acted by stalwarts such as Brian Cox and Andrew Buchan.

I was held because of the history of it but it was long winded. The camera man lovingly explored every inch of the German Commander’s face and also of the actress who played the mysterious German passenger. On the final night there was a programme interviewing six of the original survivors

‘We were torpedoed at 20.07 hours and sank at 20.45,’ one of them said

‘The Italians didn’t really want to be in the war.’ This was the general impression back in the forties.

Josephine Pratchet said her parents were at a dance on board and she and her brother were playing draughts. After the first torpedo hit there was a deathly silence and all the lights went out. Someone was buying a bar of chocolate and the rating insisted on writing down the details: ‘The accounts have to be right.’

Their father threw life –jackets at them and they ran to the station - they had been well drilled.

The Italians were locked in the hold and as they tried to escape they were fired on by the Polish soldiers.

There was blind panic – the boats were inadequate. One woman put her son in a boat and shouted,

‘Don’t worry I’ll see you later.’ but the rope snapped and the boy didn’t survive.

People in the water tried to get in the overloaded boats and were beaten off with oars.

Some went down with the boat and then when the boilers exploded were blown clear. Some Italians were shot trying to get on the boats.

In the morning there was no ship and hundreds of dead floating n the water. One survivor remembered a dead girl with her long blonde hair floating around her and a dead woman still wearing her hat. They were astonished and frightened when the U-boat appeared with machine guns but the captain spoke to them in perfect English and said all women and children would be rescued. He wore a battered white hat and had a ginger beard. They were given sustenance and the crew were very kind to them giving chocolate to the children.

‘Let’s hope nobody depth charges us whilst we’re on the U-boat,’ said one.

A 100 people were killed by the bombs dropped by the Liberator and when the U-boat resumed its duties-

‘He went down slowly so as not to rock the boats. A very thoughtful German.’

Back in the lifeboats they were rationed to 1 tab of water in the morning and 2 tabs in the evening. Some resorted to drinking their urine and at least one drank sea- water, went berserk and had to be put overboard. People started to die in the boats and they were gently put overboard and a prayer said but eventually they were just put overboard. Gradually they got weaker and just sat gazing into the distance. After 5 ½ days a battle cruiser hove in sight and they cried,

‘We’re going to be rescued.’ A rope ladder was put over the side for them to climb but none of them had the strength and had to be hoisted on board. As they saw the lifeboat drifting away they felt joyful.

When they heard in 1943 that the U-boat with Captain Hartenstein and crew had been attacked with no survivors, one said:

‘I was sorry in a way because he was a very nice man.’

These programmes can be seen on BBC2 iplayer.