The Sinking of the Lancastria - Softcover

Fenby, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 078671834X ISBN 13: 9780786718344

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2006

Synopsis

On June 17, 1940, just after the Dunkirk evacuation had supposedly ended in success, several thousand of the many British troops still left in France swarmed aboard the five-decked cruise liner Lancastria. Immediately after they boarded, the ship was dive-bombed by the German Luftwaffe, the 17,000-ton Lancastria sank, and hell on earth ensued. German fighter-planes strafed the oil slick sea, setting it ablaze as British troops banded together singing "Roll out the Barrel" in a courageous attempt to protect any sense of hope that still remained. With 4,000 soldiers, women, and children dead — and some estimates as high as 6,000 — the disaster would eclipse that of both the Lusitania and the Titanic. Although the story was picked up in the United States a few weeks later, it was reported only once by any British news outlet, and as the war progressed the tragedy eventually vanished from the public record and the collective memory of a nation under siege. Author Jonathan Fenby argues that this was the result of a shrewd but necessary kibosh put in place by Winston Churchill in order to preserve British morale; Churchill claimed he simply forgot to tell hisadministration they could report the news.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Fenby, a former editor of the Observer, is the author of several books, including the acclaimed On the Brink: The Trouble with France and the critically acclaimed biography Chiang Kai-Shek. He lives in the United Kingdom.

From Booklist

On June 17, 1940, the Lancastria, a former Cunard liner turned into a troopship, sank in the harbor at St-Nazaire, France, after being hit by four bombs dropped from a German plane. On board were more than 6,000 people, mostly soldiers, although some were civilian women and children. At least 3,500 on board were killed. Eight hundred Royal Air Force men died when a bomb hit one of the holds, and another ripped through the ship's hospital. Some of the people in the water went mad. Many choked on the 1,400 tons of oil that poured out of the liner's tanks. Fenby reveals that Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the sinking not to be reported in the press for the time being, but in the rush of events, "he forgot to lift the ban." It was the greatest loss of life in any British maritime disaster, a tragedy that Churchill tried to conceal. The book, based on accounts by survivors and other documents and diaries, is a gripping chronicle of this catastrophe. George Cohen
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About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 078671834X
• ISBN 13: 9780786718344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288