A Brief History
On May 3, 1945, five squadrons of Hawker Typhoon fighter aircraft attacked three ships in Lubeck Bay, Northern Germany and sunk all three. The ships were prisoner ships carrying thousands of inmates from concentration camps.
Digging Deeper
The ocean liners Cap Arcona and Deutschland and a smaller companion ship, Thielbeck attempted to leave Lubeck.
The destination for the 3 ships is a contended point, with some claiming the ships were headed for Sweden, while other claim they were to be sunk after the crews and SS guards got off the ships. Either way, several other passenger carrying ships with civilians or prisoners on board had been sunk late in the war with terrific loss of life. The captain of the Cap Arcona was only too aware of the danger, and he shot himself on February 20, 1945 rather than make another run while the Reich collapsed.
British troops had entered Lubeck and were informed that the 3 ships in the bay were carrying prisoners. For some reason, that information was never passed on to higher command, and the RAF targeted the ships thinking they were carrying SS and Nazi officials to Norway or Sweden to avoid capture. Cracked fact: On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler had committed suicide and the war was clearly over. In fact, the German surrender came on May 7, 1945.
In spite of the impending end of the war, the RAF sent their latest fighter bombers, the Hawker Typhoons, armed with 20 mm cannons, 60 lb rockets and 500 lb bombs to attack the ships. All three ships were sunk, with thousands of people going into the cold water. Incredibly, the fighter planes began strafing the survivors, shooting them up as they tried to swim to safety. Apparently this act was not spontaneous, but part of the orders they had received for the mission! The hapless prisoners were weak and emaciated anyway, but the surviving SS men and women (perhaps 500 or more) pushed them away from lifeboats and makeshift rafts. Rescue boat made no attempt to save prisoners.
Certainly more than 7500 prisoners died in the attack, perhaps even close to 10,000. Only around 400 prisoners survived, and bodies and bones washed up on shore in huge numbers, the last bones of which were found in 1971. Cracked fact: Nazi Germany made a movie about the Titanic during World War II starring the Cap Arcona as the Titanic.
Question for students (and subscribers): Was this incident a tragic mistake or a war crime perpetrated by a lust to kill as many Germans as possible before the war ended? The answer is debatable. Tell us what you think in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Jacobs, Benjamin and Eugene Pool. The 100-Year Secret: Britain’s Hidden World War II Massacre. The Lyons Press, 2004.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2049 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2049">48 Comments
Need to review your dates, Matthew. Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide on April 30th and even though Berlin gave up on May 2, the Germans as a whole surrendered on May 7th with the 8th being VE Day. I do agree that this happened as a lust to kill Germans.
Dear Kent, This article was actually written by my father, Daniel. Anyway, I have corrected his error and passed on your comment to him. Thanks for reading and letting us know your thoughts! Sincerely, Matthew
I think it’s crazy that an aircraft shot down and sunk three huge ships.
I believe this was a lust to kill Germans.
Communication is key. Why wouldn’t such important information be passed up the chain of command? It seems sad that those prisoners had to die like that, as though the concentration camps and such weren’t bad enough. They had to drown, freeze to death or be shot at from airplanes.
While a very interesting article regarding information I have never been exposed to previously, the fate of the refugees is absolutely tragic, especially with being so close to freedom.
I have never heard about this event before. It is sad to think that all those prisoners could’ve been saved if the aircraft’s knew about the boats.
I did know this had happened and I believe they should have saved those prisoners.
The prisoners should have been helped.Thousands of people did not need to die.
I find it amazing that bones washed up for 26 years after this incident.
This was definitely a lust to kill Germans. It could have definitely been prevented.
It was interesting to read this article and they should have saved those prisoners.
I had no idea the Nazi party made a movie about the Titanic. That would have made the Titanic we all know now to be the second because that movie was made in 1997.
It sounds like a lack of communication with the British troops. A lot of prisoners lost their lives needlessly.
It seems strange to me that bones would have washed up so many years after the event had happened. You would think that they would disintegrate or be eaten by animals in the water.
I never knew about this attack which is surprising because you would think there would be evidence washing up on shore which would be on the news.
It is sad that the new that the ships were carrying civilians and prisoners did not travel up the chain of command because so many innocent lives could have been spared.
The British thought they were doing good by destroying German ships but it turns out they killed thousands of German prisoners aboard the ships.
It is horrible to think that so many innocent prisoners lost their lives that day. It just added to all of the others that were lost throughout the war.
I thought that the cracked fact was very interesting. The fact that Adolf Hitler committed suicide days before the german suicide showed the overall stress that was inflicted upon him.
This incident seems more intentional than it does a “tragic mistake” because of the way that no attempt to rescue survivors were truly made. I couldn’t imagine seeing all the bones and remains wash up like that.
It must have been horrible to see all of the innocent life lost during this attack. The aftermath of seeing bones washing up on shore is horrifying.
I am confused did the British know that so many prisoners were aboard?
This article confuses me. How could bones and evidence wash up on the shore so many more years later and cause people to not even know about the lives taken in the attack. It would be scary to see all of those bones just randomly wash up on shore like that.
The article shows us the dark side of human nature. It is horrible to image that so many bones washed up on shore and it is so sad that so many innocent people lost by the attack.
I would like to think this was due to a lack of communication, but that is still not an excuse for the loss of innocent lives.
It would be hard to see all this happening. I can’t imagine sitting and all of a sudden bones begin to wash up on shore.It is hard to believe that once again many innocent lives are taken again by another attack. Interesting article.
I have never been exposed to this previously, and I believe that the fate of the refugees is absolutely tragic, especially with being so close to freedom.
It’s terrible that the bones washed up from sea like that. It’s sad how many lives are taken due to war.
So tragic. I cannot imagine the grief the people of this time went through. I have known many people who fought in this war and now understand why they never wanted to talk about it. So much death and destruction.
I cannot imagine going through something like this. Makes you really appreciate those who risk their lives for their country and our freedom.
Several days before the attack the RAF was warned by the Swedish Red Cross that these ships carried concentration camp prisoners. Despite this information the call for the attack was made. The few survivors which reached the shores stumbled on the first British tanks which arrived at the same time.
The real question is if those people had any chance to survive their ordeal. Of the 106.000 people which were set to KZ Neuengamme 55000 were killed. As early as October 1944 a congress was held for the concentration camp leaders in Berlin. During this meeting the main question was what to do with de prisoners when Germany would be invaded by the allies. The leaders were told that no prisoner should fall in allied hands alive. Even the escape routes and death marches where discussed. One of these routes was by ships.
So far I have not seen evidence that the Germans did prepare those ships to make them sink, do some survivors did think it was curious how fast the ships went on fire.
When the information by the RAF will be disclosed in 2045 I will be there:
my grandfather Gerrit Ruiter was one of the victims of the Cap Arcona.
After reading this article it makes me feel grateful that we have brave men and women who are willing to risk their lives for our freedom.
The article makes me understand why so many people came back from war mentally messed up.I could not deal with things so horrible.
It is hard not to put this incident in the category of a war crime,but i guess we will never know.
I feel like this was a bit of an overkill.
This could be another instance where there was a lack of communication that was the cause of deaths. This would be the worst part to accept for me.
Good intentions to stop the soldiers, bad communication leading to more innocent lives being lost.
I agree with Hunter. Communication is key, and without it small and sometimes tragic, mistakes will happen.
Bones and remains of human bodies still making their way to shore in 1971….I can’t even begin to imagine this sight when it all occurred in 1945, and the fact that remnants continued to show up almost 30 years later is bizarre.
Hard to say what actually happened here. Either way it was a horrific incident.
The idea of mass casualties was the driving force behind large scale weapons. The power behind all of these weapons is amazing.
Reading this story made me physically ill. War time is horrible and when mistakes are made the innocent pay the ultimate cost. I cannot imagine swimming for my life, weakened from starvation and then shot and left in the ocean to wash up on some shore. We must never forget the atrocities inflicted upon nearly 11 million people.
I believe this was just plain ridiculous and that so may lives could have probably been saved if they had better communicated.
One thing that stood out to me, is the fact that some of the bones washed up on shore. The while situation was tragic.
It is strange that they could verify bones from that war years later in 1971. One of the largest cases of fratricide.
What is really odd about the facts regarding these sinking’s is that there is never any mention of female KZ drowning?? Perhaps they were in fact on the ‘Deutchland’ as reported by Swedish White Bus Survivor after all ?
Something interesting to look into.