German hospital-ship sunk near Sevastopol in 1943

[Dr_V]

A WW2 veteran (sergeant Zamfir, I'll post his full story soon) told me that after he was wounded in Russia he was evacuated from Sevastopol harbour on a German hospital-ship, together with about 700 other wounded (both German and Romanian) in May 1943. This ship was bombed by Russian planes and sunk soon after leaving Sevastopol harbour. The survivers were took aboard a german submarine a day after that.
Sergeant Zamfir was an infantry pioneer, so his knoledge about ships is very limited. He only knows that the ship was big and painted white, with the red-cross on it.
Can anybody tell me what ship was that? And the submarine? This U-boot saved over 100 survivors and carried them all the way to Germany. It was't sent to save them, it just happened to pass-by the site. But I found no records of such an event.
Does anybody have any info about this story?

[Victor]

The U-boot could not have sailed directly to Germany, as the straits were closed. In fact all the German submarines in the Black Sea were brought up the Danube. Also accomodating 100 people on a sub is not that easy, especially on a 250 ton boat.

[Florin]

QUOTE

The U-boot could not have sailed directly to Germany, as the straits were closed. In fact all the German submarines in the Black Sea were brought up the Danube. Also accomodating 100 people on a sub is not that easy, especially on a 250 ton boat.

The 100 was the limit for extra people, other than the crew, for that type of submarine. But it was possible.

To give you an example from the other side, the first French Free Forces who landed in Sardinia in October 1943, were about 107...110 soldiers carried by the submarine "Casablanca". That submarine was a regular submarine, not designed for transport. It was one of the 3 submarines (and the only ships, considering all types) who escaped from Toulon in October 1942, before the rest of the French fleet sunk itself to don't get captured.

[Florin]

QUOTE

...... the first French Free Forces who landed in Sardinia in October 1943, were about 107...110 soldiers carried by the submarine \"Casablanca\"......

Actually this story is about landing in Corsica. Mea Culpa!

When I said Sardinia, I was close...

[Dr_V]

I know that a costal U-boot (the 250 tons or U1 series type) is hard to believe to be able to take 100 men aboard. It's about 4 times the sub's crew. But I don't think the old man lies about being taken aboard a submarine, maybe the fact that he was wounded means his memories are not so accurate concerning the number of survivors. He confirmed me yesterday that he was on a German sub and told me that he has no clue of the route that sub used to reach Germany. He just knows that the survivors were "stored" in every corner and corridor, that they were dieing along the way (bodies were berried in the water at night when the sub was surfacing) and that after a while he lost his conscience and he waked up in a hospital in Vienna, together with the 30 or so men that survived over all the journey.

But my main interest was to know what German hospital-ship was sunk near Sevastopol. Was it a purpose designed hospital-ship or a converted cargo or supply ship? Does anybody have a historical source that mentions that event? Bombing a ship painted with the Red Cross was a very rare event in WW2, even on the East front.

Thanks!

Dr_V

[Florin]

QUOTE

.................................................... Bombing a ship painted with the Red Cross was a very rare event in WW2, even on the East front.

Wasn't the German ship "Wilhelm Bulgorf" also painted with the Red Cross? About 10,000 people died when a Russian submarine sunk it in April 1945.

(I'll make a search later to check the name of the ship and the actual number of people.)

Florin

[Victor]

That was in the Baltic.

[Tiornu]

The ship was Wilhelm Gustloff, one of three large Baltic transports torpedoed and sunk with huge loss of life. (Goya and General Steuben were the other two; 3-6000 died in each case.) None of these were hospital ships, and none were marked as such.

[Dr_V]

Considering the number of patients transported (about 700 and very crowded inside) and the fact that the ship was equipped with a crane on the deck (I've asked Nea Manole for more info), it could have been a converted cargo ship.
But it was surely painted white on the superstructures and light gray on the sides, it had red crosses painted on it and had no guns.

That's all I could find out.

And about the fact that attacking a hospital-ship was a rare event, that's what I know from what I've read. But, as the war in the East did not respected the usual rules and registered many barbaric acts on both sides, I think I shouldn't be surprised about the attacks on hospital-ships. Indeed I've read about field hospitals being bombed both by the Russians and the Germans, so it's no wonder the red cross wasn't respected as in other places. Still I believe the sinking of a medical ship should be mentioned somewhere in the German archives, over all the war it was a rare event.

[Tiornu]

Wilhelm Gustloff was built as a cruise ship for Deutsche Arbeitsfront. She became a KM hospital ship in 1939, but she converted to a U-boat accommodations vessel in 1940 and never again acted as a hospital ship. I do not believe she was painted as a hospital ship when sunk--if so, it would have been the Germans disrespecting the Red Cross as she was not a hospital ship but a transport carrying, among others, unwounded military personnel. The German researcher Rohwer does not list her as a hospital ship. I think the rumors about her having a Red Cross when sunk must stem from earlier in her career when she did indeed wear one.
Goya was under construction as a cargo ship in Norway when seized by the Germans, who completed her as a transport. She was never a hospital ship. I can't find General Steuben's origins. It may be she was never a KM ship.

[Tiornu]

I did find a German hospital ship that was sunk around the same time, Posen (1104 tons) lost to air attack near Hela on 11 Apr 45. However, I've checked everything I can think of, including Ruge (who certainly would like to point out Soviet atrocities) and Whitley, and all describe Wilhelm Gustloff as simply a transport or liner. It's hard to refer to a ship transporting Gestapo officers as a hospital ship.

[Dr_V]

I think that looking for sunk hospital-ships won't solve the question, as few ships were built especially for this purpose and I know that none of the known German ones was sunk in Black Sea in '43.

Maybe a converted cargo is more probable. I guess that the painting in a new color could have been done in any port, not only during a refit in a shipyard. Maybe it was done in Sevastopol or in other Black Sea port for the acute necessity dictated by the growing numer of casualities. I'm confused myself, but this seams the most probable event.

So, a list of cargo ships sunk in B.S. may exist for that period. For 700 wounded plus the crew it should have been a ship at least over 1000 tons, such vessels are certainly recorded as lost if they were. Does anyone have such a list?