Why the Russian "attack of the century" is now treated as a war crime

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On January 30, 1945, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 successfully torpedoed the German motor ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Due to its scale, this event was soon called the "attack of the century." "Blessed" by Hitler himself "Gustloff", a kind of "floating symbol" of the invincibility of Nazi Germany, went to the bottom along with thousands of passengers. After this operation, Captain Marinesko was named Submariner No. 1. But he was awarded the high title of Hero of the USSR for such a feat already posthumously - as much as 45 years later. There are reasons why the opinions of historians on the account of the heroism of the Russian submariner differ.

Condemnation of the feat of Commander Marinesco

The first thing that military researchers point out, questioning the heroism of Marinesco, is the hopelessness of his situation. On the eve of the fatal march on "Gustloff", the commander of the Baltic Fleet Tributs decided to transfer the commander Marinesko to a military tribunal. On New Year's Eve, he voluntarily left his ship for 2 days, and the crew deprived of command was noted in squabbles with the civilian population. The trial was postponed for a while, giving Marinesco the opportunity to rehabilitate himself by military merit. Thus, at the time of the operation, the S-13 submarine was a "penalty", and the guilty soldier could not retreat.

Marinesco was repeatedly convicted of drunkenness, gambling and attributing to himself fictitious sunken ships. For all sorts of deviations from discipline, he was even expelled from the applicants to the CPSU (b). Later, for distinctive campaigns in 1942-1943. he was nevertheless taken to the party. But the biggest fault of Marinesko is the fact that not only Hitler's submariners sailed aboard the sunk "Gustloff", but mostly Prussian refugees fleeing the approaching Soviet troops. Of the approximately 10 thousand people who became victims of the "attack of the century", civilians were, according to various estimates, at least 60%.

Evacuation of refugees on the legendary "Gustloff"

In January 1945, the Soviet army moved rapidly west to Konigsberg and Danzig. Fearing retribution for the "exploits" of the Nazis, tens of thousands of German refugees moved to the port in Gdynia. In January, Gross Admiral Doenitz ordered to save everything that could be saved from the Soviets on the surviving German ships. The officers started redeploying submarine cadets along with military equipment, and it was decided to place refugees in vacant places, first of all women with children. Operation Hannibal was the largest seafaring evacuation of the century. Built in 1937, "Wilhelm Gustloff", named after an associate of Adolf Hitler who was killed in Switzerland, was considered one of the most upscale airliners in Germany.

The ten-deck ship with a displacement of over 25 tons was seen by the Germans as unsinkable. The luxury cruise ship with a spacious swimming pool and cinema was the real pride of the Third Reich. He was entrusted with the mission of demonstrating to the whole world the successes and achievements of the Nazis. Hitler himself took part in the launching of the ship at one time, and on board the "Gustloff" he had a personal cabin. In peacetime, the liner was used as part of expensive tourism, and with the outbreak of World War II, it was turned into a floating barracks for training cadets-submariners.

The last flight of "Gustloff"

On January 30, 1945, at about noon, the ship left the coast, accompanied by one torpedo boat and a torpedo boat. The latter returned to port almost immediately after colliding with the reef. The double command of the "Gustloff" (the ship itself and the submarine cadets) could not decide in any way with the fairway, which should go out to sea. Contrary to the reasonable decision to choose an anti-submarine zigzag, the liner went straight, fearing minefields. With the onset of darkness, the captain ordered the navigation lights to be lit in order to avoid collisions with the minesweepers. However, the oncoming ships did not appear, and the lights were turned off. But Alexander Marinesko, the commander of the Red Banner submarine, managed to find a German motor ship, brightly lit in defiance of wartime orders. All that remained was to choose an advantageous position for a natural attack.

The Gustloff was overcrowded and damaged, so the submarine easily overtook the liner. At about 9 pm C-13 entered from the coastal side (from there it was least expected) and fired the 1st torpedo with the inscription: "For the Motherland." Two more followed. An accurate hit hit the bow of the vessel along with the engine room, as a result of which the engines stopped. An hour later, the Gustloff sank, and out of 10,000 passengers, only about 1,000 were able to escape. For comparison, about 1,500 died on the Titanic. One of the survivors on the German liner was Captain's Mate Heinz Schön, who later wrote a book about that disaster. Having retrained as a historian, he spent the rest of his life researching the circumstances of the death of the ship and people.

Hostages of a ruthless war machine

The assessments of the actions of the commander of Marinesco and the entire crew of the S-13 submarine vary from the most positive to extremely condemning. Heinz Schön, a witness to the disaster, impartially concluded that the ship was clearly a military target, so its sinking could not be called a war crime. The command of the "Gustloff" could not but know that the ship intended for the transport of refugees and wounded must be marked with the appropriate identification signs (red cross), cannot wear a camouflage color, and has no right to go in convoy escort with military vessels. The ship could not carry military cargo, artillery and air defense weapons.

The Wilhelm Gustloff was the naval ship that boarded thousands of refugees. From the minute the civilians took their places on the liner, all responsibility for their lives fell on the officials of the German navy. Therefore, "Gustloff", which was the floating base of the Nazi submarine fleet, for the Soviet submariners justly became a military enemy to be destroyed.

And a monument was erected to the Soviet intelligence officer in Poland.