The forgotten tragedy

Description:

THE FORGOTTEN TRAGEDY This book records the tragic story of the sinking of the troopship Lancastria, which was bombed and sunk by Junkers 88 dive-bombers in the estuary of the River Loire, on Monday, 17 June 1940. Crammed with approximately 6,000 troops, RAF personnel, civilians and crew, a third of whom did not survive, this incident remains Britain's worst-ever maritime disaster but, like many other shipping disasters of the Second World War, it remains little known today. Following the successful evacuation of Dunkirk only weeks before. Over a month passed before the story eventually reached the national newspapers, via American journalists. This first in-depth study of the incident draws on many eye-witness accounts and previously unpublished papers, and includes ninety illustrations and many appendices, the first of which is a 40-page list of the names of all the men known to have been lost with the ship. The publication completes a trilogy of titles published by Shaun Tyas commemorating and restoring to public attention the first-, second- and third-worst Allied mercantile disasters of the War. Shaun Tyas - 2002

subjects: British Naval operations,  British Personnel narratives,  Tyrrhenia (ship),  Lancastria (ship),  Military Transportation,  Shipwrecks,  World War Two 1939-1945,  Oronsay (ship),  John Holt (ship),  Cambridgeshire (ship),  Ulster Prince (ship),  Dundrum Castle (ship),  Highlander (HM destroyer),  Havelock (HM destroyer)

Places: France,  Loire River Estuary,  St Nazaire,  Saint Nazaire,  Lancastria casualties in cemeteries at:,  Pornic,  Escoublac-La-Baule,  Angoulins,  La Bernerie-en-Retz,  Le Clion-sur-Mer,  Chateau d'Olonne,  Chatelaillon Plage,  I'lle-d'Yeu,  La Plaine-sur Mer,  L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer,  La Barre-de-Monts,  L'Herbaudiere,  Les Moutiers-en-Retz,  Nantes (Pons de Cens),  Notre Dame-de-Monts,  Normoutier-en-I'lle (L'Herbaudiere),  Prefailles,  Piriac-sur-Mer,  Les Sables-d'Olonne,  St Charles de Percy,  St Denis-d'Oleron,  St Marie,  Soulac-sur-Mer,  La Palais-sur-Mer,  St Trojan-les-Bains.

Times: Second World War,  17 June 1940