There are some places on earth, whether natural or man-made, that simply defy description. This is certainly one of them. At Darvaza, deep in the heart of Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert, there lives a large, fiery crater that glows hellish-red, both day and night. Known locally as the Gates of Hell, it is NOT volcanic. This man-made disaster has been burning uncontrolled, non-stop for over half a century. So what the heck makes this crater burn perpetually for decades, and why is it in the middle of an Asian desert?
The Darvaza Fire Crater is located in central Turkmenistan, north of Iran, just over 150 miles from the capital of Ashgabat. The crater is the size of a soccer pitch or football field – about 235 feet wide and 66 feet deep. This gaping hole in the otherwise flat desert does indeed appear to be unleashing the Fires of Hell. It’s quite a sight to behold. From time to time, locals and visitors have witnessed camel spiders plunging into the pit by the thousands, lured by the heat of the glowing flames.
So how did this bizarre inferno end up in the middle of nowhere?
It all started in 1971. Back then, Turkmenistan was not an independent nation, but rather a republic in communist Soviet Union. A group of Soviet geologists came to the Karakum Desert in search of oil. They thought they found a substantial oil field near the village of Darvaza (Derweze in Turkmen), set up a drill derrickand eagerly began drilling in earnest.
Instead, the unsuspecting engineers drilled not into oil, but rather a huge cavern of natural gas, with just a thin layer of sedimentary rock supporting the top of it. The pocket was so large, its roof could not support the immense weight of the Soviet drilling rig and pump.One day, a deep rumbling occurred, and the entire site collapsedand plunged into the earth itself, taking the entire rig and all the pipes and pump equipment with it. Reportedly, no one was injured, which is hard to believe, but all records of the disaster have long since been covered up by Communist leaders.
After the crater collapsed, the geologists realized they had a second, equally serious problem. Not only had this Door to Hell swallowed their entire drilling camp, but it was now rapidly leaking natural gas into the atmosphere. Though natural gas is mostly non-toxic methane, it still displaces the oxygen in the air, making it difficult to breathe. The wildlife of the Karakum Desert began to suffer, collapse and eventually die off. There was a real concern not only for the animals, but also for the people living in the nearby village of Derweze.
In addition to harming the people and the wildlife of the desert, the gas presented yet another problem. Methane is highly flammability, and just 5% methane in the air can burn and can cause an explosion. The high levels seeping from the open Darvaza crater made the area highly susceptible to a devastating explosion, resulting in a major environmental disaster for the Soviets.
That’s when Soviet geoscientists made a very bad decision.
They decided that since the natural gas could not be trapped, they would simply burn it off as a quick and easy fix. Their solution was to set the Darvaza crater on fire. As crazy as that might sound, it’s a common practice in natural gas drilling, known as “Flaring.” Unlike oil, which can be stored in large tanks or years, natural gas needs to be piped away and processed ASAP. If there’s an excess, drillers simply burn it off in a controlled fashion. It wastes millions of dollars worth of natural gas across the world every day.
But the Soviet engineers had no clue how much gas was underground and it proved to be far more than anyone could ever have imagined. They expected the burn off to take just a few weeks, but they were Very, Very Wrong. The flames they started have been burning for decades ever since. In fact, scientists today still don’t know how much natural gas is under the desert. Instead, the crater became the fiery Gates of Hell. What was supposed to be a few-week burn has turned into almost a 50 year desert bonfire. And, it doesn’t look like it’s stopping any time soon.
In 1991, the USSR collapsed and Turkmenistan became an independent country. In 2010, Turkmenistan’s president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, visited the Gates of Hell personally. He worried that the fire would threaten the country’s ability to develop usable natural gas fields nearby. Turkmenistan’s natural gas reserves rank 5th in the world, so the prospect meant major income for his country. He ordered authorities to come up with a plan to put out the crater fire once and for all, and then to fill it up and bury it.
George Kourounis at the rim of the Darvaza Fire Crater
For a while, the fire crater’s future was at risk. However, a lack of any international natural gas pipeline and the question of exactly HOW to extinguish the Gates of Hell have never been pursued. No action was ever taken, and the crater continues to burn as hellish as ever. In 2013, he instead declared that part of the desert, containing the fire crater, a “Natural Reserve.” That same year, explorer George Kourounis, became the first person to walk into the crater and collect samples, in an expedition funded by National Geographic.
So what next for The Gates of Hell?
Social media has opened up a window on the world like never before. People post pictures of their pets and their food and their vacations. More and more are turning their backs on traditional family vacations and instead opting for a bit of adventure. The Darvaza Fire Crater now attracts thousands of daring tourists a year who come to the lonely desert to take in the evil-looking phenomenon. Its wicked orange glow can be seen for miles at night.
The fire crater is located about 161 miles from Ashgabat, about a 4 hour, remote desert drive. The nearest village with any amenities is Erment, over 50 miles away. You can rent an off-road vehicle and with a strong sense of adventure, go check it out for yourself. You’ll see some wild camels, a few scattered yurts, and the local Teke tribe who live in the nearby Darvaza village. There are no roads, no protective fences at its edges, no souvenir shops or cafes – just the endless flat desert and a hellish pit of fire.
It’s best to go at dusk or dawn, when the Satanic glow in the sky can be seen for miles. The contrast between the dark, desert skies and the deep, fiery pit below is indeed surreal. Once at the rim of the Gates of Hell, flames spew from thousands of individual gas leaks in the earth, generating a unique and otherworldly Fire Show. Stand at the edge if you dare, for falling in would mean a truly horrific death. All that said, for the truly adventuresome of you out there, if you happen to find yourself in Turkmenistan with a few hours to spare ….
For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.
In July of 1976 at the Montreal Olympic Games, 17 year old Russian diver Sergei Nemtsanov finished 9th in the Men’s 10 meter Platform diving competition. As punishment for not earning a medal, his Soviet coaches told him he’d be banned from further international Olympics. His Soviet coaches, wary of defectors among their athletes with the diving competition over, would fly out the diving team as soon as possible and not stay the remainder of the games. It was then he made the gut wrenching decision to defect from the Soviet Union. At the games, Sergei witnessed the amazing freedoms available in the West. He realized if he wanted the same, it was Now or Never, so he quietly approached the Canadian diving team and asked for help.
Sergei Nemtsanov diving at the Montreal Summer Olympics, 1978
Depiction of the Midnight Ride of Sibbell Ludington
MostAmericans have heard the tale of Paul Revere and his famous Midnight Ride, shouting “The British are Coming!” But I’ll wager you’ve never heard of the equally heroic “female Paul Revere,” named Sibbell Ludington. Her trip was 2 years later in 1777, twice as long as Revere’s, and she was only a 16 year old girl!
Sibbell lived with her family in Kent, New York. Her father Henry was a colonel in the Continental Army’s local militia. Like most Revolutionary War-era girls, Sibbell helped her mother with the spinning, weaving, and sewing. She made butter, soap, and candles, mended clothes and tended the garden. She was the oldest of TWELVE brothers and sisters and there was always plenty to be done. Our young heroine also had a beloved horse named Star, who will soon play an important role in this tale as well.
When she was 16, her mother Abigail expected Sibbell to be responsible and lady-like. Sibbell however had other ideas. She wanted to help her father’s militia. Colonel Ludington had fought in the French and Indian War, owned the Kent mill, and was a respected community leader. When the American Revolution broke out, he volunteered to lead the local militia.
Her father would later become an aide to General George Washington.
Young Sibbell had caught Revolutionary Fever from her father. She was tired of being ruled by fat, old King George from way across the ocean. Just like other Patriots, she wanted her new country to have freedom, liberty and independence.
On the night of 26 April 1777, a hard rain drummed down on the roof of the Ludington home. She was just tucking her brothers & sisters into bed when an exhausted messenger arrived at their door. He alerted her father that Redcoats were burning down Danbury just 25 miles east! Danbury, CT was a critical supply center for the Continental Army. A mere 150 militia were stationed to protect the town.
2,000 Redcoats had entered Danbury and discovered the militia’s stores, including cots, tents and uniforms, foodstuffs like pork, molasses, and corn, plus several hundred bottles of rum. The British soldiers confiscated all the supplies, found the rum and decided to drink then destroy. Fires were started by drunken soldiers as military discipline broke down. Militia messengers were dispatched to announce the British destruction.
Col. Ludington’s 7th Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia were unfortunately on furlough. The colonel began to organize his men in Kent, but most were scattered throughout the countryside in their homes, and it was well after dark. But speed was of the essence! Someone would have to muster the dispersed regiment and warn the neighboring towns. The exhausted messenger was not familiar with NY and his horse was too spent to help.
Here was Sibbell’s chance to finally get in the action and do something for her new country! She knew the terrain and her horse Star could handle the long ride. She stepped forward and asked to take the assignment.
“I can do it, father!”
Sibbell Ludington, 1777
The colonel was naturally reluctant. This would be a dangerous assignment should she, a girl, be caught by the Redcoats. But his options were limited. Over the loud protests of his wife, he agreed to let her go. The route would be daunting, over 40 miles in length. She would not only have to alert the militia, but avoid the advancing Redcoats, loyalist Tories, as well as the infamous ‘Skinners,’ Highwaymen who roamed the woods at night. As she saddled Star, her father planned the circuitous route she would need to take.
At 9:00 pm, Sibbell kissed her parents goodbye and mounted Star. She then rode to farmhouse after farmhouse along dark, muddy Horse Pond Road, pounding on doors with a long stick and shouting the message:
‘The Redcoats are burning Danbury! Colonel Ludington orders all militiamen to report to the Kent Mill!”
It was about 10 o’clock when Sibbell reached Carmel to the south. By now, many people were sleeping soundly in their beds. Rather than knocking on every door, she told the first few to run and ring the church bell and wake their neighbors. She then continued on in the cold, dark rain through Shaw’s Pond, Mahopac, then back north through Farmer’s Mill.
As she rode, Sibbell encountered an advance patrol of British soldiers and had to hide Star behind a stand of trees until they passed. As for the Skinners her father had warned her of, she chased one away by wielding her father’s musket in the startled thief’s face.
After alerting the last town of Stormville, she headed back to Kent. By the time she finally returned home, more than 400 militia men were mustered and ready to march against the Redcoats. More were arriving down the roads. The eastern sky was glowing pink as dawn approached. Sibbell realized she had ridden all night, a route of over 40 miles. Her family greeted her with joyful hugs and were proud of her feat, but all she wanted at that moment was dry clothes and a soft bed.
The regiment was too late to save Danbury, but they were able to stop the British advance and push them back in the Battle of Ridgefield. The people of New York and New England spread the news of Sibbell Ludington’s heroic ride. General Washington went to her house to thank her personally for her valiant courage. Alexander Hamilton wrote her a letter, praising her deed: “I congratulate you on the Danbury expedition. The stores destroyed have been purchased at a pretty high price to the enemy.”
Sibbell’s contributions do not end there. She continued to help throughout the Revolutionary War as an army messenger, delivering coded communications, and as a lookout with one of her sisters. In 1784, at 23, Sibbell married a war veteran and innkeeper named Edmond Ogden. She spent the rest of her life in Unadilla, NY. Sibbell raised a son, Henry (named after her father, who eventually became a lawyer) and ran the tavern after her husband’s death. No doubt she told her son and grandchildren riveting stories of her own daring and dangerous MIDNIGHT RIDE, rivalling Paul Revere.
Sibbell Ludington Ogden lived a long life, passing away at the ripe age of 78. She was buried next to her father and husband in New York.
Her oldest son Henry wrote in his memoir:
“One who even now rides from Carmel to Cold Spring will find rugged roads, with lonely stretches. Imagination only can picture what it was like on a dark night, with reckless bands of “Skinners” abroad. But she performed her task, clinging to a man’s saddle, and guiding her steed as she rode through the night, bearing the news of the sack of Danbury. There is no extravagance in comparing her ride with that of Paul Revere and its midnight message. Nor was her errand less efficient than his. By daybreak, thanks to her daring, nearly the whole regiment was mustered before her father’s house.”
Statue of Sibbell Ludington, the female Paul Revere
Her hometown was later renamed Ludingtonville in honor of brave Sibbell. Historical markers tracing her route can be found throughout the county roads. In Carmel, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington placed a larger than life statue of Sibbell on her horse. There she rides, sitting side-saddle on Star, one hand pulling back on the reins, the other clenching a stick over her head; a look of fierce determination on her face, as she shouts and rides through the night. A plaque beneath the statue reads:
SIBBELL LUDINGTON—REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROINE April 26, 1777.
Called out the volunteer militia by riding through the night, alone, on horseback, at the age of 16, alerting the countryside to the burning of Danbury, Conn. by the British.
For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.
Madame C. J. Walkers Brand for Women’s Hair Grower, 1910
Madam C. J. Walker was one of the 1st American, female self-made millionaires at a time (early 1900’s) when white men ruled the business world. She was also an African American daughter of slaves.She made her fortune thanks to a homemade line of hair care products she invented herself and marketed for black women. But Walker was far more than just a millionaire. She was also a business savvy entrepreneur, generous philanthropist, and Black activist. Madam Walker rose from poverty in the post-Civil War segregated South to become one of the wealthiest African American women of her time. She then used her fortune to advocate for the advancement of Black lives. How did she accomplish this?
Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867, on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Her parents were recently freed slaves following the Civil War, now dirt-poor sharecroppers. Sarah was their 5th child and the first to be born free. Sadly, both her parents passed away early in her life, just a year apart, leaving poor Sarah an orphan at only 7. She was sent to live with her older married sister in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1877. There Sarah picked cotton in the hot fields owned by white farmers.
To escape both the oppressive work and an abusive brother-in-law, she married young to Moses McWilliams at only 14. At 18, she gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter, A’Lelia. Just two years later, in 1887, Moses died unexpectedly, leaving her a young widow AND a single black parent in the deep South. How would she survive now? She decided to move them both to St. Louis, where Sarah’s four older brothers were established barbers.
In Missouri, Sarah found work as a washerwoman earning about $1.50 a day.
But this was enough to send her daughter to public school and herself to public night school. She also sang in the choir of the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church where she met leading black citizens of St. Louis. Their education and success inspired her to become active in the National Association of Colored Women. She also met the man who would become her future husband, Charles Walker, an ad man for a black newspaper.
So how did she become the famous Madam C. J. Walker? During the 1890s, Sarah suffered from a scalp disorder that caused her to lose much of her beautiful black hair. So she began to experiment with the few store-bought treatments available and her own home remedies she remembered from Mississippi.
First, she began using another product – Annie Tumbo Malone’s “Great Wonderful Hair Grower.” Malone was a successful black businesswoman who Sarah admired. Struggling financially and tired of years of physical labor, she applied to join Malone’s team of sales agents. Annie Malone was impressed with the young woman and in 1905, she hired Sarah as a commissioned agent. That year, she moved with her daughter to her new sales area, Denver, Colorado, with just $1.05 savings in her pocket.
After learning the business, and having experienced her own hair issues, Sarah realized there were few products for women of color and a HUGE market. She was inspired by her earlier tinkering to create her own line of haircare products for black women. She came up with a successful regimen that would completely change the black hair care industry.
Sarah’s method involved scalp preparation, special homemade lotions and heated iron combs.
In Denver, she again met ad-man Charles Joseph Walker and they married in 1906. She rebranded herself using her married name as “Madam C.J. Walker.” Then with her husband’s advertising help, launched her own line of hair products for African American women. “The Walker System” of hair care was born, including her own “Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower.”
A talented entrepreneur with a knack for self-promotion, Walker first began selling her products to black women door to door. She sold her homemade treatments using a personal approach that won her loyal customers. Her hair grower, custom pomade, glossine softener and vegetable based shampoo were wild successes. Most hair products were manufactured by white businessmen, so she emphasizing the health and beauty of the black women who use it.
In 1907, Walker and her husband traveled the South promoting her products and giving lecture demonstrations of her “Walker System.” Through them, her products gained a loyal following of satisfied customers, changing her fortunes forever. Her husband helped her with marketing and advertising to start a new mail-order business known as the Madam C. J. Walker Company. It was so successful she went on to employ her own saleswomen, whom she dubbed “beauty culturalists.”
In 1908, Walker opened a beauty training school for her sales force and a factory in Pittsburgh, Madame C. J. Walker Laboratories. She put her daughter, A’Lelia now 23, in charge of the mail-order business. In 1910, Sarah relocated the headquarters, school and factory to Indianapolis, a better railroad hub and a large population of African Americans. She left the management of the Pittsburgh branch to A’Lelia. But, as the business grew, her marriage suffered. Her and husband grew apart and eventually divorced in 1912.
Her saleswomen, “Walker Agents,” became well known throughout African American communities.
They promoted Walker’s philosophy of “cleanliness and loveliness” as a way of elevating African American women. Her business acumen led her to be one of the first American women to become a self-made millionaire. The Company employed over three thousand people in the US, largely black women who sold Walker’s products door-to-door. Walker’s business grew rapidly, with sales exceeding $500,000 in the final year of her life. Her total worth topping $1 million dollars.
Sarah Breedlove Walker, AKA Madam C. J. Walker, 1906
After her divorce, she traveled in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting her Walker System and recruiting Spanish speaking agents. Her success allowed her to finally live in homes far greater than the shacks she had grown up in. While her mother traveled, A’Lelia purchased property in Harlem, New York, knowing its importance for future business operations. Upon returning to the US in 1916, Walker moved into a new townhouse in Harlem from which she operated her business.
Walker organized clubs and conventions for her sales reps, recognizing not only successful sales, but also educational efforts for African American women. An advocate of black women’s economic independence, she opened national training programs in the “Walker System” for her sales agents, who she paid healthy commissions.
Her Manhattan townhouse became a salon for members of the famous Harlem Renaissance, with people like W.E.B. du Bois. In 1918, at Irvington-on-Hudson, 20 miles north of New York City, Walker built an Italianate mansion she called Villa Lewaro, designed by an African American architect. Villa Lewaro was also a gathering place for many luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.
Sarah’s reputation as an entrepreneur was matched only by her philanthropy.
She became one of America’s best-known African Americans. At her employee clubs, she encouraging women to give back to their black communities. She promoted female talent, ensuring that only a woman could serve as company president. She donated to educational causes and black charities, funding scholarships for women at the Tuskegee Institute, donating to the NAACP’s anti lynching movement, the construction of an Indianapolis black YMCA, homes for the elderly of color, and dozens of others.
Sadly, Walker died at Villa Lewaro in 1919 of hypertension due to failing kidneys, at only 51. She left one-third of her estate to her daughter A’Lelia, who would carry on her mother’s role in the Harlem Renaissance, especially the arts. Two-thirds went to various African American charities and schools. In 1931, A’Lelia’s adopted daughter Mae Walkerbecame the proud president of the Walker Company.
In 1981, the Walker Company ceased operations, but her legacy lives on to this day. A line of Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Products is still available at Sephora retailers. In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service honored Sarah Breedlove Walker with a commemorative stamp as part of its Black Heritage Series. And in 2019, NETFLIX released SELF MADE, a 4 part mini-series on her amazing life, starring Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer.
For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.
Outside of Germany during World War II, people around the globe were aghast at the profound deceitfulness of Nazi Party propaganda, the self-righteous arrogance, the outright falsehoods, the sowing of fear and hatred, the astonishing acceptance of the German people. How on earth could intelligent, rational people have been convinced by all that rubbish?
The deportation and slaughter of European Jews in the Holocaust did not begin with actions, it began many years earlier with Words. Words that slowly and insidiously convinced an entire nation to hate. So let’s run through 10 of the most devious and effective Fascist Propaganda tricks that Adolf Hitler, and his shrewd Propaganda MinisterJoseph Goebbels, employed in Germany the decade before World War II even began, each one increasing in its level of evil.
1.FEAR & HATRED
Appeal to the fears and hatredsof a constituency that feels they are being wronged or marginalized by the elites or governmental powers that be. In Hitler’s case, he played upon the average Germans’ fear they were being ignored by their own failing government and the wealthy. Remember, Germany was also in its own Great Depression following WWI. The people were impoverished, so Hitler fueled a hatred for the wealthy Jews as the root causes of all Germany’s woes.
2. NATIONAL PRIDE
Harken back to the great days of historical pride. In his speeches, Hitler shouted that Germany was once a great and powerful nation. And was in fact winning World War I, until weak politicians and cowardly generals gave up. They surrendered their country to the Allies of Britain, France and Russia. Only Hitler and the Nazis Third Reich could erase that failure and make Germany a great country once again.
3. OUTSIDER STATUS
Portray yourself as an Outsider, as the only one who can unite the troubled nation and fix the country’s many problems. Play upon the divided parties of government, with their bipartisanship and stagnation, leaving the door open for a tyrant like Hitler to seize control. He stepped into the leadership vacuum with the radical Nationalist message of the Nazis, one that the beaten, tired German people feverishly embraced.
4. ADVERTISING
Use contemporary advertising techniquesto convey your messages over and over again to the public. Hitler and Goebbels expertly used radio, movies, posters and pamphlets to flood Germany with their Fascist message. Repetitive propaganda delivers a kind of feedback loop, each cycle reinforcing the messages in ones before. It tapped into the deep-seeded bigotry of the German populace against the Jews. (Just imagine what they could have done today with social media!).
5. REPEAT LIES
Repeat lies often enough and the people will believe they are true. Sad but true. Lie about certain people, parties, races, countries, even religions. Facts that do not support your narrative are deemed ‘Fake’ and even unpatriotic or subversive. Your opponents opposition to your lies shows they are persecuting you and therefor must hate their own country. The Nazis used book burnings with great success to demonize any ideas counter to that of the Third Reich.
6. SOCIALISM
Academics, intellectuals and journalists were suspected of being Socialists or even worse, Communists! So discredit them as the highly-educated “elites.” Plant distrust with the populace in their own public universities, the Press, even the Judiciary. That is, until such time that leaders replaced them all and control them behind the scenes, from within. Then they become your propaganda mouthpiece, doing your bidding, repeating your words.
7. NATIONALISM
Extreme Nationalism resonates with those who see themselves as disenfranchised, even if they technically are the middle-class majority. WE are true patriots and someone else is to blame. So the demagoguery and totalitarianism of Hitler was ultimately seen as an acceptable means to an end. The goal is not to gain 100% of minds, but 100%of Emotions. So convince their beating hearts of your twisted vision, and the mind will surrender its logic.
8. SIN IS ACCEPTABLE
Ethics, legitimacy, rule of law and even religious decency can be ‘back-burnered’ for the greater cause, sometimes for an entire generation. So bigotry, racism, xenophobia and sexismwere simply another means to an end’ for the Nazis. Go ahead and put your Christian values aside for now. Let’s be honest. We all think bad thoughts in private, so why not shout them out loud? Just like out leader does. Or better yet, take to the streets and act upon them!
9. SCAPEGOATS
You need a Scapegoat to rally people against. People who don’t look, think, act or pray like us. A particular race, religion, ethnicity or faction who are the root cause of ALL the problems facing hard-working German citizens. In Hitler’s case, this was the Jews and immigrants. Portray them as dangerous, criminal, and even sub-human. After all, who could trust such dangerous people? Why risk it? They are taking our wealth away. Better to round them all up and deport them … or worse!
10. PATRIOTISM
Exploitation of Patriotism was the ultimate ‘ace up the sleeve.’ Hitler spoke with zealous pride in front of rows of Nazi flags and fanatical cheering crowds. He demanded deference to HIS leadership alone. Paint the opposition a cowards, unpatriotic or better yet, Traitors!When blind Nationalism rules, it’s then acceptable to employ the last and final step of their plan – Violence towards the scapegoats and any other opponents how fight back.
Warrior Hitler – Nazi Propaganda Poster, 1938
So what lessons can we, as human beings, learn from this real-life example? What does such a despicable time in our planet’s history teach us almost a century later? It took a long, five year Second World War to rid the earth of Nazi evil. Hitler was not the first, nor will he be the last despot this Earth will ever see rise to power.
Perhaps that we should not try to explain away Fascism, as an acceptable movement, when it begins to gain traction. We need to accept the fact that seemingly good, rational and even highly religious people will sometimes blindly support a dark cause and leader, with a near cult-like belief that it is righteous. There is no need to call them names, for they have already labeled themselves with their words and actions. It is far more important to see this for what it is, lest we let history repeat itself … Yet Again.
For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS
In 1633, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was the Stephen Hawking of his day – a famous & respected professor of astronomy. Nonetheless, he was ordered by the Pope in Rome to stand trial before the Italian Inquisition. Known for its brutal interrogations by torture, the Inquisition was the most feared and notorious court in all of Europe. What was Galileo’s supposed crime? His Science!
Drawing the Middle East modern borders on map with a ruler certainly seemed simple. Perhaps that’s why the lines, set in 1916 by Englishman Sir Mark Sykes and Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot were straight ones. The infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement was a pact between Great Britain and France, made in the middle of World War I (with Russia’s blessing). With it, they planned to dismember the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. It led to the division of the Turkish-held Middle East into 5 French and British-administered countries.
Contrary to popular myth, Japan’s version of Adolf Hitler was not the Emperor (Showa) Hirohito, but rather its infamous War Minister Hideki Tojo. But who was this powerful man so few outside Japan know of?
The son of an army general, young Tojo followed dutifully in his father’s footsteps, attending the Japanese Military Academy. Over the next 20 years, he received promotion after promotion, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant general. In 1935, Tojo was promoted to Head of the Army’s Military Police. Nicknamed Kamisori, or Razor Tojo by his peers, he was both respected and feared for his sternness, efficiency & ruthlessness. By 1937, he was Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army in Hobei Province China. During the China-Japanese War, he ordered the consumption of Manchuria’s vast natural resources to power and feed Japan’s hungry military industrial machine.
Returning to Japan in 1938, he became Vice Minister of War, adopting an aggressive stance by continuing pre-emptive strikes against China that captured the key cities of Shanghai and Beijing. By 1940, he was appointed Minister of War by then Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. When Adolf Hitler’s war erupted in Europe, Tojo pushed the Prime Minister for an alliance with Germany where he had briefly served as military attaché in the 1920s. He greatly admired Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Third Reich.
Japan’s continued imperial expansion in Indochina worried the West and eventually led to economic sanctions by western powers with a freezing of all Japanese assets in the US. Then in the summer of 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt enacted a fateful oil embargo against Japan as punishment. That was all the fuel Razor needed. By September, Tojo and his naval commanders began boldly and openly discussing war with the United States. Staunchly against war at any cost, Prime Minister Konoe resigned in October 1941.
Emperor Hirohito summoned Tojo to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and named him Japan’s 40th Prime Minister.
He was now the most powerful man in the empire. Tojo’s first task was to conduct a careful evaluation of a Pacific War. He noted: For the past six months, the foreign minister has made painstaking efforts to adjust relations with the United States. Although I respect him for that, the heart of the matter is the imposition on us to withdraw from Indochina. If we yield to America’s demands, it will destroy all the fruits of our China expansion.
In November 1941, Tojo’s diplomatic staff reported their failure in searching for any peaceful solution with the U.S. and Britain. This was the tipping point that Razor was waiting for. Tojo presented detailed war plans to Emperor Hirohito, who formally approved “War Against the United States and England.” As we know, the Pacific War began on the morning of Sunday, 7 December 1941 when Japanese aircraft bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He then opened a second front in the west by invading British-controlled India.
Japan’s early victories greatly strengthened Tojo’s personal prestige in Japan and his “Faith in Victory.” Over the course of the war, he methodically placed himself in direct charge of the Army, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, and even Education. As Education Minister, he began militaristic indoctrination of the Japanese people with his feared Tokko (Gestapo-style) Secret Police. Throughout the war in the Pacific, the ruthless brutality of Japan’s military became apparent to the Allies. There were numerous atrocities committed against Allied American and British POWs including torture, starvation, beheadings, burnings, wholesale massacres and bayonet executions.
By 1944, the U.S. military began winning the war, “island hopping” towards Japan in a series of deadly but successful battles at the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. As an act of desperation, Tojo authorized the Kamikaze suicidal attacks by Japan’s Naval pilots on U.S. and British naval ships.
In 1944, he assumed the role of the Commander-in-Chief as well, effectively gaining dictatorial powers.
Yet despite all his many titles, Tojo was never able to establish a dictatorship on a par with Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin. When Japan’s defeats by the Allies in the Pacific mounted, and its industrial foundation began to crumble, Tojo sought to gather total administrative control of Japan. He still however served at the behest of the Emperor. Without the support of his party, the industrial complex and the courts, he was unable to do so. After the islands of Saipan and the Philippines fell to American forces in July 1944, he was forced by Emperor Hirohito to submit his resignation in disgrace and not even told who would replace him.
The war in Europe ended in May 1945, with the suicide of Adolf Hitler. Faced with a long and deadly invasion of Japan, President Harry Truman ordered the dropping of 2 atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Tojo knew what his ultimate fate would be. As American soldiers surrounded his house, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest. The bullet missed his heart however and he survived the attempt. He was arrested by the Allies while recovering and sent to military prison.
“I regret,” he is quoted as saying, “that it is taking me so long to die. The Great War was justified and righteous.”
Hideki ‘Razor’ Tojo at his military trial in 1946
Razor Tojo was sent to prison and tried by the International Military Tribunal for War Crimes. Hideki Tojo accepted full responsibility for his actions during the war. He was found GUILTY of “waging unprovoked wars of aggression in violation of international law, and ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of POWs.”
Razor Tojo was sentenced to death and hanged by the neck until dead in 1948. Before his execution, he apologized for his actions, and claimed that in regard to the atrocities committed by the Japanese military, he was simply following orders from Emperor Hirohito.
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While the Hindenburg is the most notorious airship that ever flew, primarily due to its Titanic-like end in the U.S., its predecessor, the Graf Zeppelin, was the most successful. Over a period of 9 years, the Graf flew on 590 flights, over a million miles, carrying thousands of passengers with both speed and safety. It circled the globe, explored the Arctic, and became world famous, inspiring the ‘Zeppelin Fever’ of the 1930s.
German Count (Graf) Ferdinand von Zeppelin patented the rigid dirigible in 1895. His airship’s outer envelope was held in place not by internal pressure, like a blimp, but by a rigid metal skeleton. The lifting gas, flammable hydrogen, was housed in a series of gas bag ‘cells’ within the aluminum ribs. The first Luftschiffs (airships) became so successful that the word Zeppelin was used to describe them all.
During World War I, the German military notoriously used Zeppelins to bomb London.
While the air raids did cause damage, their main effect was psychological. Brits dreaded hearing the rumble of Zeppelin engines in the night sky, to be followed by air raid sirens. When Germany surrendered in 1918, its airships surrendered as well. Under the World War I Treaty of Versailles, all Zeppelins were turned over to the Allies and production stopped. Count Zeppelin died and was succeeded by Dr. Hugo Eckener who’d been working with Zeppelin for years.
Restrictions were lifted in 1926 and Eckener quickly began building airships again. After just two years, the LZ-127 was launched – the largest dirigible ever constructed. In 1928, Countess Helga von Brandenstein-Zeppelin, daughter of the famous Count, smashed champagne on her nose, christening it the Graf Zeppelin in honor of her father.
Everything about the Graf was bigger. It measured 775 feet long, over two city blocks long, and 10 stories high. The German public loved the silver giant. No one would fail to recognize the huge dirigible, with its large red letters “Graf Zeppelin” on the nose. The Graf was not only an airship, but also a graceful masterpiece of construction.
The zeppelin’s support girders were made of a light aluminum alloy called duralumin, strong as steel, yet only one-third as heavy. The Graf had 33 tons of it. There were 17 gas cells held in place by a spider’s web of rings and girders. The cotton gas cells were lined with oxen intestines to hold the air – 50,000 of them to line just one.
Hydrogen provided buoyancy, while propulsion was supplied by five Maybach propeller engines, mounted in their own gondolas, big enough for a man to crawl inside for in-flight maintenance. A 98-foot-long gondola was mounted underneath. It housed the control room, chart room, radio room, galley, dining room, and 10 sleeping cabins. The Graf’s keel, inside the envelope, housed the crew bunkhouse, mess, and cargo hold. Its cotton skin was protected by 6 layers of silver paint to reflect the sun’s rays.
The Graf Zeppelin made its first passenger flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928.
It departed from Friedrichshafen, Germany to land at a US naval base in Lakehurst, NJ. The flight, carrying 40 crew and 20 passengers, almost ended in disaster when it encountered a strong squall over the Atlantic Ocean. Black cumulus storm clouds caused the Graf’s nose to rise upward suddenly. Furniture was knocked over and people slid across the floors. Terrified passengers, eating breakfast at the time, fell on each other in an avalanche of food and crashing plates.
Eckener managed to regain control, but the Graf had sustained serious damage. Wind turbulence had shredded the port stabilizing fin. Ripped pieces fluttered outward like streamers, threatening to jam the rudders. Eckener reluctantly sent out a distress call, knowing he risked his ship’s and company’s reputation.
He slowed the Graf to half-speed, and called for volunteers to repair the damage. It would be dangerous as they’d have to crawl outside the protective skin onto the naked girders of the stabilizer, exposed to high Atlantic winds. Four crew members — including Eckener’s son Knut — went out and successfully repaired the damage.
Once in the US, Eckener showed-off the Graf Zeppelin by flying low over the skylines of Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City, before bring his damaged ship to a safe landing at Lakehurst, NJ. Its return flight to Germany took just 3 days. The best steam ships of the day took twice as long to cross the Atlantic.
To keep his airship in the public eye, Eckener undertook a series of demo flights around Europe and the Mediterranean. Word spread that a voyage on the Graf was a marvelous experience, with breathtaking scenery and first-class service. But to Eckener, the Graf Zeppelin was just a demo trial. The public loved the Graf, but the jury was still out on the future of airship travel.
So Eckener decided he would take Graf Zeppelin on an around-the-world flight.
This was something no aircraft had ever attempted. Such a big dream would require big money. American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst offered to bankroll the project with $100,000. Hearst insisted only on exclusive story rights, and that the journey begin and end in the US. Additional revenue came from the sale of thousands of commemorative postage stamps in Germany.
The flight would carry 60 men and only one woman, Hearst newspaper reporter Lady Grace Drummond-Hay, whose reporting only increased the public’s interest. Other passengers included military officers, politicians, millionaires and journalists from around the world. Passengers paid $9,000 (quite a hefty fee in 1929) for a ticket on such a historic flight, and competition was fierce
The flight began on August 8, 1929 with an Atlantic crossing first from the US to Germany. Then in tiny villages around the world, an unfamiliar rumbling filled the air above. Villagers looked up and saw a great silver behemoth floating in the sky. The beast moved against the wind, big as a hillside, its shadow capable of eclipsing an entire village. Panic gripped some, with peasants rushing into homes and barring doors.
Up in the silver colossus, reporters radioed stories and first class passengers played card games. A phonograph in the dining room allowed guests to dance the Charleston. Passengers would gather at the elegant lounge/dining room to feast on fine food and wines, all served on Bavarian china with the Zeppelin logo. All smoking was strictly verboten of course on a ship filled with flammable hydrogen.
For the next few days, the Graf traveled across lower Siberia, floating over an eternity of barren taiga forests stretching for thousands of miles. This far north, the sun barely disappeared at night, leaving a pink dawn-like horizon. It was cold as well. Passengers looked like skiers, bundled up in coats and sweaters.
The ship landed in Tokyo to a massive welcome and Japanese press coverage. A crowd of 250,000 greeted the ship, even in the heat of an August summer. Emperor Hirohito entertained Captain Eckener and guests at tea. The Pacific crossing was largely uneventful. Light clouds wisped past as the Graf raced along at 70 mph. With a view of either clouds or ocean, passengers lapsed into monotony and boredom.
The airship’s arrival in San Francisco was nothing short of spectacular. Emerging from a cloud bank, the late afternoon sunlight glinted off her silver sides. Eckener made sure the airship made quite an impression for the press. The Graf didn’t need to worry about the Golden Gate Bridge, because it had not been built yet.
When the dirigible finally arrived in Los Angeles, it had logged a trans-Pacific flight time of 79 hours. The route next took the Graf across the hot summer deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, then northeast to Chicago. When the Graf reached New York City, it floated over Manhattan to the delight of millions. It ended its record breaking flight in Lakehurst, NJ on August 29 1929. The round the world voyage had taken 3 weeks and just 12 days of actual flying time.
Captain Eckener was given a ticker-tape parade on Broadway that rivaled Charles Lindbergh’s two years earlier.
Graf Zeppelin Captain Hugo Eckener, 1933
President Herbert Hoover praised the globe-trotting argonaut, comparing him to Christopher Columbus. The trip brought worldwide fame to both the Graf Zeppelin and Hugo Eckener. So what next? In the summer of 1931, the Graf Zeppelin carried a team of international scientists on an Arctic exploration, measuring the weather and the earth’s magnetic field. Its size and stability allowed heavy scientific instruments to be used with an accuracy not possible in the small airplanes of the day.
By 1933, Eckener was asked to fly the Graf over the Chicago World’s Fair. He agreed only if the US Post Office issued a special stamp commemorating the event. President Franklin Roosevelt was opposed to the idea, but reluctantly agreed. The Graf Zeppelin’s appearance was one of the highlights of the Fair, however, the now swastika-emblazoned ship lowered the enthusiasm of its earlier visit.
Like the Hindenberg later, the Graf Zeppelin was used as a floating Nazi propaganda tool. The Graf flew to Rome with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ for a meeting with Benito Mussolini and Italy’s fascist government. It flew over the 1933 Nuremberg Rally to herald Adolf Hitler’s appearance before the fanatical crowd.
After capturing the world’s enthusiasm, the Graf Zeppelin began regularly service between Germany and South America. The country had strong business ties with Brazil and Argentina. By 1934, the Zeppelin Company advertised a regular service to South America, departing Germany every two weeks. The Graf would safely cross the South Atlantic an amazing 136 times.
Graf Zeppelin was on the last day of a South American flight from Brazil to Germany in 1937 when it received news of the Hindenburg disaster. On its first trip that year to the US, just as the Hindenburg was mooring in Lakehurst, NJ, it shockingly burst into flames and collapsed on fire to the ground, killing 36. The Graf’s captain did not tell his passengers in flight, waiting until his ship landed safely in Germany.
The Graf Zeppelin never carried passengers again.
The ship made one last domestic flight in June 1937 to Frankfurt. There she was prematurely retired, her hydrogen removed, and she sat there on sad display. The Hitler and Nazis were now in power and Luftwaffe chief, Herman Goring,hated airships, even before the Hindenburg disaster. Two years later, World War II began. In 1940, on Goring’s orders, the record setting Graf Zeppelin and the Graf Zeppelin II (the Hindenburg’s never flown sister ship) were dismantled and their metal skeleton used to build radar towers.
The Graf was the first aircraft to fly more than 1 million miles; the official total being 1,060,000. A frequent visitor to both North and South America, the Graf Zeppelin safely crossed the Atlantic 144 times and carried some 13,000 passengers in its long career. Hugo Eckener was not a Nazi, and was replaced in the Zeppelin company with Hitler flunkies. After the war, he started and wrote for a newspaper.
Today when we think of airships, only the quaint, much smaller Blimps come to mind. They float harmlessly over the countryside and sports stadiums, emblazoned with corporate ads, like Goodyear and MetLife. Or perhaps they appear wistfully in some steampunk reimaging of the future. The Graf Zeppelin is just a fleeting memory, forever overshadowed by the terrible Hindenburg tragedy. But in its day, during the Roaring Twenties, the Graf was the successful symbol of the world’s brief, bygone Airship Era.
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MS Wilhelm Gustloff in port in Hamburg 1938 before World War II
The sinking of MS WILHELM GUSTLOFF was the worst maritime disaster in world history, with more dead than the Titanic AND Lusitaniacombined. It was a German refugee ship fleeing Poland and the advancing Russian army near the end of World War II.
The Gustloff sank in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by the Soviet submarine S-13 on a freezing, wintery night, January 30, 1945. The WG’s final voyage was part of a German evacuation operation. It was sunk while evacuating Nazi officials, military personnel, wounded soldiers and thousands of civilian refugees. Amongst them are 4 thousand infants, children and youths on their way to safety in Kiel, far from the Eastern Front. The former ‘East Prussia’ was rapidly being surrounded by the advancing Soviet Red Army.
The Wilhem Gustloff was filled to the bursting point with over 10,000 panicked Germans fleeing the approaching Russian military. The vessel was designed to hold a maximum of 1,880 passengers and crew. In the dead of night, in the Baltic Sea, the WG was hit by three torpedoes from the S-13 and sank in just an hour.
An estimated 9,400 people perished, over half of them children and infants.
At the beginning of the war, the German cruise ship was requisitioned into the German Navy. In 1940, it was repainted from pleasure ship white to naval grey and assigned as a floating barracks in the port of Gdynia, located in Nazi occupied Poland, formerly East Prussia. And that’s where it floated until 1945, when it became an escape vessel for German citizens and Nazis in Operation Hannibal.
On Tuesday, January 30th, temperatures of 0 degrees F (-18C) grip the Oxhöft Pier in Gotenhafen (Gdynia). For the first time in four years, the captain will order the sleeping engines to start. Icebreaker ships work to carve a narrow path through the frozen Bay of Danzig to allow them passage through the winter waters of the Baltic Sea.
On the bridge, two senior officers command the ship, Friedrich Petersen, captain of the Gustloff and Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn, head of the naval division of 2000 men who occupied the ship for the last 4 years. The two officers butt heads immediately and cannot agree on much. Two young captains from the local merchant marine are also on the bridge, adding their voices to the mix.
The Wilhelm Gustloff was far from ready for any such voyage. Most critically, 10 of her 22 lifeboats were missing. After 4 years as a floating barracks, they’d gone missing – requisitioned for other harbor duties. Captain Petersen ordered the crew to search the docks, rounding up boats, dinghies, anything that floated, and strapping them down on the Sun Deck. The Captain worried the unused engines would even turn over!
Down in the streets, people flooded into Gotenhafen, tired and desperate refugees waiting their turn to climb the gangplank to safety. The deep booms of the Red Army artillery could be heard in the distance, causing panic to set in amongst the crowd. Rumors spread amongst the refugees that the Russian soldiers committed unspeakable atrocities on the German people they captured. Families bartered what they had, pleading for precious boarding passes. Mothers with babies and small children were given preference.
At the docks, a mass of humanity rushed up the gangplanks and onto the Wilhelm Gustloff.
High level Nazi officers demand entry, threatening sentries with death. By nightfall, tickets and boarding passes were no longer checked as the crowd forced its way onto the docks. The Gustloff’s First Officer could no longer maintain control and count the thousands of bodies streaming onto his ship. The true number of those on board that day will never be known.
Once on the Wilhelm Gustloff, refugees had to navigate standing room only lounges and crowded passageways on every single deck. The spacious upper deck rooms were turned into infirmaries for the wounded soldiers. The Arbor was turned into a maternity ward due to the high number of pregnant women on board. Every possible space on the ship is occupied.
Wilhelm Gustloff docked at Gotenhafen (Gdynia), 1944
The Gustloff would be leaving in a small convoy of 3 other smaller ships on their way to Kiel in western Germany. With fueling complete, her Chief Engineer turned on her dormant engines for the first time since 1940. Even after being silent for so long, her engines churned to life and black smoke began belching out of her single funnel. Finally, at 12:15am, the Wilhelm Gustloff began to pull away from Oxhöft Pier.
Below deck, thousands of passengers attempt to settle in to their assigned areas. All are instructed over loudspeakers to wear the lifejackets and under no circumstances remove them. Above deck, wind and snow pelt the decks. The seas become rough as the quiet bay is left behind. Seasickness begins to set in. Unable to relieve themselves overboard, onboard toilets quickly become clogged. The growing stench is overwhelming.
Refugees find an area of the ship to hunker down for the voyage. Cabins usually assigned 4 passengers were cramped with triple that number. Hallways only 6 feet across were virtual log jams of humanity. The Gustloff’s restrooms were quickly maxed out and clogged. Excrement flowed out of the toilets and spilled to floors. Combined with the heat, sweat, and filth of those who hadn’t bathed in weeks, the smell was suffocating. Even so, it was a small price to pay for their safety.
On the bridge, heated arguments continued among the four captains.
They debated the route, the speed, and the course. One thing they all agreed on: the minimal escort provided by the German Navy was not enough. The Gustloff is accompanied only by the Hansa (another smaller ocean liner) and two aging torpedo boats. Soon the Hansa radioed that she was having engine trouble and had to turn back. Next, the TF-1 torpedo boat had the same issue and also had to turn around. It was now just the WG and Löwe left to finish the journey.
Petersen and Zahn argue over their course to Kiel. They could sail close to the shore, where there was danger of mines, but the waters were too shallow for Russian subs. OR they could use the shipping channel where there would be no mines, but Soviet submarines could be lurking. Wrongly assuming that submarines could not operate in such foul winter weather, Captain Peterson ordered them into the open channel.
They next argued over running lights, ON to avoid collisions with other ships or OFF to avoid detection by submarines. Zahn wanted to follow standard war protocol and run dark. However they’d received a radio message that a convoy of minesweepers was also in the channel, so the Captain ordered the lights turned on. Unfortunately, a second radio message, stating that enemy submarines were also spotted in the area, did to not get through due to the storm.
Approximately 1½ hours after leaving port, the Wilhelm Gustloff settles into a course farther away from the coast in a mine swept channel – Lane No. 58. They also decided that rather than a zig-zag pattern to confuse subs, the ship would run a straight line course to reach Kiel as fast as possible. All of these decisions sealed the Wilhelm Gustloff’s fate.
The weather deteriorated as the two ships pressed on. Heavy snowfall was mixed with hail pelting the ships. The wind howled at near gale strength. Foam from breaking waves is blown onto anyone standing on the decks, where the temperature is far below zero. As cold as the weather was, few could stand for long on her decks.
In the meantime, Soviet submarine captain Alexander Marinesko slips the S-13 into the Gulf of Danzig. Having patrolled with other Russian submarines off the coast, opportunities were scant. Aware of German activity around ports in the Danzig , he hopes for better odds. Given the heavily mined Gulf, it is a calculated risk for the bold captain and his crew of 47 men.
Despite the bitter cold outside, heat and humidity from thousands of bodies rises below decks. Many ignore the Captain’s order to keep lifejackets on – a risk they’re willing to take for some comfort. Cries from the thousands of miserable and unhappy children fill the corridors. Soup and sandwiches are offered to those able to keep it down. Some are even lulled to sleep. The Hitler Suite, meant for the Führer, is occupied by the Gotenhafen mayor and his family.
Sometime before 8pm, the first officer on the S-13 submarine spots lights on the distant horizon.
Captain Marinesko quickly makes his way up to the conning tower. When the snow clears, he spots the silhouette of an enormous ocean liner, with its lights showing! He decided with excitement that it was about 20,000 tons. He felt quite sure it was packed with German men who had trampled Mother Russia and were now fleeing for their lives. It had to be sunk.
Over the next two hours, Marinesko shadows the Wilhelm Gustloff, carefully planning his attack. His crew begins grinning at one another, sensing that their luck is about to change for the better. Finally, the Captain orders the S-13 to dive.
On the bridge of the Gustloff, no one is aware of the danger lurking in the dark, frigid waters. The sensing equipment on board the Löwe has frozen and is useless. German music playing through the ship’s speakers is interrupted at 8pm. Adolf Hitler, live on the radio, makes a typical, impassioned speech commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Nazi Party. It echoes throughout the corridors of the ship, providing little comfort to the fleeing refugees.
The S-13 overtakes the Wilhelm Gustloff on her port side in the shallower water near the coast. This was a daring move as they risked running aground. Minutes after the Führer’s speech ends, around 9pm, Marinesko gives the command: “Fire all Torpedoes!” Each of the 4 torpedoes has been hand painted with a dedication: 1: FOR THE MOTHERLAND, 2: FOR STALIN, 3: FOR THE SOVIET PEOPLE, 4: FOR LENINGRAD
Depiction of MS Wilhelm Gustloff and Soviet submarine S-13
Three torpedoes speed toward the WG. One torpedo – the one FOR STALIN – remains behind, primed and stuck in its launching tube – threatening to blow up the submarine. Thanks to the quick and delicate actions of the crew, it is disarmed in time.
On board the WG, cheerful music resumes from the ship’s speakers – accompanied by the continued whimpering of unhappy children. On the bridge, a round of cognac is poured to toast their good fortune so far. And then at 9:16pm, the 1st torpedo strikes the front of the ship, blowing a hole in the port bow. Moments later, the second hits where the empty swimming pool is located. Finally, the third scores a direct hit in the engine room below the single funnel.
Passengers and crew are thrown off their feet. Those killed instantly are the lucky ones.
The 1st torpedo struck the forward crew cabins and cargo areas in the bow, a huge water plume shooting up in the night air. Many crew members were killed instantly. Survivors thought they had hit a mine. The first reports of damage come to the bridge. Petersen orders the watertight doors closed, sealing off those crew still alive in the bow. Unfortunately, they were the few on board who knew how to operate the lifeboats.
The 2nd torpedo hits at the drained swimming pool which had become the accommodations for the Women’s Naval Auxiliary. The blast creates a shower of splintered mosaic tiles, cutting the girls to pieces where they slept. The large glass ceiling over the pool shatters, raining down shards onto the women. For the first time in years, water rushes into the pool. But this time, floating corpses and life jackets swim in the icy water, turned red with blood. Only two of the 373 girls will escape alive.
The 3rd torpedo hits on the engine room, knocking out engines and power. Lights go out throughout the ship and communications go dead. Not that there is silence. The mayhem of screaming, shouting, and rushing water fills the corridors. Passengers can already feel the ship list to port. Emergency lights flicker on – illuminating only indescribable chaos.
Captain Peterson tries to call the engine room, but there is no reply. The radio room operator has to use an emergency transmitter to transmit an SOS. With a range of just 2,000 meters, only the escort ship Löwe receives it. Without delay, the Löwe turns about towards the damaged ship, and re-transmits the Gustloff’s SOS.
Thousands do not survive the frenzied charge up to the stairs to the decks.
Appeals from the P.A. system to maintain calm and orderly are ignored amongst the alarm sirens. Stairwells instantly jam as mobs of people attempt to escape the rushing waters. To trip and fall means certain death from trampling. Many trapped in the throng can barely breathe – unable to move in any direction. The luckier ones find ways to the upper decks.
On deck, the poor weather and lack of trained crew exacerbates everything. The ship lists more and more to port with each minute. People slide off the icy decks and into the freezing sea. Lifeboats are frozen to their davits. Crew smash at them with bare hands trying to free them. Crew members and civilians alike attempt to free the ship’s lifeboats.
Once one is freed, there’s a mad rush to get on, while others jumped in from upper decks. Several lifeboats capsize into the water, dumping their people into the cold Baltic Sea. Others have cables snap and fall.Some armed officers use their pistols to keep control, shooting in the air to get attention. Only one lifeboat is ever lowered correctly.
The glass enclosed promenade deck is jammed with desperate women and children. People trapped behind the glass struggle to break it before they drown. The windows should slide down, but are frozen shut. Survivors in boats watch through the glass as the water rises and claims hundreds. Other gun shots begin to ring out as Nazi officers took their families into their cabins to kill them.
The Löwe launches her few lifeboats and begins to pick up survivors. Her SOS was picked up by the cruiser Admiral Hipper, which steams in their direction. The Wilhelm Gustloff is listing heavily onto her port side. The infirmary wounded, unable to get off their beds, slide across rooms and into walls, unable to save themselves as the water rushes in to claim them.
On the submarine S-13, Captain Marinesko watches through the periscope.
As the Admiral Hipper arrives, the Gustloff’s funnel was almost touching the water. All 4 captains abandon the bridge. The Wilhelm Gustloff was in her final moments. Thousands of screams filled the night air. Seventy minutes after the torpedoes struck, the WG slips below the surface of the icy Baltic, taking thousands of trapped souls with it. Eerily, the emergency lights and wailing sirens drown out as it descends. The Gustloff was gone, taking 9,343 souls with her in 70 minutes. 1,252 somehow survived.
Those left flailing in the cold stormy waters of the Baltic don’t last long. Many try to grasp at lifeboats or rafts – only to be beaten off by desperate occupants. Bodies of victims, buoyant in their lifejackets, bobbed on the sea. Corpses of younger children float upside down, as the ill-fitting military lifejackets were not designed for them. Both Captain Petersen and Captain Zahn survive.
With the Gustloff gone, the Löwe continues to rescue survivors (472). It’s no easy task as waves were several meters high. Another torpedo boat T-36 arrives and starts rescuing survivors (564). After picking up the sound of the S-13 on sonar, the captain of the Admiral Hipper decides to flee rather than risk getting sunk. The captain of the T-36 orders depth charges dropped in an attempt to destroy the killer sub.
Satisfied with the kill, Captain Marinesko and the S-13 submarine are able to slip away into the deep Baltic Sea. Ironically, the captain had a history with alcohol and was dishonorably discharged before the year was out.
Perhaps because after four long years of war, costing the lives of so many soldiers and civilians on both sides, the sinking of the MS Wilhem Gustloff, though tragic in its scope, did not garner many international news headlines. The Nazis did not publicize the sinking for fear of its affect on morale. By now, the Allies had regained France and Poland and were advancing on Berlin from both sides. As the decades pass, its place in history is all but forgotten, except of course, by the German people.
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