The Wilhelm Gustloff Was Torpedoed! Ep 10 - Historsea

In this gripping historical documentary, we delve deep into the haunting events surrounding the ill-fated MV Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise ship-turned-evacuation vessel during World War II. Join us as we uncover the heartbreaking story behind one of the most catastrophic maritime disasters in history.
As the war raged on in 1945, the MV Wilhelm Gustloff embarked on a perilous journey carrying thousands of civilians, military personnel, and refugees desperate to escape the advancing Soviet forces. Little did they know that their hopes for safety would soon turn into a nightmare of unimaginable proportions.
Through meticulous research, rare archival footage, and expert testimonies, we shed light on the ship's tragic fate on that fateful night, when it was tragically sunk by a Soviet submarine in the icy waters of the Baltic Sea. The loss of life was staggering, making the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history.
Join us as we explore the human stories behind the numbers, revealing the personal struggles, heroic acts, and heart-wrenching moments that unfolded amidst the chaos. We pay tribute to the victims and survivors, honoring their memories and ensuring that the world never forgets the magnitude of this devastating event.
This documentary serves as a poignant reminder of the horrors of war and the toll it takes on innocent lives caught in its crossfire. Subscribe to our channel to learn more about pivotal moments in history and the remarkable stories that shaped our world.
Don't miss this captivating and emotionally charged account of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff's tragic journey - a tale that continues to resonate with us to this day. Like and share this video to spread awareness about this overlooked chapter in history and to pay our respects to those who suffered on that fateful night.

[@Feline_Frenzy53]

I'd heard about the Wilhelm Gustloff some time ago. But you added facts and gave a more complete background than I had heard. Thank you.

[@konstantinm2069]

Thanks for this great video. An interesting story, though tragic. As a Russian, I've heard about Alexander Marinesku who is indeed considered a military hero and one of the most resultful submarine commanders. His incompliance with protocol and break-neck bravery are actually two sides of one coin... A personality whose actions were reconsidered and praised after the war.

[@DCGULL01]

You gotta post more, Tim! Great channel, must hold self t o g e ther & NOT watch other versions 1st. May taint truth...Haha😂

[@1man1bike]

Absolutely fascinating historical lesson. I had never heard of this ship before so I appreciate the time and effort you put in to bring this story to us. Thank you.

[@TheMomseloc]

I hope you keep your KZbin channel going. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be on social media. Not all the political garbage. There are a lot of people whom don't get discovered for a year or two and then their channels take off. So hang in there!

[@thebowlerhatguy5419]

Love this channel, can you do the French SS Normandie please?

[@thebowlerhatguy5419]

Love the channel. Would you do the SS Thistlegorm?

[@rickwiles8835]

Great episode I've never heard the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and the depth of detail is outstanding. How did you uncover the story of what happened to the Gustloff? I felt strange feeling despair for the Nazis aboard the ship. I hope some day you will be able to cover the sinking of the Nazi sub U-166 off the coast of Louisiana. I believe many US Americans believe the war was fought in Europe and the islands of the south Pacific and are unaware that from 1942-43 German U-boats hunted within 7 miles of the Gulf and East coast of the USA.

[@jerryclayton4616]

Another good episode

[@balisongman07]

I look forward to seeing this channel grow and flourish. Great video and excellent description

[@Solitarynana7870]

I have honestly never been that proud of my German heritage, because of WWII. Hearing this piece of history was good. I have slowly begun to realize that many German people were patriots. They loved their country, not necessarily Hitler. It is easier to see the people and not the terrible leaders of the Nazi party. We, as a world, all suffered during that time. I'd like to think it wouldn't happen again. It is a known truth that history does repeat itself. Sadly, we have seen that already.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Sadly germans nuked an entire town full of 20000 prisoners near Wilamowice in Poland for testing their first nuke.

[@Solitarynana7870]

@@Schlipperschlopper That is absolutely sickening.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

@@Solitarynana7870 yes few people know about it

[@michaelmckeel3992]

Pretty tale tale there, prof. @@Schlipperschlopper

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Judge Jackson in Nuremberg told about it@@michaelmckeel3992

[@BarbaraXV]

For those of you who want to know more about the subject: there is a book (with numerous original pictures, unfortunately only in German) Die Todesfahrt der Gustloff: Porträts von Überlebenden der größten Schiffskatastrophe aller Zeiten (The deadly Voyage of the Gustloff: Portraits of Survivors of the Greatest Ship Disaster of All Time) 2007 by Armin Fuhrer It is based on the accounts of Heinz Schön, a survivor of the ship's sinking. Heinz Schön has dedicated the rest of his life to preserving the memory of this tragedy. He was the advisor on numerous television documentaries and also on the film "Hafen der Hoffnung - Die letzte Fahrt der Wilhelm Gustloff" (Port of Hope - The Last Voyage of the Wilhelm Gustloff) ZDF, 2007 In 2021 I once researched whether Heinz Schön, was still alive and learned something very moving. He passed away in April 2013, but his last wish was fulfilled: he wanted to find his final resting place at the Gustloff. His friend and owner of a diving school (Matthias Schneider) brought his urn down to the wreck. The urn was made of salt and dissolved, so his ashes are now with the Gustloff. (Source: www.welt.de/regionales/duesseldorf/article122238865/Rueckkehr-auf-die-Gustloff-war-sein-letzter-Wunsch.html) The complete Gustloff archive with thousands of pictures, time documents and also a few objects like an original life ring of the Wilhelm Gustloff was bequeathed by Heinz Schön to his friend Matthias Schneider.

[@whoever6458]

Swiss army knives are always a good thing to have handy. I've cut wood for an emergency fire with one before. Always good to have one with you unless you're going on a plane or something.

[@brownnoise357]

A very interesting video Tim 👍 and I don't know why, but I think there's more about this to come out in the Future, and in connection with what the itinerary for the Ship After this voyage could have been. The Decoding of Nazi Communications at Bletchley Park in England was comprehensive, and likely included the Route of the Ship, plus its future Orders, and at precisely this time the Massive Build up of Military Forces was taking place at a major Transport Hub ready to attack Russian Forces, that at the time were right at the extreme end of a very stretched Russian Logistics Supply Line. That large Nazi Counter Attack, likely would have Pushed Russian Forces Right Back to Moscow and extended the War by at least a couple of years. So Stalin asked the Allies to do what they could to damage those Massed Nazi Forces at that Transport Hub. So the RAF Bimbed it by Night, and the US airforce Vimbed it by Day, around the clock for two days, Starting on February 15th 1945 ? I think it was. That Transport Hub was Dresden , and just think what that Ship could have carried to support that huge buildup. To me, that makes the timing of the Sinking a particularly interesting speculation. Will that ever be Cinfirmed ? Probably Not. Best Wishes. Bob. 🤔👍✨️✨️✨️

[@louisfbrooks]

Great episode. I have studied WWII maritime history and I have to say this is the first time I have heard this story.

[@mikeh720]

great job Tim. I'd never heard of this one and I'm a bit of WW2 history nerd. Something new for me to dig deeper into, although it seems you covered the incident pretty thoroughly!

[@NKP73]

Great job 👏🏻 Tim , enjoyed it 😊

[@mememe5231]

Great content! Thank you

[@JP-su8bp]

Well done again, sir.

[@tomelerding1399]

Thanks, Tim. Great job on another poignant story from WWII. A sad legacy of the Nazis.

[@michaelmckeel3992]

A sad legacy for the communist "allies" who put that ship on the bottom. A sad legacy for the ally that provided material support to those communists. If the Germans had committed such an atrocity it would have been propagandized until the end of time. To the victors go the narrative.

[@whoever6458]

Any life that is lost is worth mourning and I say this as someone who had family on both sides dies in the concentration camps. I imagine that regular Germans in that time were putting up with the bullshit of their country, probably mostly out of fear that the same thing that befell my family would also befall them, and feeling as if they didn't have any real power to stop the bad things that were happening. I also think that, like today in the world, much of the true horrors were mostly hidden from regular people and, when they were exposed, excused by plausible reasons. It's easy to just look the other way when something isn't affecting you directly no matter how grim it is, especially if you feel like you have no personal power to change it. Compassion should be shown on the regular people of even those countries who have engaged in atrocious violence in war because think whether you could stop a war or whether it would even be possible anymore for regular people to actually stop one. I keep getting throttled from this website because I say war does not resolve disputes and I'm someone who wants people to live. The only reason I would get throttled is because the powers that be make money off of continuing the killing of people. Yes, it's unjust to invade another country, but we really can't be ones to talk and look at how much it has cost us when we did the same kind of thing and how much it cost the people in the countries we invaded and for what!? If you give a damn about lives, you are in favor of having conversations rather than war to resolve disputes. I really don't see why that's so controversial or why we can't care about lives that were lost, even if they happened to have been people who grew up during the time of Nazi Germany.

[@DebbieMurray-t1i]

Yes human cost of war and Adolf Hitler. He was responsible for wdeaths

[@dr.migilitoloveless2385]

The ship was a legitimate military target since It was carrying military personnel and equipment which the Germans needed for the war in the West.

[@alexshyshkov8585]

Nothing new for me. I'm from former Soviet Union and know this story well from our school history lessons. Yes, I enjoyed how Tim has presented it. Thank you

[@annegrey3780]

wait, they taught this in the Soviet Union?! I also knew about it since I was a kid (Canada) but not from school, I just watched a lot of history channel growing up. But, I mean, the reason why most Western countries don't discuss it is that, I mean, it was a German civilian ship torpedoed in WWII...not hard to guess what side did the torpedoing... so it's super strange (but cool) to me that in the West they avoid even discussing that "our side" torpedoed a civilian ship (causing a literal record breaking loss of life that still stands today) and the freaking Soviets who actually launched it are the ones teaching it in school. God, Western schools really do need to grow a back bone on history.

[@alexshyshkov8585]

@@annegrey3780 yeah, Marinesku and C-13 story is well known and taught as part of the WW2 history. And there is NO controversy in this attack. Yes, it's a tragedy that so many people died, but still... that was a war. it's a great success story of Soviet submarine fleet. And by the way, it WASN'T a civilian vessel, it was a legit military target.

[@2nicnag2]

Your intros to your videos are the best I’ve ever come across on KZbin, engaging, easy to follow

[@Marc816]

Fun fact: Alexander Marinesko, the captain of the USSR submarine S-13 that sank the Gustloff, was caught rolling around dead drunk in a whorehouse shortly after the sinking.

[@ronik24]

Nicely done! 3:30 national socialist, not socialist. National socialism was strictly opposed to socialism as we know it (derived from communism) despite its name, they only used the term to redefine it completely.

[@Ivellios23]

not true. They were socialists that had good school spirit. Did you know that's all nationalism is, simply school spirit but on a national level? you take pride in the school you had no choice in, right? same thing.

[@scotttudor6647]

It’s extremely pedantic, I know, but cruise ships and ocean liners are two different things. Minor note on a good video.

[@frankodo3251]

There’s a lot of right among some facts he got wrong. First of all, the slow speed was because of two things. First and foremost the Gustloff was part of a convoy of evacuation ships that had to go the speed of the slowest vessel. Then, the machinery of the Gustloff was in disrepair, she had served as a barracks ship for years and never seen any maintenance of her boilers, turbines, etc.. that’s why it is highly questionable how fast she actually could have gone that night if not for the restricted speed of the entire convoy. Then - from all I ever read or seen, she didn’t switch on all her exterior lights but just the navigation lights. Still enough for S-13 to spot her and correctly predict her course and speed for a torpedo attack. According to the international laws regulating wartime actions sinking her was a legitimate action. She not only had soldiers and military personell on board, she was painted in camo and sported no sign making her recognizable as a hospital ship, like wait paint, red crossed that are lit, the only exception by law from the see it sink it rule. After all it was total war and it’s a fair assumption that most German submarine commanders, presented with a chance to sink a Russian auxiliary ship of decent size, would have fired as well. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Ivellios23]

But then, very shortly afterwards he sank a hospital boat killing over 4,000 people. Camo or no on the WG is irrelevent considering he sank a completely white ship save for the massive red cross on it. Doubt he could have seen the camo with just the nav lights anyways. No, he was just 'see ship' then 'sink ship.'

[@alfonsoaguilar877]

Great video

[@nash1072]

*Promosm* 🤣

[@frankholden237]

It's called 'unrestricted submarine warfare' and was waged by the Germans from the first day of the war , 3rd Sept 1939, when 'Athenia' was sunk.She was carrying The reason Donitz wasn't convicted of war crimes was that the US had also waged unrestricted submarine warfare against the Japanese. If you want truly tragic read up on what happened to the Montevideo Maru en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montevideo_Maru

[@whoarewe7515]

And the Lusitania.