Search
Login Signup

Wilhelm Gustloff: Deadliest Shipwreck

STORY PREFACE

The surging mass of people
attempted to storm the lifeboats,
hardly anyone hearing the command:
"women and children first."

Karl Hoffmann
Wilhelm Gustloff Survivor

The night was freezing cold as 10,582 people (perhaps more) were crammed into the Wilhelm Gustloff.  Most of the folks on the overcrowded ship, designed to carry 1,865 passengers, were German women and children. They thought they were escaping certain death at the hands of the approaching Soviet Army. (The arrows pictured in this linked German map indicate the "Red Army" routes)

 

To cite this story, using MLA Guidelines:

Bos, Carole D. "Wilhelm Gustloff: Deadliest Shipwreck" AwesomeStories.com. Date of access
       <http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/gustloff>.

IN OTHER WORDS: Author. Title of story. Name of web site. Date of access <URL>.