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German transport Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk in the Baltic Sea
On January 30, 1945, in the Baltic Sea, the Soviet submarine S-13, under the command of Captain A. I. Marinesko, sank the German passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff. The Wilhelm Gustloff was carrying German submarine personnel, officials of the Nazi regime, and refugees. This event has been described in some historical publications as the "attack of the century".
The Wilhelm Gustloff, which was launched in 1937, was named after the head of the Swiss branch of the Nazi Party, who had died a year earlier in an assassination attempt. During World War II, it was converted into a hospital ship and then a floating barracks for training German submariners.
On January 30, 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff set sail from a port in northern Poland. According to various sources, there were between 5,000 and 10,000 people on board, including cadets, non-commissioned officers, and officers from the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Training Division of Submarines, as well as employees of the Auxiliary Marine Corps, wounded service members, and refugees.
At 21:10, the ship was spotted by the Soviet submarine S-13, which was on duty under the command of Captain A. I. Marinesko, while it was traveling in a straight line with its running lights on. After a two-hour pursuit, the Soviet submariners launched an attack on the ship. All three torpedoes they fired hit their targets, leaving the Wilhelm Gustloff without any chance of survival. An hour after the attack, the former luxury cruise ship sank.
The Wilhelm Gustloff became one of the largest ships sunk by the Soviet Navy during World War II and the largest to be sunk by Soviet submarines.
On the way back to base, late in the evening of February 9th, C-13 detected another enemy transport vessel accompanied by two escorts - the liner General von Steuben, carrying more than 4,000 German soldiers, wounded, and refugees. The next morning, on February 10th, the target was attacked and sunk an hour and a half later.
Both Soviet, Russian, and German historians agree that both vessels were legitimate military targets. This assessment was made, in particular, by the Institute of Maritime Law in Kiel, Germany. Upon his return from combat, A.I. Marinesko, who holds the record for the largest number of enemy ships sunk during the Great Patriotic War, received the Order of the Red Banner. In May 1990, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Lit.: Воробьёв В. П. Атака века: об А. Маринеско // Молодая гвардия. 1992. № 11/12; Доценко В. Д., Макаров С. И., Щербаков В. Н. Александр Иванович Маринеско. Правда и вымысел. М., 2014; Ташлыков С. Л. Маринеско А. И. // Большая российская энциклопедия.
Based on the materials of Presidential Library:
Мемориал А. И. Маринеско и подводной лодке С-13: [фотография]. [Между 1986 и 1996];
Общий вид памятника на могиле Александра Маринеско: [фотография]. [Санкт-Петербург, 1990-е г.];
Battles of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet // Memory of the Great Victory: [digital collection]