Abandon Ship!

On September 12, 1942, a German submarine attacked the British ship RMS Laconia five hundred miles off the coast of western Africa. The Germans did not know that locked below decks were nearly 1,800 Italian prisoners of war.

Once they realized their mistake, the Germans made an unprecedented decision to rescue all survivors regardless of nationality, and they tried to declare the waters a neutral zone. Then an American bomber flew over the humanitarian effort, and its pilot was ordered to drop bombs. The attack contributed to the deaths of many Italian prisoners and British civilians.

Those who survived faced weeks adrift at sea in shark-infested waters, fighting to stay alive with little water or food. This true account of the sinking and its aftermath includes historic photographs. It shows how compassion can win out over conflict even in the cruelest moments of war.