Laconia Incident - Post Bombing Rescue Operations

Post Bombing Rescue Operations

Unaware of the attack, U-507, U-506 and the Italian submarine Cappellini continued to pick up survivors. The following morning Commander Revedin of the Cappellini found that he was rescuing survivors who had been set adrift by U-156. At 11:30am Revedin received the following message:

Bordeaux to Cappellini: Reporting attack already undergone by other submarines. Be ready to submerge for action against the enemy. Put shipwrecked on rafts except women, children and Italians, and make for sotto-quadratino 56 of quadratino 0971 where you will land remainder shipwrecked on to French ships. Keep British prisoners. Keep strictest watch enemy planes and submarines. End of message.

U-507 and U-506 received confirmation from headquarters of the attack on U-516 and were asked for the number of survivors rescued. Commander Schacht of U-507 replied that he had 491, of which fifteen were women and sixteen were children. Commander Wurdemann of U-506 confirmed 151, including nine women and children. The next message from headquarters ordered them to cast adrift all the British and Polish survivors, mark their positions and instruct them to remain exactly where they were and proceed with all haste to the rescue rendezvous. The respective Commanders chose not to cast any survivors adrift.

Five B-25s from Ascension's permanent squadron and Hardin's B-24 continued to search for submarines from dawn till dusk. On 17 September, one B-25 sighted Laconia's lifeboats and informed the Empire Haven of their position. Hardin's B-24 sighted U-506, which had 151 survivors on board including nine women and children, and attacked. On the first run the bombs failed to drop, U-506 crash dived and on the second run the B-24 dropped two 500lb bombs and two 350lb depth charges but they caused no damage.

On 17 September, the British at Freetown sent an ambiguous message to Ascension informing them that three French ships from Dakar were on route. Captain Richardson assumed the French intended to invade Ascension so the submarine hunting was cancelled in order to prepare for an invasion.

The French cruiser Gloire picked up 52 survivors, all British, while still 60 miles from the rendezvous point. The Gloire then met with the sloop Annamite with both meeting U-507 and U-506 at the rendezvous point at a little after 2pm on the 17th. With the exception of two British officers kept aboard U-507, the survivors were all transferred to the rescue ships. The Gloire sailed off on her own and within four hours rescued another 11 lifeboats. At 10pm the Gloire found another lifeboat and proceeded to a planned rendezvous with the Annamite. At 1am a lookout spotted a light on the horizon, which was investigated despite it meaning the Gloire would not be able to make the rendezvous, and a further 84 survivors were rescued. A new rendezvous was arranged, the ships meeting at 9:30am with the Annamite transferring her survivors to the Gloire. Once completed a count was taken: 373 Italians, 70 Poles and 597 British that included 48 women and children. The Gloire arrived at Dakar on the 21st to resupply before sailing for Casablanca, arriving there on the 25th. On arrival, Colonel Baldwin, on behalf of all the British survivors, presented Captain Graziani with a letter that read as follows:

We the undersigned officers of His Majesty’s Navy, Army and Air Force and of the Merchant Navy, and also on behalf of the Polish detachment, the prisoners of war, the women and children, wish to express to you our deepest and sincerest gratitude for all you have done, at the cost of very great difficulties for your ship and her crew, in welcoming us, the survivors of his Majesty’s transport-ship, the Laconia.

The submarine Cappellini had been unable to find the French warships so radioed for instructions and awaited a response. The French sloop Dumont-d’Urville was sent to rendezvous with the Cappellini and by chance rescued a lifeboat from the British cargo ship Trevilley, which had been torpedoed on the 12th. After searching for other Trevilley survivors without luck the Dumont-d’Urville met the Cappellini on the 20th. With the exception of six Italians and two British Officers, the remaining survivors were transferred to the Dumont-d’Urville. The Dumont-d’Urville later transferred the Italians to the Annamite, which landed them at Dakar on the 24th. Of Laconia’s original complement of 2,732, only 1,113 survived.