8.APRIL 1940 I LILLESAND
8.april 1940 ble det tyske troppetransportskipet MS "Rio de Janeiro" torpedert like utenfor Lillesand av den polske ubåten ORP "Orzel". Derfor går det an hevde at 2.verdenskrig i Norge startet i Lillesand. Foran rådhuset ligger det en minnestein som forteller om dette.
Skipsvraket er lokalisert og til og med filmet. Se dette klippet fra TV2:
http://www.tv2.no/2015/06/23/nyheter/nazisme/tyskere/andre-verdenskrig/7080634
Mer om "Rio de Janeiro" kan leses på internettsiden: http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?11827
Allen Tony 08/09/2009
MS "Rio de Janeiro" was a German passenger/cargo ship converted to an Army Transport Ship.
She was built in 1914 by Bremer Vulkan as the the German cargo steamer SANTA
INES SS. In 1921 she was renamed RIO DE JANEIRO SS.
On the 8th April
1940 she was transporting troops and horses to the invasion of Norway. While off
Lillesand in southern Norway, the ship was torpedoed by the Polish submarine
"Orzel", which had made a dramatic escape from the Estonian sea port town of
Tallin, seventeen days after the war with Poland started. The first torpedo
missed, the second scored a hit but failed to sink the "Rio de Janeiro". With
smoke pouring from the stricken liner, the order was given to "abandon ship". A
third torpedo struck the ship amidships, breaking its back and sending it slowly
to the bottom. About 150 men including 97 Luftwaffe Flak troops and 80 horses
were drowned. There were 183 survivors. This was one of the first actions by a
Polish submarine in the Second World War.
ref. used
Martime Disasters of WWII
Skipsvraket er lokalisert og til og med filmet. Se dette klippet fra TV2:
http://www.tv2.no/2015/06/23/nyheter/nazisme/tyskere/andre-verdenskrig/7080634
Mer om "Rio de Janeiro" kan leses på internettsiden: http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?11827
Allen Tony 08/09/2009
MS "Rio de Janeiro" was a German passenger/cargo ship converted to an Army Transport Ship.
She was built in 1914 by Bremer Vulkan as the the German cargo steamer SANTA
INES SS. In 1921 she was renamed RIO DE JANEIRO SS.
On the 8th April
1940 she was transporting troops and horses to the invasion of Norway. While off
Lillesand in southern Norway, the ship was torpedoed by the Polish submarine
"Orzel", which had made a dramatic escape from the Estonian sea port town of
Tallin, seventeen days after the war with Poland started. The first torpedo
missed, the second scored a hit but failed to sink the "Rio de Janeiro". With
smoke pouring from the stricken liner, the order was given to "abandon ship". A
third torpedo struck the ship amidships, breaking its back and sending it slowly
to the bottom. About 150 men including 97 Luftwaffe Flak troops and 80 horses
were drowned. There were 183 survivors. This was one of the first actions by a
Polish submarine in the Second World War.
ref. used
Martime Disasters of WWII
