The Sinking of SS Scillin - Allied POW's

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SS SCILLIN (November 14, 1942)

Italian cargo/passenger ship en route from Tripoli to Sicily with about 815 Commonwealth prisoners-of-war on board, was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Sahib (Lt. John Bromage) 10 miles north of Cape Milazzo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Sahib rescued 27 POW's from the water (26 British and one South African) plus the Scillin's captain and 45 Italian crew members. Only then, when the commander heard the survivors speaking English, did he realize that he had sunk a ship carrying British prisoners-of-war and some Italian soldiers and had drowned 783 men. At a subsequent inquiry into this 'friendly fire' tragedy, Lt. Bromage was cleared of any wrongdoing as the ship was unmarked and at the time he firmly believed that the ship was carrying Italian troops. The Ministry of Defence kept this incident a closely guarded secret for fifty-four years, telling relatives a pack of lies, maintaining that they had died while prisoners-of-war in Italian camps or simply 'lost at sea'. It was not until 1996, after repeated requests for information from the families of the drowned men that the truth came out. The Sahib was attacked by bombs from escort German Ju-88s and depth charges from the Italian corvette Gabbiano in the counter attack immediately after the sinking. Badly damaged, the Sahib was later abandoned and scuttled.

[Kyt]

BBC article written by the son of a casualty:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/u.../u844948.shtml

[Kyt]

Those of the Worcestershire Regiment who died on the ship are listed (scroll down to near the end of the page)

http://www.worcestershireregiment.co...n=inc/h_tobruk

[Kyt]

Just to make clear, the Sahib was indeed attacked and scuttled, but not immediately after the sinking if the Scillan. She was scuttled 6 months later after sinking another ship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sahib_(P212)