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This is not something many people know about due to the fact that it was wartime and people were dying constantly as well as the fact that Americans have not heard about it since the ship was not sailing towards America and there were no Americans on the ship so the U.S wasn't really involved. Other reasons are the fact that the victims were on the losing side (Not much sympathy was given to Germany), the fact that wartime disasters are viewed as less tragic than peacetime ones,  Germany hid the fact that so many of their people died, the ship was named after a Nazi leader which drew less attention to it, and there were no particularly rich victims on board as there were mainly just refugees.

6 times as many people died on the Wilhelm Gustloff than the titanic (around 1,500 people died on titanic, about 9,000 on Wilhelm Gustloff).

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According to "The Wilhelm Gustloff-The Biggest Maritime Disaster in History",  the ship was weighing in at 25,000 tons, nearly 700 ft in length, and able to carry about 2,000 passengers

However, there was about 10,582 people on board in the end, 40% of them being children

Captains were informed of a German Convoy coming near them, so they put their navigational lights on

According to "The Heroic Deed of Marinesko and the Tragedy of the German Gustloff" ", there were around 3,700 seamen in the German underwater fleet, which, according to the author, also could have been a cause of the sinking

But the navigational lights being on caused a Soviet submarine (S-13) lurking down below to see the Wilhelm Gustloff more clearly

It then fired three torpedoes, each hitting its target

The Soviet army was advancing North towards Konigsberg and Danzig, so many Germans became refugees and headed toward the seaport they called Gotenhafen, where the Wilhelm Gustloff was located

What do you think the German reaction was to this?

How did this event significantly impact the war?

How many more people died in the sinking of the Gustloff compared to Lutsitania?

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(www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "70 Years On, Little Known about the Wilhelm Gustloff Sinking | Germany | DW.COM | 30.01.2015." DW.COM. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"The Forgotten Maritime Tragedy Deadlier Than the Titanic." Time. Time. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"The Heroic Deed of Marinesko and the Tragedy of the German �Gustloff�." The Heroic Deed of Marinesko and the Tragedy of the German �Gustloff�. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"The Wilhelm Gustloff - the Biggest Maritime Disaster In History." History in an Hour. 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

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70 years on, little known about the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking

1. The Gustoff sank in attempt to evade the red army

2.  The red army wanted to reach Nermersdorff (the first village in German territory reached by the Soviet)there were already rumors of the soviets tryig to get revenge on Germany for their war crimes " as we can see, the Soviets were already planning the attack of the Nazi ship in spite. However those aren't the only factors that lead up to the death of 9,000+.

3. -"Sea mines were feared along the Baltic coast, so the planned route was to traverse the open sea. Finally, since the Gustloff hadn't been used in over four years, Captain Wilhelm Peterson only dared a speed of 12 knots, instead of the possible 15." these conditions made the Wilhelm an easy target.

4. -"If the ship were escorted by a convoy, been provided flank protection, and traveled at a faster speed, experts have said the Soviet submarine S-13 would never have been able to hit the Wilhelm Gustloff with its torpedoes"

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The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff  was a fatal event in history  which caused 9,343 refugees of the war their lives.

Like Tindra and Cate I believe their were too many people on board for the ship to accommodate and not enough lifeboats and like Fizza said the cause of the ship sinking was Soviet submarine S-13.

The events that led to the sinking of the Wilhelm starts with refugees fleeing their land.

The Axis and the Allies fight forced thousands of people out of their homeland to find a better home for them and their families away from their war torn homes. Without anywhere else to go families decided to board a ship that would lead them away from war, the boarded the Wilhelm Gustloff . The operation to evacuate these refugees was called Operation Hannibal

Because of the war there were lots of refugees on that ship that night more than there should have been .

For some reason the amount of lifeboats didn't add up to the number of people on board which caused their to be a higher mortality rate also considering it was a very cold night

The Wilhelm Gustloff had been an easy target for the Russians because they were in open waters and the captain was off task.

Cause of that the Soviet Union was able to attack the Wilhelm Gustloff more easily than it should have been.

This lead to the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff along with the many refugees with her.

Would that night have gone differently if the captain was doing what he should have been doing and there were enough lifeboats for everyone.

How many life were lost compared to those on the Titanic

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I believe this shipwreck is so little known even though so many lives were lost because of the many events happening at the time. WW2 was going on and many lives were lost, both citizen and soldier.

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I believe the captain chose to not have all the life boats onboard because they didn't think anything dangerous would happen.
The story could've been covered up by both sides because many innocent people died and it's not something that you should be proud of. Germany failed to protect their citizen and Russia killed many innocent only for revenge, it didn't help them in gain more land nor killed any soldiers that could fight in the war.

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•I belive one reasons to why Wilhelm Gustloff was attacked and sunken was due to all the people on board.
•Stated by history in an hour "Hitler had launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, in June 1941 and the German juggernaut had fought all the way to within sight of Moscow. But then the tide of war turned against the Nazis, and Stalin launched his own counterattack."
•A ship with almost 8000 more people than recommended was an extremely easy and good target for revenge.
•If Germany had succeeded in capturing Moscow would all the lives in Gustloff been saved?
•Why  is this something that many doesn't know about WW2?

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-I believe one of the main events that caused the sinking and extreme tragedy of the Wilhelm Gustloff was the extreme amount of people packed onto the ship.

- An article called "The Forgotten Maritime Tragedy That Was Six Times Deadlier Than The Titanic." by Sarah Begley from Time magazine states "10,582 people where packed onto a cruise ship that was meant to accommodate only about 1,900".

This resulted in 9,343 deaths, with about 5,000 of them being children. Also because there were so many people "there weren't nearly enough lifeboats, and many of the those that did exist were frozen to the deck. The majority of the passengers drowned."

-In the article "70 years on, little known about the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking" , the author believes sabotage was to blame as a suspicious radio message warned of sea mines right before the torpedoes hit.

-This caused the captain to turn 90 degrees with bright lighting but no minesweepers, making the Wilhelm Gustloff a sitting duck.

Why wouldn't the captain obtain enough lifeboats to save all the lives on board

-Why was this story so covered up by both the Nazis and the Russians?

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What events led up to the sinking Wilhelm Gustloff?

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What events led up to the sinking Wilhelm Gustloff?

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What are you thoughts about this? Research this and include quotes in your you answers. Include two questions you have about the topic