http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German liner which was being used to ferry civilians and military from East Prussia after the Germans were surrounded by the Soviet Army. More than 10000 people in all were believed to be on board when a Soviet submarine fired three torpedoes into the ship. In the resulting panic, many were trampled to death. All told more than 9300 died in the sinking, which included men, women and children dying. I personally would like to know why it is that this ship's sinking is rarely mentioned. Obviously we were at war with them but most of those killed were civilians. Certainly I did not learn this in school but rather I learned about it from some TV documentary. I would say our school history is a little lacking. The death toll was six times that of Titanic.
No, I hadn't heard about this one. I recently saw a documentary on the History Channel about the SS Cap Arcona, and the ruse the Germans used to trick the RAF into sinking it and killing a few thousand concentration camp prisoners. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona_(1927) But, yea, in terms of total death count I haven't seen one that comes any closer.
