Thursday, August 16, 2018

Axis Kills Its Own

MON 16 AUG 1943
Mediterranean
U.S. freighter Benjamin Contee is hit by aerial torpedo 16 miles north of Bone, Algeria; while the explosion kills 264 and injures 142 of the 1,800 Italian POWs on board there are no casualties to the 43-man merchant complement, 27-man Armed Guard, 26 British guards and seven Army security people. Italian-speaking crewmen reassure the anxious prisoners that the ship is in no danger of sinking; Benjamin Contee ultimately returns to service.

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