The Sinking of the Lancastria

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 17 June 1940, a packed British troopship was sunk off the coast of France by German bombers. The ship had just picked up thousands of British military personnel left behind in France after the evacuation of the army at Dunkirk. It's believed around 5,000 people lost their lives. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in British history and news of the sinking was initially supressed in Britain. Alex Last spoke to 99-year-old Ernest Beesley, a sapper in the Royal Engineers, who is among the last survivors of the Lancastria. Photo: The Lancastria after being hit by German bombers off the coast of France in 1940 (Lancastria Association of Scotland)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, Cricket, and Conspiracy Theories.
1:04.3	And that's just a few examples.
1:06.2	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
1:09.4	find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading Witness from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last.
1:18.0	And today we go back to June 1940 and a forgotten disaster of World War II when a packed troop ship, the Lancastria, was hit and sunk during a German air raid off the coast of France.
1:31.0	It was among the worst maritime disasters in British history.
1:35.8	This is the BBC Holmes' status. Here is the news. The British Expeditionary Force with
1:47.4	their French allies are fighting a desperate battle in the northern zone of
1:51.0	the Western Front. They have withdrawn some miles towards the coast.
	...

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