The tragic story of D.S.S. SLAMAT

D.S.S. SLAMAT under attack.

On April 27, 1941, the Rotterdamsche Lloyd passenger ship SS "SLAMAT," the largest ship in the convoy, came under fire from Luftwaffe Stukas in Greek waters, caught fire, and sank. The proud passenger ship was involved in Operation Demon, a large-scale evacuation of Allied soldiers from Greece under British command. En route to the south, which had been deemed safe, the convoy was attacked by Stukas, and contrary to the code of war, lifeboats and rafts carrying survivors were attacked, many being hit and subsequently killed. The British destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck rushed to their aid. Both ships took on the few survivors and steamed toward Crete. En route, they too were overtaken by Stukas and sunk. In just a few hours, of the nearly 1,000 people on board, 983 crew members and Allied soldiers lost their lives. Eight nationalities were involved in the disaster. Relatives could only be informed after six months, and in most cases through the Red Cross. This was the biggest sea dissaster in the Dutch history.   During World War II, the Dutch Merchant Navy fleet was almost halved. The Rotterdamsche Lloyd even lost 60% of its ships. Because the Netherlands also suffered greatly from the war, the tragedy of the SS "SLAMAT" was forgotten.

For more details, see link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Slamat

Below, I added a collage of postcards that were in a memory booklet, which you received when you were a passenger on board the ship SLAMAT