On Christmas eve, 1944 the SS Leopoldville left Southampton carrying over 2000 American troops from the 66th Infantry division, known as the Black Panthers, to support the battle of the Bulge. Just 5 miles from the safety of Cherbourg she was struck by a torpedo fired from U-486 commanded by Oberleutnant Gerhard Meyer. Due to a combination of delays, errors and mishaps over 800 men lost their lives on that cold December evening.

The SS Leopoldville was built in 1928 by the James Cockerill shipyard in New Jersey and first saw service ferrying passengers and cargo between her homeport of Antwerp and the Belgium Congo. In 1940 she was moved to Liverpool to be converted to a troop carrier and spent the first few years of the war ferrying troops between England and the Mediterranean. She was one of the first troop carriers to make the crossing to Normandy for the D-Day landing on 6th June 1944 and made a further 23 crossings over the proceeding months under the command of her Belgium Captain, Charles Limbor, then on December 24th 1944 at 1758, just 5 miles from Cherbourg, disaster struck when a torpedo fired from U-486 struck the Leopoldville in hold No 4, instantly killing 350 men.

Her three escort ships, HMS Brilliant, HMS Hotham and the Free French frigate Croix de Lorraine Instantly gave chase and Captain Limbor in a state of shock didn’t contact anyone for assistance, and to add to the problem some of the Congolese crew proceeded to load the lifeboats with personal items and rowed away. About fifteen minutes after the torpedo struck the captain gave the order to abandon ship, but in Belgium so none of the troops understood, it wasn’t until HMS Brilliant arrived back at 1830 having not found the U-Boat that the severity of the situation became apparent and Cherbourg was contacted for assistance, though not much help would arrive as everybody was away on holiday.

HMS Brilliant made a heroic attempt to rescue as many men as possible and after taking on over 500 men the mooring ropes were cut as the Leopoldville was listing too heavily. At approximately 20:30 two load explosions ripped through the lower decks and the Leopoldville finally gave up and slipped beneath the waves, in all a total of 802 men lost their lives that cold December evening, most succumbing to hypothermia and drowning, (they were not instructed to remove their greatcoats and helmets before entering the water as the life jackets would not take the weight).
The whole incident was quickly hushed up by the authorities and only received a small mention in the middle pages of some newspapers.

The Leopoldville incident was as good as forgotten until 1984, Clive Cussler entered the Cherbourg area with the intention of searching for both Leopoldville and the Confederate raider Alabama. After being denied permission by the French Navy to search for Alabama and ordered to leave the area, Cussler took time on his departure to make a brief sweep for the Leopoldville. It was not long before he found it, and brought knowledge of the incident to a wider audience.

I first dived the Leopoldville in June 2001 and was immediately struck by the condition she was in, everywhere you looked there were reminders of the day she sank, helmets, boots, machine guns and considering divers had been visiting her for over 20 years there were still portholes and crockery. Upon my return I decided to organise an expedition to her to fully explore the large liner. The following year in true British style we were blown out and 2003 was the same but finally this year the Gods were on our side.

We all met the MV Maureen of Dart on the Friday evening and after two hours of loading dive kit, cameras and scooters we retired to the pub. Chatting with Mike Rowley the owner and skipper of the Maureen, we realised that the forecast for week ahead was not good, we would probably get across and certainly dive the Saturday and Sunday but from there on in we would have to suck it and see. We set sail at 3am for a choppy crossing of the English Channel and by 2pm we were on site, the nearby coastline of Cherbourg showed clearly how close the Leopoldville had got to safety.

The skipper expertly shotted the wreck strait across the bridge and we all dropped in. The Leopoldville soon came into sight and once our eyes were accustomed to the drop in ambient light we could clearly make out the wreck from 30m. As soon as I reached the wreck I descended into the main companionway and started to fin forward to the bows. It wasn’t long before I came across a pile of G I helmets that seem to have been abandoned in the rush to evacuate the sinking ship. I made a mental note to tell Leigh about them as I thought they would make a great picture. Moving forward I soon stumbled upon a machine gun and an old boot, more evidence of the human tragedy that had occurred here.

After 20 minutes the tide had started to turn so I headed back to the shot line. You could soon feel the tide pulling you like a flag in the wind but this soon eased once the station was released. Once onboard you could soon hear the chatter of happy divers, did you see this or did anybody see that. It was then off to Cherbourg for an evening of isotonic French lager and wine.

I decided to sit out the second dive the following morning, I know the visibility can be quite poor on the ebb tide and I wasn’t wrong. After 75 mins the divers started coming up with tales of the 2-3m visibility and I soon retired to my bunk with a smile on my face having made the right decision. We headed into Cherbourg for lunch then later on we motored back out to dive the afternoon flood tide. As promised by Mike the skipper, the visibility was much better. I soon made out divers videoing and photographing various artefacts and kept well out of the way not wanting to disturb them. I came to the bridge and had a good look around but it seemed all the main items, bell, telegraph, steering helm had long gone so I headed back to the shotline before the tide got to strong; I’d learned my lesson the previous day.

On our third day the weather was still holding; again I elected to miss the morning dive and so did several of the others. However Chris, Leigh, Ron and the two John’s went for it which lead to two things: Ron head-butting 12lb of lead shot and the divers reporting that the visibility was ten times better than the previous day’s diving with about 8-10m. Mike stated that the visibility would probably improve each day as we came of the spring tides; if only the weather holds.

After lunch we all got kitted up and headed back to the wreck. Once on the wreck I decided to swim along the seabed at 56m for a while. I soon came upon Leigh who was trying to take a picture of a pile of helmets but a giant lobster kept walking across the shot, I nearly spat my mouthpiece out laughing at him trying to wrestle with it. Once at the bows I ascended 16m up the foredeck to the starboard gunnels before heading back to the shot. During our deco, three divers never made it to the station and had to bag up; it was only when we were back onboard that we found out what had happened, apparently the tide was so strong it had ripped the station from the shot before every one was on it.

On the morning of the fourth day we awoke to the wind whipping through the rigging on the Maureen; we were well and truly blown out. We decided to go and visit some of us dozens of museums dedicated to telling the story of D-Day as well as Omaha beach. The next day was also blown out and we now had the real chance of being trapped in Cherbourg for several more days. Fortunately that night Mike saw that there was a window in the weather that would give us a chance to run back to Dartmouth. It wouldn’t be a pleasant crossing so everything was tied down for the journey back to good old Blitey.

Overall the expedition was a major success, the Leopoldville isn’t the most challenging wreck dive in the world but is probably the best wreck I have done to date. Because of the ban on lifting anything, even lobsters, there is still a lot to be seen. Diving is only allowed by certain vessels’ as a permit must be applied for from the French authorities by the skipper, and after any diving activity you may well be boarded by the coastguard and the vessel searched.

The team members were, Project leaders, Jeff Keep & Ron Mahoney, photographers; Leigh Bishop, John Lee & Chris Hutchinson, video: Innes McCartney, divers, John Spurr, Dave Flynn, Patricia McCluskey, Andre Bakkers, Wayne Roberts & Steve Burke. .

Many thanks go to our Mike and Penny Rowley from the Maureen of Dart for a great week and fantastic food and to Otter Watersports for their continuing support.
More photos can be seen at www.newfrontierdiving.com and at www.deepimage.co.uk

SIDE BAR – THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

Christmas 1944 would not bring the season of goodwill for the Allies fighting their way through Europe. On December 16th the German’s launched their last great counter offensive of World War II.

The Battle of the Bulge was meant to be Hitler's "last stand" in order to break apart and defeat the Allied forces. He believed the bond was weak between the British, the US, and Russia and thought that he had enough troops left to launch a surprise attack on the Western Front through the thinly held line in the Belgian Ardennes Forest. He also believed that factors such as bad weather, bad terrain, and the Christmas holiday would help him to catch the Allies by surprise. The Allies regarded the Ardennes as unsuitable for an attack, even though, four years earlier, the German Blitzkrieg had shattered the Allied front and led to France's surrender.

The battle began at the crack of dawn on December 16th. After a two-hour bombardment, the Germans managed to push back American forces. The element of surprise, lack of communication, and the fact that troops were outnumbered, all led to early German success. In spite of this, after two days of fighting, they had made very little progress. The Allies mobilised thousands of men and sent dozens of ships across the Channel to reinforce the fighting and in this scramble there would be the inevitable casualties as several ships were sunk and hundreds of GI’s were lost during a horrendously grim two-week period.

Much of the battle depended on the weather. At the start, the land was foggy and the ground was unfrozen, but not muddy. or the Germans these conditions were ideal because the Allied air power could not intervene. A little snow had fallen around the Schnee Eifel, a group of low-ranging hills to the east, where the heaviest German concentration had been assembled. According to one soldier, "the rest of the Ardennes lay bare and ugly". The Allies desperately needed fair weather to begin their air attack. However, a great snowstorm fell upon them during the first week.

On December 22nd the Germans sent a message to American Major-General Anthony Mcauliffe, at the Bartongre Garrison, telling him to surrender, his response was simple "Nuts!" The fighting grew more intense on Christmas Day, and for some weeks thereafter. The German element of surprise was now gone, and they were simply trying to force their way through the front. Rather than try to consolidate their position or realistically start a tactical withdrawal, more and more men and armour were thrown into the attack.

Losses from exposure to the cold grew as large as the losses from fighting. The Germans began attacking in white suits, in order to blend in with the snow. Some of the people of Ardennes opened their homes to the American soldiers and shared food, blankets, and fuel with them. The Germans were running short of supplies, food and ammunition and tanks were running out of fuel. The 1st SS Panzer Division was eventually surrounded by the Allied forces and they began their retreat to Germany on foot. The battle ended in January 1945 and turned out to be the largest land battle of World War II. American casualties were put at 23,554 captured, and 19,000 killed. Germany's losses included 100, 000 men, either killed, wounded, or captured.
What Hitler had believed would be the turning point of the war in Germany's favour turned out to be one of their biggest defeats.