My book Poisonous Inferno has many accounts from men, every one a survivor, many injured, who got in touch with me during my ten years researching. They were from the USA, UK, Italy and other countries.

Example: I didn't know the first example of use of the Eikmann Defence "I was only following orders" was used by the Americans!!! SGT West was found guilty at a Courts-Marshal for shooting 40 Italian prisoners. Even GEN Patton tried to cover it up!!!

Of the ten MAJOR ALLIED SCREW-UPs during WWII, I rate Bari the top screw-up. More so than the E-Boat attack on the D-Day maneouvers or the Luffwaffe attack on 8th Airforce planes in Russia. There was no excuse for what happened. The allies had TWO WHOLE CONVOYS, lined up keel to keel, in Bari and they didn't bother putting up a CAP to guard it. You even had the British Air Marshall spouting it would be an insult for the Germans to Attack-and they did.

Rommels Boss, GEN 'Smiling Al' Kesselring was one of the most brilliant Generals of WWII who consistantly wiped the floor with one of the dumbest Generals of WWII, GEN Mark Clark. A former Luffewaffe General, smiling Al saw his chance and struck the port with a miniscue force of 108 JU88 bombers. He did more than sink 17 of 39 liberty ships—He put 14th Air Force out of action until JAN1944 because their fuel and engine supplies went up in smoke. It also starved the ground war to the point where the allies had to go on the defensive until re-supplied. GEN Kesselring did more than sink ships—he shut down the entire Italian Front for days. Again, no excuse!!! Worse, one ship in the convoy, the John Henry, had a secret cargo of Mustard Gas that virtually no one knew of. It literally made one US Destroyer NMC when the entire crew was exposed to it—the hospitals were flooded in Bari yet it took days for the Americans to admit to what was in the water—outrageous!

This autumn saw the first publication in Danish of the author Henrik Krüger's book: "Sømænd i helvede", ISBN 978-87-92573-01-8,
("Seamen in Hell") about the Bari disaster on 2nd December 1943.

The book tells the story of "the second Pearl Harbour" and focuses on the merchant navy, its important role, and the crew of merchant navy ship Lars Kruse of Denmark in particular and its deadly cargo of petrol.

The book also tells in detail the story of my paternal uncle, Knud Henning Nielsen, who was a Lars Kruse crew member at the age of 19. Knud Henning died tragically on 21st December 1943 in hospital from the effects of the poisonous inferno at Bari on 2nd December 1943 and he was later interred at the Carbonata Memorial Cementary, south of Bari. My auntie Joan in Newcastle and my grandparents in Denmark received condolence letters from King George VI to say only that Knud Henning had died in an enemy attack. However, auntie Joan befriended a nurse in the 98th British General Hospital at Bari and so knew what had happened to her beloved husband, whom she grieved for many years. They had married in Newcastle in the summer of 1943 at age 19.

My late grandmother, who grieved her first-born son until her last years, never knew what really had happened to him. Nor my late father and his younger surviving sister Birthe, now an elderly lady, who only learnt the gruesome truth about Knud Henning this Christmas.

Also, in the last chapter of his scolarly book the author Henrik Krüger gives the reader a scary account of the thousands of poisonous war-time bombs "deposited" by the US Navy, the Soviet Navy and the British Navy into the Baltic Sea during the late 1940s!!! So the nightmare continues….

Kind regards to everyone,

Roger

rogerincopenhagen@yahoo.com

P.s. Please drop me line, particularly if you have personal accounts of my late uncle Knud Hennng Nielsen

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This is a google machine translation from English into the Italian:

Ciao a tutti,

Questo autunno ha visto la prima pubblicazione in lingua danese del libro l'autore Henrik Krüger: "Sømænd i helvede", ISBN 978-87-92573-01-8,
( "Marinai in Hell") circa il disastro di Bari il 2 dicembre 1943.

Il libro racconta la storia di "seconda Pearl Harbour" e si concentra sulla marina mercantile, il suo ruolo importante, e l'equipaggio della nave della marina mercantile Lars Kruse della Danimarca, in particolare, e il suo carico mortale di benzina.

Il libro racconta anche in modo dettagliato la storia di mio zio paterno, Knud Henning Nielsen, che era un membro dell'equipaggio di Lars Kruse all'età di 19 anni. Knud Henning morì tragicamente il 21 dicembre 1943 in ospedale per gli effetti dell 'Inferno velenosi a Bari il 2 dicembre 1943 e fu poi sepolto a Carbonata Memorial Cemetery, a sud di Bari. Mia zia Giovanna a Newcastle ei miei nonni in Danimarca, ha ricevuto lettere di condoglianze da King George VI a dire solo che Knud Henning era morto in un attacco nemico. Tuttavia, zia Giovanna amicizia con un'infermiera del 98 British General Hospital a Bari e così sapeva cosa era successo al suo amato marito, che lei addolorato per molti anni. Si erano sposati a Newcastle, nell'estate del 1943 all'età di 19 anni.

Mia nonna, che ha afflitto il suo figlio primogenito, fino alla sua ultimi anni, non sapeva che cosa realmente era accaduto a lui. Né il mio defunto padre e sua sorella più giovane superstite Birthe, ormai un'anziana signora, che ha imparato solo la verità raccapricciante su Knud Henning questo Natale.

Inoltre, nell'ultimo capitolo del suo libro l'autore scolarly Henrik Krüger offre al lettore un resoconto inquietante delle migliaia di guerra velenosi-bombe a tempo "depositati" dalla US Navy, la marina sovietica e la Marina britannica nel Mar Baltico nel corso della fine 1940! Così l'incubo continua ….

Saluti a tutti,

Roger

rogerincopenhagen@yahoo.com

P.S. Please drop me linea, in particolare se si hanno conti personali del mio defunto zio Knud Hennng Nielsen

I was a crew member of HMS Zetland – one of the two destroyers berthed on the mole adjacent to the line of merchant ships. Shortly after the raid had ended and in the wake of a mighty explosion, I was knocked unconscious. Afterwards, I was on rescue and salvage work throughout the night until dawn in a small boat.

With four other HMS Zetland crewmen I boarded the US Liberty Ship SS Lyman Abbott to assist the crew in fire fighting but we found the vessel abandoned.

Thereafter, with another navy man, I boarded four more abandoned and drifting merchant ships and carried out firefighting operations until dawn.

A full account by myself and a number of survivors – US, British and Italian eyewitnesses, is contained with maps and illustrations in my book 'Poisonous Inferno,' published by Airlife Publishing in 2002, which, to the best of my knowledge, is the only published book written by someone who was there from the beginning to the end of the tragedy

Regards,

George Southern B.E.M (Mil.)
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO12 7HF
UK

g.southern2006@tiscali.co.uk
.