Fleeing from a brutal Soviet Red Army onslaught, the Wilhelm Gustloff is ready to leave port jammed with over 10,000 German refugees, naval personnel and wounded soldiers. The vessel is designed to hold a maximum of 1,880 passengers and crew. Of the refugees, a staggering four thousand are infants, children and youths on their way to promising safety in the West. Minus 18° Celsius (0° Fahrenheit) weather grips the Oxhöft Pier in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) on Tuesday the 30th day of January 1945.
For the first time in four years, the former flagship of Nazi pleasure cruising has started its engines. It's setting course for Kiel on mainland Germany - far away from the continued disintegration of the Eastern Front. Icebreakers busily work to carve a path through the Bay of Danzig to allow passage to the unforgiving winter waters of the Baltic Sea .
On the bridge, disagreement and tension is budding. Two main senior officers command the ship. Both Friedrich Petersen, captain of the Gustloff and Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn, head of the U-boat division which has made its home on the ship for the last 4 years, cannot agree on an appropriate course. Adding to the complexity, two young captains from the merchant marine (Köhler and Weller) also add opinions from their places on the bridge.
Around 12:30PM German time, the Gustloff leaves port. Unlike its days of joyful peacetime cruising, there are no music bands, flag waving or cheerful send-offs. Instead, anxious hope for the very survival of family members and friends privileged enough to be aboard is evident. Envy and frustration from those who could not board filter through the dejected crowd left at the harbour.
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