[Aktungbby]

1943:HMT ROHNA, a Tyneside steamer and cargo vessel is sunk is sunk of Algiers by Hans Dochtermann in a Heinkel 177A
with a released a glide bomb that hit Rohna on her port side, at the after end of her engine room and Number Six troop deck. Men poured on deck, many of them badly wounded. Of the 1,138 men who were killed, 1,015 were US personnel. The attack is the largest loss of US troops at sea due to enemy action in a single incident. A further 35 US troops of the 2,000 originally embarked, later died from their wounds. As well as the troops, five of Rohna's officers and 117 of her 195 crew were killed, along with one of her 12 DEMS gunners and one hospital orderly. USS Pioneer rescued 606 survivors. Details of the loss were revealed slowly over time. By February 1944 the US Government had acknowledged that more than 1,000 soldiers had been lost in the sinking of an unnamed troopship in European waters, but it hinted that a submarine was responsible. By June 1945 the US Government had released accurate casualty figures, the ship had been identified as Rohna, and the cause of the sinking had been identified as German bombers, but did not mention that a guided bomb was used. The use of an "aerial glider bomb" was first reported publicly on 14 November 1945 in an account of the battle in the Salt Lake City Tribune. On 9 March 1947 the Chicago Tribune published a complete account of the attack, including the use of a "radio-controlled [sic] glider bomb." In 1948 a history of British India Line in the Second World War was published, stating "the missile was one of the new glider bombs guided by wireless". The US Government officially released the remaining details of the incident, specifically that a radio-controlled glide bomb had been used, in 1967 after the passing of the Freedom of Information Act...In short: "what a fascinating modern age we live in" got 'swept under the carpet' in a temporary coverup !??