Map shows the three greatest maritime disasters in history, all in early 1945 – a total of 20, 660 fatalities!

Dr. Andreas Wesserle returns as Carolyn’s special guest after a 3-year absence to discuss a letter to Queen Elizabeth II and a  paper on RAF and USAF strategic bombing  history he has written. Dr. Wesserle has been on The Heretics” Hour six times previously (when it was at Voice of Reason); his last appearance was Feb. 21, 2011.

About Dr. Wesserle: Born in Prague, he was a member of the Karpatendeutsche community in Slovakia and experienced the tyranny of the partisans in Sept. 1944. He emigrated to the United States from war-torn, refugee-filled West Germany with his parents in 1952. They settled in Wisconsin, where he still lives after a distinguished teaching career in U.S. and European universities. Highlights:

• The Steuben hospital ship was sunk by two Soviet submarine torpedos on Feb. 10, 1945 – carrying 5200 people, of whom 4500 perished – making it the 3rd worst maritime disaster in recorded history;
• On board the Steuben were mostly wounded German soldiers; approx. 1000 civilians; small number of returning soldiers; plus several hundred navy medical personnel (including doctors, nurses and auxiliaries) and the ship’s crew, along with miscellaneous others;
• The  Submarine Captain Alexander Marinesko, who sunk the Steuben,  was almost court martialed as a deserter shortly before he sunk the Wilhelm Gustloff  on Jan. 30, but was given another chance “to prove himself”;
• The Feb. 13-14 firebombing of Dresden claimed as many as 600,000 lives [only the registered citizens of the city were included in the count, none of the 1 million refugees living out of doors] and yet “victor’s history” has officially brought the number down to 25,000;
• Wesserle tells Queen Elizabeth II why she should not have unveiled the new monument to WWII RAF bomber pilots in London in 2012;
• Wesserle’s brief  “history” of the strategic bomber program by Britain and the USA is discussed;
• Europe needs to once again develop a synthesis between the “earthy” Slavic East and the acquisitive, practical West.