I found this softcover in this Little Free Library in Bedford MA while dropping off some books of my own.

The SS Léopoldville was a Belgian passenger ship that was converted to a troop ship for WWII. It was torpedoed by a U-boat in 1944, and went down with significant loss of life. This book uses personal narratives from many sources to reconstruct the tragedy, which included far too many losses of men during the rescue attempts from nearby ships, which braved the hazards of becoming targets themselves as well as those of the surging seas to try and get close enough to the sinking ship for its men to jump to safety.

The incident was considered classified until the 1960s, and in the midst of the wartime coverage around the world was barely mentioned in the press at all. The accounts in this book are often harrowing, yet depict great courage in the face of disaster.

I left this book in the large three-part LFL on this warm, breezy day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

** Released for the 2023 Oh, the Places We Can Go challenge. **