THE ROHNA STORY

The HMT Rohna departed North Africa on Thanksgiving Day 1943 with 1,981 American soldiers on board. The Rohna was part of a 24-ship convoy heading to the China-Burma-India Theater to support the Allied war efforts against Japan. The ships were venturing down a dangerous stretch of the Mediterranean Sea known for German attacks.

It was the greatest loss of troops at sea by enemy action in US history - The following day, November 26, 1943, 21 German bombers carrying one of Hitler’s secret weapons attacked the convoy in two separate waves without any successful hits. As the allied troops within the convoy let out a sigh of relief, one last bomber plane returned and launched and steered the last radio-guided missile of the attack straight into the side of the Rohna. The attack killed 1,157 soldiers and crew. 1015 of the casualties were US soldiers. It’s estimated that 300 men were killed on impact, and most of the remaining soldiers died either trying to get off the sinking ship or in the water waiting to be rescued.

War Department documents and eyewitness testimony - Unbeknownst to the troops who were jam-packed into the overcrowded ship, everything was stacked against them; including the rusty non-functioning lifeboats. The M1926 lifebelts distributed to the soldiers as they boarded the ship were designed for amphibious assaults, not for naval ships. The lack of training on how to use the lifebelt contributed to additional deaths of soldiers. 

There were several other concerning issues with the attack including minimum aerial escort coverage for the convoy as well as claims that the Rohna was the only ship in the convoy without barrage balloons. Classified documents also state that there was no warning of enemy planes in the area, and that there was poor communication between the ships in the convoy. There are even questions about the rescue mission after the attack that was only 15 miles off the North Africa coast. Why wasn’t there any attempt to recover the bodies of the casualties that were floating in the area for weeks after the attack?

One of the first radio-guided missiles ever used in war - The Rohna attack was historic in many ways. Besides being the largest loss of troops at sea by enemy action in US history, it was one of the first radio-guided missiles ever used against the US. The War Department swiftly classified the attack, ordering all of the 966 survivors not to talk or write home about it under a threat of court-martial. By the time the war was over, most of the survivors went home with their painful story buried deep inside as they tried to forget their secret tale of that fateful night.

The War Department classified the Rohna attack indefinitely - The War Department’s decision to classify the Rohna attack indefinitely kept the story out of WWII history books. It was virtually never mentioned for 50 years. The families of those who were killed in the Rohna attack were never told what happened to their loved ones. There were no War Department phone calls, letters, or visits made, providing information that would bring closure to the families. Most of the bodies of the soldiers were never recovered, and in most cases, there were no funeral services or burials for the forgotten soldiers. Six months after the attack, the Gold Star families back home finally received one short paragraph confirming the death of their sons and husbands in a telegram that also stated that there was no information available. That was it; the boys just never came home.

The the Rohna attack was left out of the history books - While the War Department was holding back information about the Rohna attack from the public, they were also misleading 1,015 families giving them false hope that their loved ones were still alive even though the War Department confirmed the casualties shortly after the attack. All of the Gold Star families went through unnecessary pain and anguish from not knowing the truth about how their boys were killed. The stonewalling continued after the war was over as most of the Gold Star families went to their own graves never knowing anything about the Rohna attack or how their hero died. The historic attack was left out of the history books and forgotten along with the men who were killed that day. The question to why the attack continued to be classified after the war was over is still unanswered.