On Christmas Eve 1944, the Battle of the Bulge raged in the Ardennes Forest. Adolf Hitler’s war machine launched its last major offensive on December 16, recalling the successful Blitzkrieg tactics used in 1939 and 1940. Over 200,000 German troops and 1,000 tanks advanced along a 75-mile front, pushing about 50 miles into Allied-controlled territory. The American defenders were surprised and quickly overrun, leading to initial German successes in the battle.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, rushed reinforcements to the front. They had to hold back the German onslaught. The 101st Airborne Division famously defended Bastogne while General George Patton’s Third Army turned north to counterattack. Over 700,000 Allied troops saw action during the 41 days of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.
On December 24, some of those soldiers were aboard the Belgian ocean liner SS Léopoldville. The Allies hastily loaded elements of the American 66th Infantry Division in Southampton, bound for Belgium to help halt the Nazi advance. Tragically, a German U-boat torpedoed SS Léopoldville about five miles from Cherbourg, France. The ship sank and killed an estimated 800 people. Authorities kept the Léopoldville disaster secret for more than 50 years, finally revealing it in 1996.
This Memorial Day, I wanted to share the tragic story of the Léopoldville disaster. This post is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the sinking.
Early Service
Launched on September 26, 1928, the Léopoldville was built by John Cockerill SA in Antwerp, Belgium. The ship was a midsized ocean liner at 11,256 GRT and 478 feet (145.7 meters) in length. Her two quadruple-expansion engines produced 1,019 NHP (nominal horsepower) and powered two propellers. Operated by the Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo (CBMC), Léopoldville made runs between Belgium and its African colony, the Belgian Congo. She was the fifth ship to bear the name Léopoldville and was capable of carrying 360 passengers in luxury along with a crew of 213. The ship also had significant refrigerated cargo space as well.
In 1936, CBMC (now called Compagnie Maritime Belge, or CMB) retrofitted Léopoldville with two low-pressure exhaust turbines, boosting her size to 11,509 GRT and her power to 1,197 NHP. They likely replaced her two original funnels with a larger single funnel during this time as well.
Wartime Service
When the Nazis invaded Belgium on May 10, 1940, SS Léopoldville was at sea. The ship was diverted to France, and then to New York. Afterward, Léopoldville sailed to Liverpool, England, and was requisitioned for use as a troopship. She began her new role in November 1940 and retained a Belgian and Congolese crew. Captain Charles Limbor became Léopoldville’s captain in 1942 and commanded her for the rest of the war.
Léopoldville’s early service as a troop transport revealed her inadequacy for the North Atlantic route, prompting her reassignment to bring troops to African and Mediterranean ports instead. In this capacity, Léopoldville supported the North African campaign and the Allied invasion of Sicily. After a refit in preparation for D-Day, the ship made 24 trips between England and France starting on June 8, 1944. She helped bring vital manpower and material to the Allies as they pushed their way from Normandy.
A Christmas Voyage
On Christmas Eve 1944, Léopoldville departed Southampton, England, with approximately 2,225 American soldiers aboard. They were from the 66th Infantry Division, only recently arrived from the United States. They were to disembark at Cherbourg and then move on to face the Nazi onslaught in the Ardennes. Troops were hastily loaded, and problems with the passenger manifest emerged. They would have to sort it out later. Unfortunately, though, no one could have predicted the nightmare that awaited them that very night.
As Léopoldville sailed through the frigid waters of the English Channel, she was accompanied by several escorts: the destroyers HMS Brilliant and HMS Anthony, and the frigates HMS Hotham and Croix de Lorraine. Another troopship, HMS Cheshire, was also in the convoy and carried the rest of the 66th Infantry Division. The trip to Cherbourg was short, and few—if any—expected any trouble during the crossing.
But danger lurked beneath the surface.
The German submarine U-486 was on its first war patrol. Its commander, Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Meyer, spotted the convoy and fired two torpedoes shortly before 6 pm. One missed. The other struck Léopoldville in its aft starboard side, killing an estimated 300 men instantly.
It was a fatal hit. The Léopoldville began sinking.
Captain Charles Limbor—who didn’t speak English—issued orders to abandon ship in Flemish. Most American troops couldn’t understand his commands and watched in surprise as Léopoldville’s crew launched lifeboats and sailed away from the stricken ship. Many soldiers stayed aboard, thinking rescue would arrive soon. But it took over an hour for Allied forces in Cherbourg to realize that Léopoldville was in trouble.
The Sinking of SS Léopoldville
As three of the escort ships hunted for U-486 (which got away), HMS Brilliant came alongside the sinking Léopoldville and had soldiers jump onto its decks. The seas pushed the two ships close together and then apart—sometimes as much as 30 feet (9.1 meters) away. About 500 men successfully made the jump, but not all who jumped survived. One survivor recalled seeing men crushed to death after falling between the ships. “As the ships came together, the soldiers were flattened like pancakes,” he said. “There was blood all over the side of the ships.”
Rescue ships finally departed Cherbourg, though many operated with skeleton crews due to the Christmas festivities. By the time they reached the scene, the rescuers found that many of those pulled from the water had already died—some from hypothermia or drowning, others from broken necks caused by their lifejackets upon impact with the water. The scene was grim and heartbreaking. Still, rescuers managed to pull some survivors from the water.
The Léopoldville sank stern-first at 8:40 pm, nearly three hours after the torpedo hit. The sinking claimed the lives of 515 American soldiers who went down with the ship, while 248 others died from drowning, hypothermia, or injuries they suffered during the disaster. The tragedy also took an unknown number of British servicemen, as well as Captain Charles Limbor and four crewmen. In all, the sinking killed over 800 people. However, due to the hasty loading of SS Léopoldville in Southampton, the total number of casualties may be even higher.
The Cover-Up
Allied command ordered survivors not to speak about the incident to anyone. The British Admiralty and General Eisenhower feared that news of the Léopoldville disaster would hurt Allied morale and could bolster German confidence. This directive deepened the wounds of grief and loss, especially as families of the dead reached out to survivors for details. They had only been told that their sons, husbands, and brothers were missing in action—nothing more.
It wasn’t until 50 years later that the full scope of the Léopoldville disaster began emerging, as survivors started to share their stories. In 1998, the History Channel aired a special on the sinking and brought the tragic story into the public conscious for the first time.
The Léopoldville Remembered
Famed author Clive Cussler found the Léopoldville’s wreck in July 1984. French authorities, however, claimed to have always known its location. Léopoldville rests in 180 feet (54.9 meters) of water and is broken into two pieces. Most of the lost soldiers are still inside.
Decades of secrecy couldn’t erase the legacy of the Léopoldville disaster, which endures. Memorials in the United States and France honor those who died, serving as a solemn and crucial reminder of the human cost of war. These memorials preserve the story of the Léopoldville disaster and its victims for future generations, ensuring that people will never forget their sacrifice.
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