Evidence from an inquiry into the sinking of HMAS Sydney in November 1941 contradicts a theory that crewmen were machine gunned in their life raft by men the German ship Kormoran.
All 645 men from the Sydney were lost. The theory grew up because one life raft was recovered by HMAS Helos shortly after the battle, and it had a large number of holes in i. However expert witnesses have studied the 339 ruptures in the float and believe they were caused by shrapnel from a shell exploding rather than by bullets. The damage came from a horizontal angle and was more likely to have happened when the raft was on the ship’s deck, whereas if they had been caused by bullets, the angles of entry would have been from the top. The metal that was recovered from the float also looks more likely to have come from the casing of a German shell than bullets.
This seems to vindicate the German survivors from the Kormoran, which also sank after the battle, who have always denied shooting Australian sailors after the Sydney went down.
HMAS Sydney was a light cruiser and was sunk on 19 November 1941 by the Kormoran, a German auxiliary cruiser. Last year both wrecks were found off Western Australia.
You can read more about the inquiry from the Sydney Morning Herald.
