The Laconia incident was a series of events surrounding the sinking of a British passenger ship in the Atlantic Ocean on 12 September 1942, during World War II, and a subsequent aerial attack on German and Italian submarines involved in rescue attempts. RMS Laconia, carrying 2,732 crew, passengers, soldiers, and prisoners of war, was torpedoed and sunk by U-156, a German U-boat, off the West African coast. Operating partly under the dictates of the old prize rules, the U-boat's commander, Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein, immediately commenced rescue operations. U-156 broadcast her position on open radio channels to all Allied powers nearby, and was joined by the crews of several other U-boats in the vicinity.
RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner, built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor of the 1911–1917 Laconia. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton to New York City. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and later a troopship. She was sunk in the South Atlantic Ocean on 12 September 1942 by torpedoes. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia was also destroyed by a German submarine. Some estimates of the death toll have suggested that over 1,658 people were killed when the Laconia sank. The U-boat commander Werner Hartenstein then staged a dramatic effort to rescue the passengers and the crew of Laconia, which involved additional German U-boats and became known as the Laconia incident.
Michele Placido is an Italian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of Mario Monicelli and Marco Bellocchio, winning the Berlinale's Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance in the 1979 film Ernesto. He is known internationally for portraying police inspector Corrado Cattani on the crime drama television series La piovra (1984–2001). Placido's directorial debut, Pummarò, was screened Un Certain Regard at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Three of his films have competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He is a five-time Nastro d'Argento and four-time David di Donatello winner. In 2021, Placido was appointed President of the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara.
A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and rōmusha out of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong and Singapore in World War II. These POWs were taken to the Japanese Islands, Formosa, Manchukuo, Korea, the Moluccas, Sumatra, Burma, or Siam to be used as forced labor.
Path of Hope is a 1950 Italian language drama film directed by Pietro Germi that belongs to the Italian neorealism film movement. It is based on Nino Di Maria's novel Cuori negli abissi. Federico Fellini co-wrote the script. In July 2021, the film was shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
HMS Sahib was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was launched on 19 January 1942 and commissioned on 13 May 1942. She was the only British naval vessel to bear the name Sahib.
Carlo Fecia di Cossato was an officer in the Regia Marina, in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and of the Gold Medal of Military Valor, the highest decoration of the Italian Armed Forces.
The 5th Cannes Film Festival was held from 23 April to 10 May 1952. As in the previous three festivals, the entire jury of this festival was made up of French persons, with Maurice Genevoix as the Jury President. The Grand Prix of the Festival went to the Two Cents Worth of Hope by Renato Castellani and Othello by Orson Welles. The festival opened with An American in Paris by Vincente Minnelli.
Carlo Delle Piane was an Italian film actor. From 1948 until his death, he appeared in more than 100 films.
Renato Baldini was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 87 films between 1950 and 1983. He was born in Rome, Italy.
Un giorno nella vita is a 1946 Italian war film directed by Alessandro Blasetti. It was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. American title: "A Day In the Life". This film was screened in 2009 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's retrospective "Life Lessons" Italian Neorealism and the birth of modern cinema.
Speranza is the Italian word for hope. It could refer to one of several things:
Four Ways Out is a 1951 Italian crime film directed by Pietro Germi and starring Gina Lollobrigida, Renato Baldini and Cosetta Greco. The film won the award for Best Italian Film at the 1951 Venice Film Festival.
Red Moon is a 1951 Italian melodrama film directed by Armando Fizzarotti and starring Renato Baldini, Maria Frau and Leda Gloria. It takes its title from a popular song.
The Sinking of the Laconia is a two-part television film, first aired on 6 and 7 January 2011 on BBC Two, about the Laconia incident; the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Laconia during World War II by a German U-boat, which then, together with three other U-boats and an Italian submarine, rescued the passengers but was in turn attacked by an American bomber.
Fausto Tozzi was an Italian film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in 70 films between 1951 and 1978. He wrote the script for The Defeated Victor, which was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. He also directed one film, Trastevere.
The Shin'yō Maru incident occurred in the Philippines on September 7, 1944, in the Pacific theater of World War II. In an attack on a Japanese convoy by the United States Navy submarine USS Paddle, 668 Allied prisoners of war were killed fighting their Japanese guards or killed when their ship, Shinyō Maru, was sunk. Only 82 Americans survived and were later rescued.
SS Scillin was a 1,591 GRT cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1903, passed through a succession of owners of various nationalities and had a succession of different names. She was built as H. M. Pellatt but was successively called Memling, Nicole Le Borgne, Giuliana Pagan, and Scillin Secondo before becoming Scillin in 1937.
German submarine U-527 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
Angelo Cannavacciuolo is an Italian writer and director.
