BBC Radio 4

On the 17th of June 1940 thousands of British troops and airmen died as their  troopship, the Lancastria, was sunk by German bombers. Allan Little travels to the French port of St Nazaire on the 70th anniversary of Britain's worst maritime disaster, to tell the story. We hear from survivors of the ship who miraculously survived the sinking and the chaos of the sea alight with spilled oil. In particular we follow the story of Ft Lt Albert Hill, one of the last men off the ship, whose unpublished diary has come to light. We also find out why, so many years after the story was suppressed by Churchill in the darkest days of the war, there is still a reluctance in England to acknowledge and commemorate the tragedy.

70 years after it happened, Allan Little tells the forgotten story of Britain's greatest maritime disaster - the sinking of the troopship Lancastria in June 1940, in which more than 5000 people drowned. We record in France with survivors as, movingly, a monument is established, though many are still battling for official recognition and an explanation. More people perished than lost their lives on the Titanic and Lusitania combined. So why does this tragedy remain a virtual secret?

"... a moving, lingering programme" The Guardian

included in Clive Coleman's Pick of the Week, BBC Radio 4