Beaufighter vs ship Embla, April 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

RAF Beaufighters attacked twice the ship Embla off Southern France in April 1944, both times suffering one loss.

On 6 April 1944 the Beaufighter LZ488 of 272 Sqn was lost with its crew (Sqn Ldr René Jean Ghislain Demoulin (pilot, Belgian) and Flt Sgt Samuel Barker) in an attack in which the Embla was damaged.

On 19 April 1944 12 Beaufighter found again the Embla south of Aigues-Mortes and this time sank her with gunfire and torpedoes, but the Beaufighter NE371 of 39 Sqn crashed at sea, both crew, Flt Sgt Arthur Leslie Hewitt (pilot) and Sgt John Frankland Garnett, being killed.

The strange part of the story is that all my sources agree that the Embla was a Swedish ship hired by the British Red Cross to bring parcels from occupied France to North Africa for German POWs !!!

Losing two aircraft and crews in attacks against an unarmed Red Cross ship seems strange to me, so I wonder if this part of the story is true. Can anyone confirm that the Embla was a Red Cross ship ? If this is the case, I guess that there should be some trace of it, either the Red Cross, the German or the Swedish probably having complained about the attacks.

Thanks in advance

Laurent