Født: Kristiansand - 7 februar 1877
Bosted: Kristiansand - Kristiansand kommune.
Død: 10 november 1943
Georg Martinius Stousland var maskinmester på D/T ”Litiopa”, som ble senket av tysk ubåt utenfor Freetown 22. oktober 1943. Han ble reddet, men døde av påkjenningene 10. november om bord på et britisk skip, på vei fra Freetown til Gibraltar.
Kildene forteller:
Krigsseilerregisteret skriver:November 1943:
D/T ”Litiopa” ble beskutt med kanonild og torpedert (coup de grâce) av tysk ubåt U - 68 ( Kapitänleutnant Albert Lauzemis ) utenfor Freetown den 22/10 og sank i pos. N 06.18', W 11.55' på reise fra Lagos til Freetown i ballast. 2 personer omkom etter skader.
www.uboat.net skriver:
During the night on 21 Oct 1943 the D/T ”Litiopa” (Master Trygve Olsen) heard twice that depth charges were dropped by her sole escort, HMS Orfasy (T 204), but then a heavy explosion nearby shook the tanker. At 23.53 hours, the trawler had been hit by one torpedo from the german, type IXC u-boat U-68, commanded by Oberleutnant Albert Lauzemis, holder of the german Cross in gold, exploded and sank with all hands.
At the same time, the U-boat had fired two torpedoes at the tanker but missed. She was missed again with a FAT at 00.40 hours on 22 October and at 02.11 hours by a T-3 torpedo, which apparently exploded only 50m behind the U-boat.
At 04.27 hours, U-68 began shelling the D/T ”Litiopa” for 20 minutes with all weapons. A coup de grâce at 04.48 hours malfunctioned as circle runner and the U-boat reopened fire at 04.59 hours.
Another two coups de grâce were fired at 05.41 and 05.52 hours but both missed, so the shelling continued from 06.00 until 06.27 hours. In all 58 rounds from the deck gun were fired of which at least 50 had been hits and the U-boat left the burning and sinking tanker in the dawn.
The crew had abandoned ship in four lifeboats, which were separated in the dark, but in the morning two of them returned to their ship, which was still floating, but badly damaged and on fire. Later ammunition started to explode and by noon the tanker was listing and eventually sank. The remaining two boats arrived at Robertsport that day, while the two others joined them the next day.
Minnehallen i Stavern skriver:
D/T ”Litiopa” var et av de eldste tankskipene i Nortraships flåte. Var på reise fra Lagos til Freetown da hun ble angrepet og beskutt 22. oktober 1943 av tre tyske ubåter i posisjon N 0618 og W 1155. Skipet sank, og alle om bord kom velberget inn til Robertsport. To av besetningen døde kort tid etter grunnet helseproblemer.
De som omkom ombord D/T ”Litiopa” :Georg Martinius Stousland - Maskinsjef, Reidar Wilhelm Haagensen - Kokk.
www.warsailors.com skriver:
Final Fate -1943:
D/T ”Litiopa” (on charter to Anglo-Saxon Co.) had departed Lagos, Nigeria on Oct. 16-1943, bound for Freetown in ballast escorted by the armed trawler HMS Orfasy.
On Oct. 21 the sound of depth charges from Orfasy was heard twice, before D/T ”Litiopa” was shaken by a heavy explosion nearby.
Suddenly, at around 03:30 on Oct. 22, in 06 18N 11 55W, she found herself the victim of intense shelling from the port side, and at about the same time she was also attacked from the starboard side.
At the time of attack D/T ”Litiopa” was sailing at a speed of 7.5 knots on course 307° true, not zig-zagging, radio silent, completely blacked out, in rainy weather with a calm sea, wind southwest force 2, no other ships in sight. The visibility was poor as it was very dark with no moon or stars. There were 3 lookouts; 1 on the starboard bridge and 1 by the gun aft, while the 2nd mate was on the port side of the bridge.
The first shell had struck the aft gun platform, damaging the gun. One of her machine guns and a lifeboat were also damaged in the attack, with the shelling from both sides continuing for a considerable time. Her engine was stopped and her crew ordered to be ready by the lifeboats. About 15 minutes later she was again fired upon from the starboard side and this time 4 lifeboats were launched, as the ship was on fire and listing to starboard. All 35 survived these attacks, though from the lifeboats they thought they saw 3 U-boats taking part in the shelling, which lasted until 05:00 that morning.
It appears only 1 U-boat attacked, namely U-68 (Lauzemis). The Orfasy had previously gone down with all her men. Roger Jordan and Jürgen Rohwer both say Litiopa was torpedoed and sunk (as opposed to shelled) by U-68.
In an effort to clear this up, I posted a query to the Ubootwaffe.net forum, and Roland Berr responded as follows (this appears to be from U-68's KTB, so the times given here are probably German time):
"This sinking must have been a really frustrating event for Lauzemis. He sighted the D/T ”Litiopa” in the evening of 21 at 20.00h. He wrote about a shadow ahead followed by two PCs.
At 23.53h he fired two torpedos against the tanker and one more against a corvette. The two against the tanker are commented with one word NOTHING. The third one sunk the Orfasy.
At 00.40h on 22. he fired an FAT against the D/T ”Litiopa”, which passed behind the ship.
At 02.11h U-68 fired its fourth torpedo, this one was a misfire.
At 02.14h U-68 was shaken by an explosion behind the boat. Lauzemis guessed it was his last torpedo. His comment: Its enough. All clear for gunattack.
At 04.27 U-68 begun to fire with all guns. The 10.5 cm fired against the machinery, the Vierlingsflak took D/T ”Litiopa”'s backward gun under fire, the double flaks fired at the bridge.
There was no fire from the tanker, the crew left the ship.
At 04.48h U-68 fired a cdg torpedo which became a Kreisläufer.
At 04.59h the u-boat continued with artillery fire.
At 05.41 another torpedo was shot, again a failure.
At 05.52h U-68 fired the last torpedo, again with no result.
From 06.00h till 06.27 Lauzemis continued with artillery fire. Alltogether there had been 58 rounds by 10.5 cm with minimum 50 hits. The boat left the scene with D/T ”Litiopa” burning and in sinking condition. There is no other sub mentioned! The nearest boat on that day was U-103 in position FD 23."
The lifeboats were separated in the dark, but at daylight the motorboat with 12 men and the starboard midships boat with 9 men met up again. After having plugged up the bullet holes in the motorboat, the other boat was taken in tow and they returned to their ship which was still afloat, but badly damaged and on fire, listing heavily to starboard with her stern deep in the water. Ammunition started to explode and she eventually capsized and sank at 12:45.
The lifeboats then headed for land, 1 of them arriving Robertsport, Liberia that same day, 2 boats arrived on the 23rd while the 4th was towed in by a corvette later that day. Stoker Smith, the 1st mate and the saloon boy were injured, but not seriously. On the 24th they were all taken to Freetown by the corvette, with arrival the following day.
They later got passage (via Gibraltar to where?) on the British passenger ship Orbita (used as troopship - Captain E. H. Large). 2 of D/T ”Litiopa”'s crew members died on board this ship, both of heart failure. They had been treated in the ship's hospital, but 1st Engineer Stausland died on Nov 10, and Cook Haagensen died on Nov. 15; both were buried at sea.
Kilder: Krigsseilerregisteret, www.uboat.net, Minnehallen i Stavern og www.warsailors.com
Flåtetilhørighet
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Utmerkelser
Krigsmedaljen
Krigsmedaljen utdeles til norske eller utenlandske militære som på en fortjenstfull måte har deltatt i krig for Norge og til norske og utenlandske sivile som under krig har ydet Norges forsvar tjenester. Krigsmedaljen utdeles post mortem til alle nordmenn og utlendinger som har kjempet i de norske styrker og Handelsflåten og falt for Norges sak. (Wikipedia)
Stousland, ble tildelt Krigsmedaljen 28 juli 1981 PM