The attack on Aruba during World War II by German U-boats and Italian submarines occurred on February 16th 1942. In that time Aruba housed two of the largest oil refineries in the world.
U-156 and three other boats set out on a mission to attack the refineries in Aruba, Curacao and tankers in the vicinity. Originally their orders were to attack the refinery and then target any tanker. On the morning of February 16th the German command changed their orders, stating that the principal targets of all U-boats would be the tankers. At 1.30 am U-156 fired a torpedo at the ‘Pedernales’, a tanker loaded with crude oil. The tanker burst into flames and exploded about 2 miles away from the coast where the Lago Refinery was. After a couple minutes a second torpedo was fired and hit the ‘Oranjestad’ tanker.
After attacking the two tankers U-156 got a clear line of sight to the Lago Refinery. The commander of U-156 ordered to prepare the deck cannons. As soon as the order was given to fire, the deck cannon exploded on deck. The crew had forgotten to remove the water plug from the cannon barrel. A few shots were fired with smaller cannons, but without the deck cannon there could be no effective attack on the oil refinery.
While U-156 was launching her attack on Aruba, the remaining boats in Neuland Group attacked and sank the tankers San Nicolas, Tia Juana and Monagas. The tanker Monagas became a victim when she stopped to rescue survivors of the Tia Juana.
One hero during the attack was Lloyd G. Smith who ran around throwing rocks at the lights illuminating the walkway from the refinery to the docks.
Until the end of the WW II troops from Allies patrolled the island and build a couple of cannon bases around the island for protection.
To read a more detailed version of this article please go to our Aruba forum site and read Lisa’s version of the attack on Aruba.
