The sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur...
War crime or legitimate target?

AWM ARTV09088. Adapted from WW2 poster.

The Centaur was an Australian hospital ship sunk by a Japanese submarine in the early morning of 14 May 1943, with the death of 268 of its 332 crew and passengers. Hospital ships were ships that were commissioned to return wounded and ill soldiers from the battlefront to home front hospitals. There was much outrage at the time about the sinking of a hospital ship -- contrary to international agreements.

Working through the activity

This activity consists of 8 Investigations with a total of 16 Questions/Tasks and  is completely self-contained within a single, 13 page Acrobat™ file (316kb). 

All that needs to be done is to download the Acrobat™ file, and distribute it in either print or digital form to activity participants.

NOTE: While the activity material contains sufficient information to complete the activity, more information about this controversial event is available on this website:
[ Centaur ] (Opens in a new browser window)