The terrible events of December 2nd, 1943 in the Italian port of Bari have been shrouded in secrecy and subject to official censorship. On that night, an Allied convoy of twenty-one ships, carrying highly-flammable fuel and ammunition was bombed by the Luftwaffe as its volatile cargo was being unloaded. It was a devastating attack and the ships trapped in the overcrowded harbor soon became an exploding mass of burning oil and white hot metal. For many crew, survival from this mayhem was to leap into the harbor waters and pray for rescue. But the rescued and the rescuers did not know that they were immersed in a deadly cocktail of oil and liquid mustard gas. This is the story of that fatal night and its terrible lingering aftermath told by a man who was there.