In one of the worst 'friendly fire' incidents recorded, 787 allied prisoners-of-war died. They will be remembered next week. Mark Summers reports

WERE more than 700 British and Common-wealth prisoners of war sacrificed to protect the intelligence secret that helped win the Second World War?

A historian believes he has uncovered evidence that proves one of the worst "friendly fire" incidents could have been avoided.

A total of 76 servicemen from the North-East lost their lives when a British submarine - HMS Sahib - torpedoed the SS Scillin, an Italian ship packed with prisoners of war.

The Scillin was attacked in the Mediterranean as it sailed towards Italy.

Aboard were 810 British and Commonwealth prisoners.

According to the official version of events, celebrations at the destruction of an Axis ship turned to horror when men on the sub realised they had condemned their own soldiers to death.

The Sahib rescued 27 PoWs from the sea (26 British and one South African), but it was only when the commander heard the survivors speaking English that he realised what had happened.

At a subsequent Ministry of Defence (MoD) inquiry he was cleared of all blame.

He said that, at the time, he believed the Scillin was transporting Italian troops.

The MoD kept the incident a closely- guarded secret for decades. Relatives of the men who died believed they had perished in an Italian PoW camp.

It was not until 1996, after repeated requests for information from families of the victims, that the truth came out.

Now, Lincolnshire author Brian Sims believes he has uncovered evidence that points to an even bigger conspiracy.

Mr Sims, whose father was one of the victims of the sinking, has uncovered documents in the Public Records Office showing that naval chiefs knew in advance that the ships were carrying PoWs.

Mr Sims, a retired pit deputy, whose father William, was in the Royal Signals Corps, says the men were killed to conceal the fact the British had cracked the complex codes used by Axis forces in their radio messages. The Enigma code-breakers based at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, were crucial to the Allied victory, giving vital information about the enemy's plans. This meant the MoD knew of the Scillin's cargo, but the information was never passed to the commander of HMS Sahib.

A tree planting and plaque unveiling will take place at the National Arboretum at Alrewas, near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, on Tuesday.

Mr Sims and another victim's son, Ron Graham, of Wiltshire, hope the relatives of some of the North-East victims - who were in the Durham Light Infantry - will attend the ceremony.

Mr Sims said: "The only logical answer for the sinkings was the protection of Ultra intelligence, no other answer is possible.

"Until 1992, when I found what had happened, my father was still officially missing, presumed dead, even though the authorities knew. The plaque says that these men were sacrificed."