SS ''Petrella'' was a German merchant ship, which was torpedoed and sunk on 8 February 1944, north of

Souda Bay Souda Bay is a bay and natural harbour near the town of Souda on the northwest coast of the Greece, Greek island of Crete. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akr ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, killing some 2,670 of the Italian POWs aboard.

Service history

The ship was built under the name ''Pasteur'' as a

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

, one of a class of nine ships ordered by the French government to replenish its merchant fleet after the losses of World War I. The ship was launched on 3 February 1923 from the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard at Graville, Le Havre. On 11 July she was sold to the ''Plisson et Cie'' company of

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, entering service on 10 August 1923. The following year she was sold to the ''Cie des Chargeurs Français'', and in 1925 was chartered to the ''Compagnie Navale de l'Océanie'' shipping line, a subsidiary of the ''Ballande & Fils'' group, for service to

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. In June 1928 the ship was bought by the ''Compagnie Générale d'Armement Maritime'' (CGAM) and renamed ''Aveyron''. She was operated by the ''

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the Péreire brothers, brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the ...

'' (CGT) company, and was finally transferred to the ownership of CGT in 1939. On 10 July 1941, following the French armistice the ship was transferred to the ownership of the Italian Government, and renamed ''Capo Pino'' was operated by the ''Cia Genovese di Navigazione à Vapore'', based at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. The ship was captured by the Germans at

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, Greece, on 8 September 1943, following the announcement of the

Italian capitulation The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

. She was renamed ''Petrella'' and operated under the ownership of the of

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, a

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

that managed captured ships in the Mediterranean on behalf of the German ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

'', with civilian crews under military jurisdiction.

Sinking

Crete had been captured by the Germans in May/June 1941, and was occupied by a mixed German-Italian force as " Fortress Crete". The Italian 51st Infantry Division Siena consisted of some 21,700 men, and occupied the easternmost prefecture of Lasithi. Following the armistice of September 1943 the Italians in Crete were disarmed by the Germans without major problems. As elsewhere, they were given the choice to continue the war alongside Germany, or to be sent to the Reich as military internees to perform

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

. A minority chose to continue the fight and formed the ''Legione Italiana Volontari Creta''. As ordered by Adolf Hitler, the Italian internees were transported back to Germany. On 8 February 1944, some 3,173 prisoners were crammed into the hull of the ''Petrella''. The ship was detected by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

submarine and torpedoed, despite the ''Petrella'' having been clearly marked as a prisoner of war transport.''Chronik des Seekrieges 1939-1945'', Württembergische Landesbibliothek, entry on February 1944
/ref> Some 2,670 prisoners died when the ship sank; a factor in the high death toll was that the guards did not open the holds where the POWs were and fired on those trying to get out.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrella 1923 ships Ships built in France Ships of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique World War II merchant ships of Germany Maritime disasters Maritime incidents in February 1944 Ships sunk by British submarines World War II shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea Captured ships

Service history

Sinking

See also

References