The last journey of the "Tanais" 9 June 1944

On the 29 May 1944, in the middle of the night, the Jewish population of Chania were rounded up from their houses, their community and imprisoned. Estimated between 250 to 275 people. Included were numerous children, the old, those hospitalised, new mothers and their infants. This was an entire community of people. Cretans who were Jewish with two thousand years of communal history in Crete. This deportation was instigated by Germans poisoned with Nazism. Supported by local collaborators, police and those indifferent to the suffering such an action would cause. 

In a blog Gregory Pappas described his father's memory of this event:
"The Day They All Just Disappeared." (http:www.pappaspost.com/day-just-dissapeared). 
His father A Cretan had lived among Chania's Jewish community relayed his memory of what occurred to his son. He recalled of that night: "...the Nazis surrounded the Jewish neighbourhood around the Venetian harbour, blocking all access with trucks and armed guards with dogs. Megaphone announcements ordered all citizens with Jewish identity papers to bring a single suitcase of belongings and report immediately to the street. (He described the scene) as violent. Nazi German soldiers pushing women and the elderly to move quicker, while anyone who questioned or confronted a Nazi was hit with the butt of the rifle. They were herded to a central meeting point and placed on trucks and transferred to the prison of Ayia; a village outside the main town of (C)Hania. After a few days in inhuman conditions, as reported by many (C)Hania Christians who made the trek to the prison to negotiate for friends freedom or to bring food or other items to their Jewish friends, 265 Jews of (C)Hania were transferred by truck several hours to Iraklion."

He then remembers "walking on Kondilaki Street the following morning. He saw people ransacking the abandoned homes. Women were taking kitchen pots and pans from their former neighbour's homes and groups of men were seen looting beds, chests of drawers and other large pieces of furniture...The streets were filled with random items, books, religious ornaments, clothing-as if a violent storm had hit only that street."

Other blogs record how people from Chania travelled to Iraklion to the prison to take their neighbours and friends food. This seizure occurred towards the war's end. At a time when it was believed by the majority of Cretans that an invasion by the allies and the driving out of the Germans was imminent. That this community then would be loaded into a small freighter and transported to Piraeus within days seems inexplicable. But this is what happened.

"Tanais" was originally built in 1907 in Sunderland, England and initially named "Holywood". it worked for almost twenty years taking cargo between English ports, as in the postcard picture below-taken in Hull, Yorkshire, England.

 In 1935 it was sold to a Greek owner and renamed "Tanais" after a Russian River.

Note it is not a big ship

"Tanais" was sunk on 26 May 1941 by the Germans during the attack on Souda Bay. It was later refloated and repaired and commissioned as a cargo ship. 

In 1944, the Australian Air Force reported attacking "Tanais" which was part of a convoy. On 1 June 1944, a reconnaissance plane identified three enemy ships with a strong escort of 4 destroyers, 4 corvettes and 2 E-Boats. These were believed to be heading for the port of Iraklion. The convoy was pursued from near the Island of Paros, then attacked by No 454 Squadron. 18 Baltimores, were joined by 12 Marauders, 26 Beaufighters and 19 single engined d fighters.  The attack left the "Tanais" burning fiercely. The convoy struggled to Iraklion (Crete), where at anchor they were again attacked by a Liberator and Wellingtons. Photographic reconnaissance early on the morning of the 3 June 1944 showed the "Tanais" " afloat but much blackened as if by fire."

Five days later on 8 June 1944 in Iraklion 'Tanais' was loaded with prisoners of the Nazis. Greek resistants (identified on some Cretan blog sites as communist partisans), Italian prisoners of war, believed to be those who refused to work for the Germans, and the Jewish community of Crete. It is believed all prisoners were locked into the holds of an already damaged, 1500 ton, 80 metres long freighter. This was no more than a cattle truck of the sea and given the large number of children included, it would have been a terrifying and distressing ordeal for those imprisoned onboard.

"Tanais" left Iraklion late on 8 or early 9 June 1944, bound for Piraeus, and escorted by three or four smaller vessels. When it was north east of Crete and in the early hours of the morning of the 9 June 1944; it was sighted by the British submarine "HMS Vivid". 

The "Vivid" was a V Class P77. An irony is this submarine was built at Vickers Armstrong, Walker in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Not so far from where the Tanais was built. The "Vivid" was commissioned in 1943. It was under the command of Lieutenant John Cromwell Varley from 25 October 1943 to 18 August 1945. The "Vivid" served with the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta and saw frequent action in the Mediterranean. 

HMS Voracious, sister ship of Vivid

At 03.12 on 9 June 1944, four torpedoes were fired by "Vivid" from 2400 yards (submerged). One and a half minutes after the first torpedo was fired an explosion was heard, followed twelve seconds by a second torpedo. There was no counter attack. Less than two hours after the attack "Vivid" came to periscope depth but there was nothing visible. It is possible survivors (from the crew and guards) were picked up by the escorting ships - it is certain all the prisoners in the hold of the "Tanais" would have gone down with the ship. It is also very likely given the cramped conditions in the hold, the torpedoes would have caused massive injury to those trapped there. At 01.05 hours the following day (10 June 1944) a brief report of the incident was passed to the Captain of the First Submarine Flotilla, who commented that the target, was undoubtably the "Tanais". I have not found anything else concerning this tragedy in the public record.

"Vivid" survived the war and was scrapped at Faslane in 1950.

Lieutenant JC Varley would have been 24 years of age when in command of the submarine at the time he encountered the "Tanais". He had recently married Caroline Judith Coleman (1924-1989) on 9 November 1942 in London. 

The Cromwell-Varley's are a family with a rich history who can trace their origins back to Oliver Cromwell and General Fleetwood (who married Oliver Cromwell's daughter Bridget). The family includes Cromwell Fleetwood Varley (6 April 1828-1883) an inventor who developed the electric telegraph and transatlantic telegraph cable. John Varley artist and friend of the poet/artist/mystic William Blake. Many of this extended family were inventors/engineers and scientists in the area of electricity and cables. One ancestor, Cromwell Oliver Varley and his stepfather Ion Pericaris (an American of Greek descent but a Greek citizen) were kidnapped by Berbers in Tangiers in May 1904 from Pericaris's villa the poetically named "Place of Nightingales". It was here Cromwell Hanford Varley (JC Varley's father) was born.

Lieutenant JC Varley's parents were Cromwell Hanford Varley (known as Crom) as noted above born in 1890 in Morocco and Georgina Rosalind Stewart who he married in 1918. On leaving school (Winchester) Cromwell Hanford Varley trained as an engineer before joining the British Royal Navy where he reached the rank of Commander. He served through the First World War in submarines. He was also awarded the DSC. As well as being an engineer, he was also an inventor. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1921 and continued to work as an engineer in England and America. He developed a midget submarine and diving suit and later developed and patented the Varley paracyclic pump-still in use today. He died on the 11 or 26 November1949, in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England aged 59.

Lieutenant John Cromwell Varley would end the war with the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for gallantry at sea and reach the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the British Royal Navy, retiring 29 April 1955 aged 36 with the rank Lieutenant Commander. He was born in Chillworth, near Guildford, England 11 October 1919 and died in 2000 in Gloucestershire, England aged 80. There is very little other biographical information about John Cromwell Varley on the internet. Other than he had two children one in 1948 and 1950.They if still alive may know when and what their father knew about this terrible event. I can only imagine even in war setting this would have had a profound effect on a young man who more than likely believed he was torpedoing a legitimate target, an enemy cargo ship. In particular it is likely such an incident could have deeply affected someone who came from a long line of scientists, engineers, artists and humanists.

When did he or the RN become aware of the enormity of this sinking? In blog sites from Crete there is a belief the RN would have sunk this ship because it held  significant number of captured Greek communist partisans. But the records from boat tend to suggest "Tanais" with its escort would have been seen as a legitimate target. Both as it was identified there was an escort, and the submarine appears to have expected there to be a counter attack and took evasive action to avoid this and then used the periscope later to view the outcome. 

Etz Hayyim in ruins 

All of Crete's imprisoned Jewish population, the Greek resistants and Italian prisoners of war perished as they were locked in the holds, as did the majority of those on board. It is possible some German and Greek sailors or guards survived but details are not clear and the submarine only reported seeing debris some significant time after the sinking occurred. As previously described, there is mention in available information, sounds of the escort boat picking up survivors-but this is not verified. It is probable had "Tanais" reached Piraeus the destination for Crete's Jewish population would have been Auschwitz/Treblinka. This was the case for other Greek Jewish people rounded up in this action.

There is another strand to this event which is equally disturbing to contemplate. Who in the German command was responsible for putting these thousand people on to the 'Tanais'? The savagery by the Germans on Crete is well documented. General Bruno Brauer (4 February 1893-20 May 1947) was the military commander, although at the time of this atrocity (the clearing of Chania in particular) he was being replaced as Commander of Fortress Crete by General Friedrich-Wilhelm Muller (29 August 1897-20 May 1947) the 'Butcher of Crete'. He was based in Chania at about the time of the clearance of the Jewish Community. There is also records to say the Waffen SS Polizei Division were operating in Crete at this time. But was shipping under the orders of the Kreigsmarine? There appears to be no clear record of who made and signed off on these decisions and that is puzzling. It is evident that due to the threat of imminent invasion partisan activity and German reprisals were increasing. The reprisals under Brauer and Muller were atrocities and both were executed in Athens in 1947 for war crimes. Muller also held responsible for the execution of Italian officer prisoners of war in Ios as well as atrocities against Cretan civilians in reprisals against villages. But why with the end of the war and defeat of Nazi Germany in progress, the 'Tanais', a heavily damaged ship was loaded to over capacity with an imprisoned human cargo and sent out to sea. It can only be explained in the context of the Nazi goal to keep transporting Jews to the death camps no matter what. Whether Muller or Brauer were the decision makers for this act - to send a damaged boat into waters (and air) controlled by the British/allies was no less a war crime. An evil so repugnant it still resonates with grief today.

In writing this I am aware this was an event tragic in the extreme which would have affected the lives of many families across Crete, Greece and Italy. As it may well have effected the lives and families of the sailors on "Vivid" when and if they became aware of what cargo the 'Tanais' was carrying when she was torpedoed. The actual number of those imprisoned has never been clearly identified but it is likely close to one thousand. And almost two hundred and fifty plus of these were but for a handful of people, the entire remaining Jewish community of Crete. The immensity of this personal tragedy is one almost unbearable to contemplate in words alone. This post is in memory of all of those killed in the early hours of the morning of 9 June 1944.

Postscript November 2017:

Martin Gilbert in “The Holocaust The Jewish Tragedy” 1986 Fontana Books edition wrote page 683 “On June 6 (1944), 260 Jews living on the Island of Crete, who had been seized on May 20 (1944), were taken, with four hundred Greek hostages and three hundred Italian soldiers, Germany’s former allies, a hundred miles out to sea, beyond the island of Santorini, where the boat was scuttled. All were drowned.”

He based this on note 82 p884-5 “Molho, in memoriam op. cit, according to a recent account by Shlomo Karmiel, the 260 Jews from Canea who were seized on 20 May (1944) were executed on Crete, and their bodies put on board the ship, which was sunk to destroy the evidence. They were shot he believes “because they were involved in helping British Intelligence in plans to abduct General Kriepe, who commanded the Nazi forces in Crete.” (Marcel M. Yoel, “Canea Jews – the truth.” Jewish Chronicle, 19 November 1984.

Anthony Beevor (Crete The Battle and the Resistance) 1991 Penguin Books-writes on the kidnapping of General Kriepe by a team led by Major Leigh Fermor does not mention any contact with the Chania Jewish community and the action was in the environs of Heraklion resulting in a number of Cretan villages in this region being razed. Likewise, the action to seize and deport Crete’s Jewish population was part of a mass deportation at this time across Greece and the Greek islands. There were no other mass executions or boats scuttled on public record, making this unique and unlikely.

Sources: www.gracesguide.co.uk, uboat.net, awm.gov.au, pappaspost.com, searlecanada.org/sunderland/images, Etz Hayyim site, Wikipedia, Wikiservice.
Barbara W. Tuchman (1981)-Practising History "Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead" p 104-117