Personal testimonies from the sinking of P.L.M. 24

The following testimonies give us a complete overview of what happened regarding the captivity of the RIGEL crew, which led to the mine laying of the Sepia Strait, as well as the chronicle of P.L.M 24 sinking through the narrative of a resistance fighter by the name Ioannis Karademitros. Unknown Aspects of Occupation & Resistance 1941-1944


« “Rikel” was heading upwards to Thessaloniki, when my comrade (Stathis Margaritopoulos) told me that he noticed something in the water that looked like a black box. I responded to him that we had better get those few fish and get out of there because Rikel was getting closer and closer. In fact, the crew asked us if we had any fish to give them, and we answered in the negative. Meanwhile, the emerging “box” now clearly appeared to be a submarine. While I was leaning over to look for more fish, something passed in front of me in a flash. It was the first torpedo that missed “Rikel” and hit a big reef. We were covered in thick black smoke and bullets were falling all around us. . I told Stathis Margaritopoulos to bend at the bow to protect himself. Due to I wasn’t in the chavouni (circular hole in the bow of a boat that fishermen enter to lift the nets), I wore the “glass” (a seascope-like tool that fishermen used to have in order to watch the seabed) on my head to save myself from the gunfire. The ship attempted to move upwards, near the shore. Then, another torpedo was launched and wedged in its hull without exploding. After that, the ship ran aground, under Gortsia. . Ιt was fired upon the stern with mitrailleuse. Τhe rounds used were incendiary and caused a pile of banknotes to catch fire. Later on, the serial numbers on the banknotes were still visible among the ashes.

Το φορτηγό ατμόπλοιο RIGEL ναυλωμένο απο τους Γερμανούς (Πηγή: https://www.wrecksite.eu)

Meanwhile, “Katsonis” submarine launched another torpedo. Afterwards, signaled that the Germans and those who wanted to go to the Middle East would get aboard. The German captain and two men from Tinos island went by boat. They told us to help them get what they can save. The Spaniard said to catch the chickens (they had live chickens on board) that were scattered at sea. They took all the things they could and left. The sailors urged upon us: “Take what you guys can or else they’ll be wasted”. Upon hearing this, Fanos Patsias (from Trikeri) embrarked on the ship and then the Spaniard pulled out his pistol and pointed it at him. But the gun didn’t go off, so a murder was avoided. Shortly after, many people arrived with their boats and everyone took what they could and wanted. The shipwreck victims were sent to the village and from there to their homelands. The Spaniard was married to a Greek woman and she later told a man from Promyri, who she met by sheer coincidence in Spain, that her husband couldn’t stand the disaster and passed away.

Following the looting of “Rikel” many fellows from ELAS (Greek People’s Liberation Army) were staying near the beach and after a few days asked that whoever had taken something from the shipwreck must deliver it without delay for the liberation struggle. George Velos, who refused to do so, was led to the village bound and with custody. Georges Filaretos from Patrichori was asked to hand them a GRA gun that he had to hunt boars. Nevertheless, he denied to obey and he was beaten up. At night, they took me and tied me up. The hut of Nikos Paraskevas was in the vicinity and the moment he saw us remarked: “What’s all these about? Are we going to kill each other?” They said something in secret and we left for Lyri heading to the hut of Stathis Vogiatzis, where they asked for some barrels of gasoline. At this point, they untied me, and I went straight to my hut because my mother would be extremely worried.

Let me turn now to the explosion of the “Pi-Lambda-Mi 24” (French in the service of the Germans) that was blown up by the submarine “Charos”[1] (Dutch in the service of the English). I watched the events unfold from Vati. The submarine’s attack took place in our waters at Red Rock, near Paltsi. The PLM24 was adequately equipped and it’s passengers where hundreds soldiers fo the SS. The submarine’s attack took place in our waters at Red Rock, near Paltsi.

plm24
Ο κόκκινος βράχος που δεσπόζει στην περιοχή

The storm was really bad there with harsh northeastern winds and rain. As if that wasn’t enough, in the deepest parts the wind was raging even more and you could hear the growling of the sea. At this point, there was a torpedo that tore the whole bow in ten minutes [2] and another one that lodged in the helm. While at the first blow the boat could still proceed in its course, after the second one, turned with the bow to the shore and straight towards the rocky terrain. A third torpedo hit it on the diesel engine, and there a French engineer was killed on the spot. The ship was heading to the land and on the rocks with the bow, adrift. As soon as it got close to a conical rock, there was something like a storm surge that caused a rupture.

PLM 24
O κωνικός βράχος δίπλα στον οποίο υπάρχουν τα υπολείμματα της πλώρης

Dawn has appeared and everything seemed clear now. At that time, 120 Germans were divided into two groups of sixty. They headed to two boats and were massacred. Twelve French guys, crew members, that stayed aboard until the sea calms down, were rescued except for one. The first boat, left to me and to the right of the ship, had a rope caught on something and all men fell overboard before they knew it . They scattered in the crashing waves and on the rocks shouting. No one got away with it. Those who boarded on the other boat launched it properly, but they wanted to hoist a sail and the returning waves swept them on a reef and as a result their boat capsized. Some of them were saved, disembarked to Theotokos and then taken to the village to see what to do next. Corpses were floating everywhere and all the rock slits were full of dead bodies. There was the notorious Kreiman.

PLM 24 Port de bouc
Το P.L.M. 24 στο Port de Bouc (Πηγή: Αρχείο ΟΕΑ)

After I witnessed everything and following this incident, I went to the village as soon as the cafes opened and I took a seat. Others came and said a boat sank and people in the sea screamed and drowned. . In the meantime, they turned on a radio, and the first thing that was broadcast from London was that a Dutch submarine, the “Charos”, blew up the steamship P.L.M 24 that “had a price on its head” long ago, and that everyone should be executed except for the French crew. Now I had to send a signal out to Skiathos if case there were any survivors.

 

Slowly, they all got up, as well as those responsible, and contacted Argalasti so that we could find the ship’s weaponry and whatever kind of military supplies they might had. We all left and headed to Paltsi or Saint Constantine. I don’t remember the people that were with me. When we got down to the sand, we saw two people trying to launch a dinghy. We went close and saw that the small boat had capsized and took down the two people, Nikos Papaestathiou and Giannis Tsingante. It’s a good thing they weren’t get hurt by the gunwale because they were in the gap of the dinghy. The next waves raised the boat and so the two men escaped. Otherwise, they’d be helpless due to rough weather.

Me and other guys managed to climb over the bow and with a man from Argalasti, who had some tools, we unscrewed the two rapid-fire weapons and removed them. Or maybe we removed just one. The other one I managed to get it out after a long time and Thanasis Gros from Volos came and took it. With these, we armed the “Agios Georgios” ELAN’s (Greek People’s Liberation Navy) caique. There were lots of people on the ship. After a few days, two motorboats arrived and drained the oil contained in the PLM’s fuel tanks. After the ship lost weight, it began to suffer from the rough sea. Man and sea alike, tore it apart.

During the first few days, we’ve been taking out a lot of clothing. Especially blankets, for the newly formed rebel forces. The materials were received by a committee. The locals at night carried hatch covers and stuff. Dimitris Bliagos took the bronzes out of the portholes.


Underwater Survey Team (UST) has as a fundamental three-pronged approach of its activities the collection, study and diving. It is that very same threefold that interests members and puts us in a perpetual circle where the more information you collect, the more study it takes to document archival information. As a result, this inevitably leads to the need to dive as an activity for the field verification of the collected information and conclusions

So, even if an investigation has been completed for the vast majority of its part, there’s always something unexpected, new information emerges that further complements the puzzle of history, which up to that point we believe we have completed. This was also the case when, along with friend Aris Bilalis, we got our hands on an excellent book with an incredible wealth of testimonies, which deals with rebels’ activities during the WWII in the region of Volos, bearing the title “Unknown Aspects of Occupation & Resistance 1941-1944”.


[1] = Karademitros has been the victim of misinformation, since the only Dutch submarine that operated in the Aegean was the “DOLFJIN”, at a time that does not coincide with the sinking of PLM 24

[2] There is no mention of allied submarine activity in that area at the time that led to the sinking of PLM 24, and it is believed to have been sunk after it hit on a mine

Author: Nikolaos Sidiropoulos

Βιογραφικό Ο Νικόλας Σιδηρόπουλος γεννήθηκε στην Θεσσαλονίκη το 1977. To 2002 ξεκινάει την ενασχόλησή του με τις καταδύσεις και παίρνει το 1ο αστέρι από τον καταδυτικό οργανισμό CMAS. Θα ακολουθήσουν το 2ο αστέρι καθώς και η ενασχόληση με τις τεχνικές καταδύσεις που θα τον οδηγήσουν στην απόκτηση του TECREC 50. Το 2013 με τέσσερις συνδύτες του ιδρύουν την Ομάδα Εναλίων Αποτυπώσεων οπότε και ξεκινάει την ενασχόληση του με την αρχειακή - ιστορική έρευνα για την ταυτοποίηση και την ανάδειξη της ιστορίας των προς μελέτης πλοίων. Με τις πληροφορίες που αποκτάει από την έρευνα, συγγράφει άρθρα καθώς και αναφορές πεδίου, σχετικά με την υπηρεσία του πλοίου, τα ναυπηγικά χαρακτηριστικά του, τις συνθήκες βύθισης του και τον αντίκτυπο που έχει στην εκάστοτε περίπτωση στις ζωές των ανθρώπων και των τοπικών κοινωνιών. Έχει δώσει διαλέξεις σχετικά με την ιστορία των μελετημένων ναυαγίων σε συνέδρια που έχουν διοργανωθεί από την Ομάδα Εναλίων Αποτυπώσεων σε ποικιλία ακροατηρίων, από καθαρά ακαδημαϊκά συνέδρια μέχρι ναυτικά μουσεία με κοινό χωρίς επιστημονικό υπόβαθρο. Τα άρθρα αυτά δημοσιεύονται στην ιστοσελίδα της ομάδας. Παράλληλα από το 2013 είναι υποβρύχιος και επίγειος εικονολήπτης της ομάδας, για την δημιουργία ντοκιμαντέρ μικρού μήκους σε σχέση με τα πλοία που μελετάει η ομάδα, με στόχο την διάδοση του έργου της μέσω των οπτικοακουστικων μέσων. Τα Έχει συμμετάσχει σε ερευνητικά προγράμματα για την δημιουργία τρισδιάστατων μοντέλων ναυαγίων μέσω της μεθόδου της φωτογραμμετρικής αποτύπωσης.