The 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade

(1 Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa)

Crossing The Caspian Sea

What The Evacuees Experienced

The distance from Krasnovodsk to Pahlevi was around 250 nautical miles. In theory, crossing the Caspian Sea should have been easy enough for the Polish evacuees of 1942. However, reality was something else.

Ageing oil & coal boats were used during when crossing the Caspain Sea whereby the passengers were forced to stand due to lack of space and gross overloaded. The Polish evacuees were glad to be escaping the "Inhuman Land" in favour of "Freedom".

The names of the boats used during crossing the Caspian Sea, sailing dates and who was on them is covered in extensive detail in the research section of the website where these photos re-appear under their respective boat names.

Unknown Ship 08 - ship4 from Karta website arrived 29 mar 1942 photo 2 - Web

I have spent much time scouring the web and archives for photos of the boats crossing the Caspian Sea to Pahlevi. Below is every photo known to exist of the Caspian Sea Crossings in 1942.

If you know of any sea vessels used in 1942 crossing the Caspian Sea, please, please do get in touch as these are gold dust and full of meaning to thousands of people tracing tracing their Polish roots.

For now, look at these photos and see how almost all of the boats were grossly overcrowded with sick, ill, malnourished Polish people, all desperately fleeing Stalin to the land of freedom, Pahlevi in Persia:

Overcrowded ship arriving at Pahlevi in 1942. Could be The Zhdanov
Unknown Ship 06 - Web
Unknown Ship 05 - image 1 boat on irght chicherin class maybe and on left lenin type - Web
One of the grossly overloaded ships at Krasnovodsk
Overcrowded ship arriving at Pahlevi in 1942. Could be The Zhdanov
Overcrowded ship arriving at Pahlevi in 1942. Could be The Zhdanov
Unknown Ship 01 - Web
The Turkmenistan 03 - By Czeslaw Blikarski 25 March 1942 - Web
The Moskva - circa 1896view - Web
The Astrakhan 02 - Sailors & Airmen - Web
The Astrakhan with Polish airmen on board on their way to Pahlevi in March 1942
The Agamali Ogly 09 - Web

The Agamali-Ogly

The photos are from the deck of the Agamali-Ogly whilst crossing the Caspian Sea in 1942 during the evacuation of Poles that were held captive in the USSR.

The Agamali Ogly 06 - Web
The Agamali Ogly 05 - Web