SOMERTON MAN:WAS THIS PAVEL FEDOSIMOV'S JOURNEY TO AUSTRALIA?

 

THE RATLINES

Ratlines were 'escape routes' for Nazis and other Fascists following the end of WW2 and those that used them mainly ended up in South America. I say mainly because not all Nazis went there, some, and not a few were delivered elsewhere.

However there were other high-value assets of interest to the Allies, specifically, they wanted to recruit and turn German intelligence officers, and those that were working at uncovering Russian spy networks were of particular interest. At the head of the list was General Reinhard Gehlen, a target they didn't have to wait long for, he surrendered and eventually brought others with him Klaus Barbie, Alois Brunner, Emil Augsburg and others were to follow. In 1946 'Gehlen Org' moved to Germany and set about creating a super network of ex-Nazi intelligence men to carry out anti-soviet intelligence activities.

Simultaneously, the Allies took advantage of disaffection amongst the ranks of Soviet intelligence operatives and recruited them as well. Followers of this post will know that some 4 years ago we covered the early Eastern Front activities of one Soviet Agent, Pavel Fedosimov.

A rich harvest indeed.

The purpose of this post is not to dwell upon the Gehlen Org and similar groups, incredibly interesting though it is.

The intention here is to look at a particular set of events and circumstances that took place in 1948 and which may well provide us with a possible answer to the question

'How did PAVEL FEDOSIMOV get to Australia?'

For personnel to be spirited away from Germany, and other, then, occupied territories took a great deal of planning and coordination. Timing and mode of transport were of paramount importance. Care would have to be taken not to impact other operations in the same geographical area and time window, although sometimes that would, perhaps, have been unavailable.

What follows is a summation, I have deliberately not delved too deep into details of names and precise actions on behalf of the various agencies involved although much more information is available. I have restricted this post to the essential events that took place.  

Join me now as we set out on a journey or two... well definitely two.

PART 1: THE VOYAGE OF THE POBEDA

Amidst mounting tensions between the Soviet Union and the USA, the Soviets made a decision to drastically reduce their diplomatic strength in America. Accordingly, they arranged for the SS Pobeda to transport many of their US-based,  staff and families back to Russia via Odessa. There were some amongst the Russian contingent who were decidedly unhappy about the prospect of return9ing to a very uncertain future in the motherland especially given the ongoing purges in their homeland. The Oksana Kasenkina case comes to mind, she famously leapt from a Soviet Embassy window to escape seriously injuring her legs on landing. She was rescued by two of New Yorks finest. Two other teachers and their family also opted out and despite the best efforts of Soviet intelligence they were unable to locate them prior to the departure of the Pobeda, which I understand was due to leave around July 28th 1948.

A Russian Perspective

The Russians had another perspective on the circumstances surrounding the departure of the Pobeda, in an account of the days leading up to the Pobeda setting sail for Odesa, their understanding was the wife of one Soviet diplomat refused to leave, she was taken away by US security officials. There was concern at the time as they were unable to locate her suitcase on board.

A further delay occurred when US health teams insisted on disinfecting the inside of the ship, its cabins, restaurants, n fact every space was subjected to spraying of an unpleasant smelling liquid. Apparently, this work took three days.

Some 350 plus passengers and 200 crew were aboard when the Pobeda finally departed for Odesa on August 1st 1948. Amongst those passengers was a very senior Chinese military officer, Feng Yuxiang, with his family and, according to official documents, one Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov. Pavel was, according to records, not accompanied by his wife.  According to Alexander Vassiliev's notes, Pavel Fedosimov was recalled to Russia as he was believed to have been planning to betray the Mother country.

To all accounts, the trip, at least until they reached Gibraltar, was uneventful. It was at that pint whilst sailing through the straights, that a message was received by the Captain of the Pobeda to head for alter course and head for Alexandria where he was to pick up 200 Armenians to repatriated, they were to stay with the ship until they reached Batumi on the black sea where they were to disembark. Unsurprisingly, the Captain was not amused but alter the course he did and, make a note of this date, on August 22nd, the Pobeda duly arrived at Alexandria and loading operations commenced. It was according to witnesses, a fairly chaotic affair with some Armenians wanting to be treated like Royalty and insisting on having their cars loaded along with their household furniture.

There were rumours that some had left the ship at Alexandria but nothing positive. If you were going to leave without detection, amidst the noise and confusion of the loading process would have been a good time. We'll mark that down for later reference. We do not have an exact date of departure but would estimate that it would have been around the 24th of August, this would fit with the next estimated date of 29th August in Batumi, At this port, all the additional 'guests' on board, being the Armenian contingent, disembarked, again, one would imagine, amidst a great deal of noise and confusion.

The next known date was a report of the ship signalling as it passed a check-in point en route from Batumi to Odesa. After that nothing was heard and on September 2nd/3rd the alarm was raised. A search aircraft located the ship dead in the water. A disastrous fire had occurred on board supposedly as the result of an act of negligence by a crew member setting up a film show for the passengers, the film caught fire and spread rapidly. The resultant fire claimed the lives of 19 women passengers, 15 children and 6 men passengers and two crew members. Amongst the dead was the Chinese General and his younger daughter. Two days later the stricken Pobeda arrived in Odesa.

Stalin was furious, he had planned for a high-level meeting with Yuxiang and immediately pronounced the fir as the work of Armenian agents aided by the Americans. Several members of the crew were put on trial and sentenced to lengthy periods of imprisonment.

Footnote

If someone were to have left the Pobeda in an unauthorised fashion, they were 3 possible occasions when that might have occurred. At Alexandria, at Batumi and finally at Odesa. Each occasion was accompanied by a great deal of noise and activity to provide cover for an escape attempt.

The dates to note are August 1st 1948 NY departure, August 22nd Alexandria, August 24th departs Alexandria, August 29th Batumi, September 1st radio check-in and September 5th 1948 Odesa.

Incidents. The wife of a Russian diplomat refuses to board in New York, Fedosimov not accompanied by his wife according to records.

Three occasions when a escape could have occurred.

AN ADDITIONAL Circumstance. Stationed in Cairo at this time was one Donald Maclean, a British diplomat and later known member of the Cambridge 5 Russian spy ring.

Let me stress, what we are doing here is showing that at various points in time and at various locations, there were a series of events and circumstances that, taken together, would give you cause to seriously consider the possibility that Pavel Fedosimov could have planned and executed his escape and defection. It is also possible that Maclean tipped off the Russians.

Is it possible that others may have gone with him or perhaps that someone else went and not Fedosimov? Of course, it is but the other circumstances point to him.

But, the big question remains, how would Fedosimov make his way to Australia?

PART 2: THE VOYAGE OF THE DERNA

SS DERNA MELBOURNE 6th NOVEMBER 1948

Now the cat's out of the bag! The SS Derna was a ship that could well have played an important role. The voyage of the Derna commenced in Marseille on August 28th 1948. It was a rotten, run-down wreck of a vessel that had been purchased by an entrepreneurial Greek gentleman who was taking advantage of heavy subsidies from various Governments, in this case, the Australian Government,  to provide transport or refugees and immigrants from Europe and who ere to be resettled in Australia. The only thing that the Derna had going for it was a new coat of paint, the rest was just a facade, an absolutely disgraceful episode when people were treated no better than cattle, crammed into cabins that held up to 40 people in bunk beds that were stacked 3 high. There was no privacy, a communal bathroom and little in the way of decent accommodation except for those of higher standing.

The passengers were from across Europe, some German, Italians, Estonians, Greeks, Russians and more. There was apparently a stipulation in the Government contract that not more than 25% of the passengers should be Jewish.

You can in fact read about the journey and the people who endured and survived it, the free ebook can be found here: 

https://au1lib.org/book/4767140/101cc2

For now, let's look at the relevant events. The Derna limped across the Mediterranean arriving at Port Said on the Nile on September 7th 1948. Unbeknownst to the passengers at that time, they were to be joined by hundreds more on what was an already overcrowded ship. In fact, there could have been a further 70, (Yugoslavs), had it not been for the intervention of an official who was seriously concerned about overloading the Derna. As you can imagine, once more there was a chaotic scene as hundreds of more people boarded the Derna, how difficult would it have been to monitor just who was getting on board and who was leaving. On that last point, a third officer resigned at Port Said and the Captain thought himself fortunate to find a replacement.

The Derna experienced two onboard fires during its journey. On completion of this contract, it was scrapped.

There were numerous disputes and fights, at the end of the trip, two male passengers were found to be missing. One Russian officer was later to become a prominent NSW politician, he openly bragged about helping one passenger to 'disappear' following a fight.

The Derna docked in Melbourne on 6th November 1948.

I am not going to plough through the journey in detail, suffice it to say it was horrendous for the passengers and the crew. I will say that the Greek entrepreneur's daughter was married into a particularly well known Greek shipping company family.

A QUESTION ANSWERED

You should now be able to see that the dates and events surrounding the voyages of both the POBEDA and the DERNA 'could' have provided an excellent escape opportunity. It seems to me to be a good possibility that given that our man is Fedosimov, he could have left the POBEDA amidst the confusion at Alexandria, he could, with help possibly from the British and perhaps an Australian, made his way from Alexandria to Port Said, not a great distance and again amidst the confusion, he could have boarded the Derna and arrived in Melbourne in early November.

It is also possible that the Soviets were tipped off and were able to eventually catch up with him in Adelaide.

What of Pavel Fedosimov? I am still of the view that he is a good candidate for being the Somerton Man. Am I 100% positive? No, I can be wrong but I think he's the best candidate given all the circumstances. I note that no one else has put forward any other names and Fedosimov, despite all of the negative comments is still there.

Hopefully, we will find out the mans identity in due course and I can either celebrate or shrug my shoulders and say at least I gave it a good shot!