The 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade

(1 Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa)

Ship No 6 (Wave 2)
The Zhdanov

Overview Of The Zhdanov

The Zhdanov was a XXXXX and was owned by XXXX

It was one of the official ships (unofficial flotillas of fishing boats were also involved) organised by Stalin in 1942 at Krasnovodsk (Russian: Красноводск) (Modern day Türkmenbaşy) to transport Polish exiles (also mistakenly called "deportees") who had been held captive in Siberia/Kazakhstan labour camps over the Caspian Sea to Pahlevi (Pahlavi) now called Banzar-e Anzali which is in modern day Northwest Iran.

Ship Movements

From passenger testimonies & any other available data this is a "best educated guess" of the ships movements.

  • Embark: 13/08/42 (Ryszrd Tyrk) | Time:
  • Depart: 1942 | Time:
  • Arrive: 14/08/42 / 15/08/42 (See Related Accounts Below) | Time: 04:30am (Ryszrd Tyrk)

Extract From "The Ross Report"

According to the Ross Report, here is who was on this ship;

Date Civilians Soldiers Others Total
14/08/194215042885-4389

Related Accounts

  • American by Choice By Henryk Szostak (Link to book)- The distance from Krasnovodsk to Pahlevi is only about 300 miles, but because of the state and age of the ship, it took two to three days to make the crossing. On board the conditions were extremely crowded and we had no food or water, so the children moved among the soldiers begging for anything to eat...On August 14, 1942, the ship docked at Pahlevi.
  • The Polish Deportees Of World War II (Tadeusz Piotrowski) - Page 103/104 Account of Ryszard Tyrk - We were assigned to a ship which bore the name "Zdanov". We boarded on August 13, 1942. On August 15, 1942 at 4:30am, just after sunrise, we saw the Persian port at Pahlavi. We remained for a few hours on board ship while awaiting the barges which were to take us to shore. He mentions panic breaking out on board as they thought the ship was going back to the Soviet Union, 2 people jumped off the ship to swim ashore and several shots were fired to keep order before they were rescued.
  • Note - The 2 accounts above seem to conflict but given the few hours between them it's likely that the question is really about the definition of "arriving" at Pahlevi.