German troops on the Pancaldo

[LColombo]

On 30 April 1943 the destroyer Leone Pancaldo, during a troop transport mission to Tunis together with the German destroyer Hermes, was sunk by USAAF air strikes off Tunisia. Pancaldo at that time had a crew of 280 men and was carrying some 300 German troops (300 more German troops were on Hermes, which managed to reach Tunis although heavily damaged and with 23 men killed). Of the Pancaldo's crew, 124 men were killed and 156, including her c.o. Tommaso Ferreri Caputi (seriously wounded), were rescued. But what was the fate of the German troops? Does anybody know precisely how many German soldiers were on the Pancaldo and/or how many were killed or survived?

[Peter K.]

300 more German troops were on Hermes, which managed to reach Tunis although heavily damaged and with 23 men killed

According to the war diary of HERMES only 213 German soldiers of the regiment Hermann Göring were embarked at Salerno.