Regarding the fate of XANTHOPOULOS 8 I have the following information:
In the attached German document a "ms REA" is mentioned with registry 32 in Piraeus.
Register number 32 in Piraeus Riverine Vessels registry belongs to XANTHOPOULOS 8. However there is no mention in the registry of her being renamed REA.
In a document uploaded by Theo Dorgeist at
https://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,15834.0.html the "Zementschiffe KRONOS und REA" are mentioned with same dimensions, hence they were sister ships.
For KRONOS I have already wrote in that thread that she was the former XANTHOPOULOS 7, a sister ship to XANTHOPOULOS 8. Those were the only two of the Crete ships with the specific dimensions that came to Greece.
Hence, it is apparent that when XANTHOPOULOS 8 was sold in 1941 to G. L. Evangelidis & Co. she was renamed REA, without this being reported to Piraeus register. The two chosen names - Rea and Kronos - also formed a pair in Greek mythology
REA was sunk on 7.10.1944 while sailing in a convoy to Thessaloniki with the tug boat AMSEL, salvage tug SAMPSON and two motor ships under the escort of net tender NT-35. The German war diaries mention that the attack took place at 20.35' in a position about 12 miles N of Skiathos island.
In Allied bibliography it is mentioned that on 7.10.1944 the cruiser BLACK PRINCE and the destroyer TERPSICHORE sunk "passenger ship, large caique, and LCT 12 mi. n of Skiathos". The description of the targets under cover of darkness was clearly not accurate. Possibly NT-35 was the "large caique", REA the "LCT" and one of the others was seen as a passenger ship.
AMSEL managed to escape and probably returned to Volos, SAMPSON was disabled and drifted until captured by the Greek partizan navy ELAN the following morning.
