Germany's plan to recover merchant sailors

Germany's proposed recovery route sent stranded sailors aboard friendly neutral shipping across the Pacific, then overland by rail through the Soviet Union. The plan was viable only before Germany invaded the Soviet Union, when a transcontinental train journey could still provide the final link home. British officers had used comparable rail travel for personnel movements, so the transport logic was credible. It was still a desperate Hail Mary: Royal Navy cruisers operated along the supposedly safer maritime leg, and Germany urgently needed the skilled sailors.