 Vice Admiral Werner Lange, German Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Aegean, tried to reinforce the isolated German garrisons and carry out operations against Allied garrisons, while transporting Italian prisoners of war to the mainland.Allied ships tried to intercept these ships, resulting in heavy losses.On 23 September, damaged the torpedo boat "TA10" and sank the steamer , which had 1,576 Italian captives on board.