Crimea Campaign

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v • d • e Crimea and Caucasus

1st Crimea – Kerch Peninsula – Adzhimushkay – Sevastopol – Caucasus – Kerch-Eltigen Operation (1943) – 2nd Crimea

For the 1853–1856 war between the Russian Empire and allied powers, see Crimean War.

The Crimea Campaign was a two year long campaign of the Axis forces to conquer the Crimea peninsula, and was the scene of some of the most bloody battles on the Eastern Front during World War II. The German and Romanian troops suffered heavy casualties as they tried to advance through the isthmus linking the Crimean peninsula to the mainland at Perekop, from summer of 1941 through to the first half of 1942.

From the 26 September 1941 the German 11th Army was involved in the fighting, opposed by the Red Army's 51st Army and elements of the Black Sea Fleet.

Troops from the Romanian Third Army and Fourth Army were later also heavily involved in the fighting. By the close of the campaign, and during 1943 the peninsula was occupied by Army Group A with the 17th Army as its major subordinate formation.^[1]

Once the Axis (German and Romanian troops) broke through, they occupied most of Crimea, with the exception of the city of Sevastopol (given the title of Hero City later). Sevastopol held out for 250 days from October 30, 1941 until July 4, 1942, when the Germans finally captured the city. The campaign was completed with the second recapture of Kerch by German troops on 15 May 1942.^[2]

In 1944, Crimea was recaptured by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Crimean Strategic Offensive Operation (8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944) and its three sub-operations:

Kerch-Eltingen Amphibious Offensive Operation (31 October 1943 - 11 December 1943)
Perekop-Sevastopol Offensive Operation (8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944)
Kerch-Sevastopol Offensive Operation (11 April 1944 - 12 May 1944)

[edit] References

^ p.71, p.79, Bishop
^ see Kerch in Osvobozhdeniye gorodov on www.soldat.ru

[edit] Sources

Bishop, Chris, The Military Atlas of World War II, Igloo Books, London, 2005 ISBN 1904687539
http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-3.html Dudarenko, M.L., Perechnev, Yu.G., Yeliseev, V.T., et.el., Reference guide "Liberation of cities": reference for liberation of cities during the period of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, Moscow, 1985 (Дударенко, М.Л., Перечнев, Ю.Г., Елисеев, В.Т. и др., сост. Справочник «Освобождение городов: Справочник по освобождению городов в период Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945»)