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The Crimea Campaign was an eight month long campaign of the Axis forces to conquer the Crimea peninsula, and was the scene of some of the bloodiest 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 and troops from the Romanian Third Army and Fourth Army were involved in the fighting,[1] opposed by the Red Army's 51st Army and elements of the Black Sea Fleet. After the campaign, the peninsula was occupied by Army Group A with the 17th Army as its major subordinate formation.[2]
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) and Kerch, which was recaptured by the Soviets during an amphibious operation near the end of 1941 and then once again by Germans during Operation Bustard Hunt on 8 May.[1][3] Sevastopol held out for 250 days from 30 October 1941 until 4 July 1942, when the Germans finally captured the city.
In 1944, Crimea was recaptured by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Crimean Offensive (8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944) and its three sub-operations:
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The main object of the Campaign, Sevastopol was surrounded by German forces an assaulted on 30 October 1941. German troops were repulsed by a Soviet counter-attack, which was latter supported by many troops evacuated from Odessa. The Germans then began an encirclement of the city.[1] Other attacks on 11 November and 30 November, in the eastern and southern sectiotns of the city, failed.[1] Germany was then reinforced by several artillery regiments, one of which included the railway gun Schwerer Gustav.[1] Another attack on 17 December was repulsed at the last moment with the help of reinforcements, and Soviet troops soon started landing on the Kerch peninsula the day after Christmas, to draw German forces away from Sevastopol.[1] The army made progress until a 9 April German counterattack.[1] The Soviet forces held on for another month before being captured on 18 May. With the distraction removed, German forces renewed their assault on Sevastopol, penetrating the inner defensive lines on 29 June.[1] Soviet leaders had been flown out or taken by submarine by then, and the city surrenderd on 4 July 1942, although Russian troops held out in caves outside of the city until the 9th.[1]