The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published unique materials from the Central Archive for the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Crimean offensive operation. Previously, these documents were available only to a narrow circle of historians. The website of the military department contains orders, reports, award lists and maps.
The Crimean offensive operation was conducted from April 8 to May 12, 1944. The troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Separate Coastal Army broke through the Wehrmacht’s deeply echeloned defense, defeating the 17th Field Army of the occupiers. In the battles for the liberation of the peninsula, 17.7 thousand Red Army men were killed, the enemy losses amounted to 100 thousand people.
During the Great Patriotic War, Crimea was of great strategic importance. Control of the peninsula allowed the Germans to cover the Balkan direction and freely carry cargo on the Black Sea. The liberation of the Crimea violated the sea communications of the enemy and allowed the USSR to restore the main base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
Heroic battles
The first block of materials published by the Ministry of Defense is devoted to the defensive operation of the Red Army. In particular, the department declassified the order of the commander of the 51st Separate Army, Colonel-General Fedor Kuznetsov, about organizing the defense of the Crimea of August 30, 1941. Fortifications were created around Simferopol, Karasubazar (Belogorsk), Evpatoria and Theodosia.
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
From September 1, the construction of various fortifications, anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles began in the Crimea. The first battles with the enemy were fought on the Perekop isthmus, the only overland route to the Crimea, from the end of September. Under the onslaught of the superior forces of the Wehrmacht, the Red Army soldiers were forced to retreat to Sevastopol. In November, the remains of the 51st Army were evacuated to the Taman Peninsula. However, the scattered forces of the Red Army continued to resist the enemy.
The 8th Separate Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet led the heroic battles with the invaders. In a report published by the commander of the unit, Major General of the Coast Service Vladimir Vilshansky, it is said that Soviet soldiers repeatedly attempted to attack the enemy, despite the desperate situation.
On the night of November 1, 1941, the 2nd Marine Battalion, after artillery preparation, succeeded in taking the height near the harbor of Sevastopol. However, the Wehrmacht brought down a flurry of fire on the positions of Soviet soldiers. As indicated in the document, the shelling was so strong that the top of the previously covered with snow became black. The soldiers were forced to retreat, but in the evening of the same day several heights were repulsed at once. However, the unit suffered huge losses - about 600 people remained in the ranks.
“The brigade was so weak that it was impossible to use it as a militant organized force in the future. In the last battles, she suffered great losses, 50-80 people were left in companies, for 15 days of continuous battles, people were physically tired, the command staff was knocked out. The remnants of the brigade needed rest, ”the Vilshansky report says.
Due to the absence of people and weapons, the 8th Brigade was disbanded. A rifle and machine-gun company, a mortar battery and a sapper platoon were created from soldiers capable of holding weapons in their hands. The Marines took their last battle with the Nazi invaders on the night of January 1, 1942.
- Storm of heights on the approaches to Kerch, November 1943
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
During the occupation, the Crimea, like Leningrad, had its own “road of life”. The report of the 2nd submarine brigade of the Black Sea Fleet, published by the Defense Ministry, reports that naval communications operated between Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. Wounded were taken from the peninsula, and fuel, foodstuffs and ammunition were delivered to the Crimea. In 1942, nine submarines of the 2nd brigade of the Black Sea Fleet carried out 22 combat campaigns along the “road of life”.
During the occupation of the Crimea, resistance to the enemy was exerted by units of the Red Army and civilians who had taken refuge in the Adzhimushkay quarries (north of Kerch). Taking advantage of this difficult terrain, soldiers and Soviet citizens continued to fight the Nazis. According to the documents of the Ministry of Defense, the Germans organized gas attacks, rock falls, filled up and blew in the entrances and wells with fresh water.
“During the inspection of numerous galleries material evidence was discovered. Among them were lists of personnel of the garrison, a book of medical appointments, a diary of political instructor Alexander Sarikov, statements of water consumption, medical records of military personnel. In the quarries, there was a hospital where soldiers and civilians were treated, ”the website of the Ministry of Defense reported.
Immortal glory
The second array of documents of the Ministry of Defense is devoted directly to the liberation of the Crimea. The offensive of the 4th Ukrainian Front was preceded by a series of successful military campaigns - the Melitopol operation (September 26 - November 5, 1943) and the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation (October 31 - December 11, 1943).
Back in November 1943, the Red Army broke through the defense of the Wehrmacht on the Perekop isthmus, captured bridgeheads on the southern bank of the Sivash and on the Kerch Peninsula. However, the further offensive stalled due to the lack of resources for the assault on the deeply echeloned defensive positions of the invaders.
Despite the difficult situation, the Nazis were not going to withdraw troops from the Crimea. From the materials of the Ministry of Defense it follows that the Crimea was considered by Berlin as the "cornerstone of the eastern front." Infantry General Karl Almendinger ordered the 17th Field Army to "bleed the outnumbered forces of the Reds on the Sevastopol front."
“I demand that all soldiers defend to the last. The bridgehead for the entire depth is highly equipped in engineering terms and the enemy, wherever he appears, will become entangled in the network of our fortifications. None of us should even think of withdrawing from these positions, ”wrote Almendinger.
In January — March 1944, the Wehrmacht grouping was strengthened by four divisions. In total, the 17th Field Army consisted of 5 German and 7 Romanian divisions (more than 195 thousand people). Arms of the enemy consisted of 3.6 thousand guns, 215 tanks and 148 aircraft.
The Soviet group consisted of the Separate Maritime Army, parts of the 2nd Guards and 51st armies, units of the 8th and 4th air armies, the 19th tank corps, troops of the 16th and 78th fortified areas. The preponderance over the occupiers in manpower and equipment was enormous: the command of the Red Army concentrated about 470 thousand people, 5.9 thousand guns, 559 tanks and self-propelled artillery installations, 1,250 airplanes.
- Soviet tanks on Frunze Street (now Nakhimov Avenue) of Sevastopol during the liberation of the city from invaders, May 1944
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Also in the operation were involved the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, the Azov Flotilla and the Black Sea Fleet aviation. They blocked the naval communications of the Nazis and attacked the retreating troops. One battleship, four cruisers, six squadron destroyers, two patrol ships, 8 basic trawlers, 47 torpedo and 80 patrol boats, 29 submarines took part in the battles with the enemy.
The Red Army liberated Kerch on April 11, Feodosia on April 13, Sudak on April 14, Yalta on April 16. On May 7, Soviet troops launched an offensive against Sevastopol, where the remnants of the enemy grouping were located. On May 12, Crimea was completely liberated.
The Ministry of Defense published the award lists of the heroes of the offensive operation. So, on May 7, 1944, in the vicinity of Sevastopol, Captain Alexey Toropkin was the first to burst into the trenches, where the enemy was. In hand-to-hand combat destroyed 14 Nazis. For his courage, he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The gold star of the Hero of the USSR was posthumously awarded private soldier Vasily Yershov. On April 13, 1944, as part of a group of paratroopers near the village of Ashagah-Jali, he entered an unequal battle with a battalion of Romanian troops. When the Red Army soldiers ran out of ammunition, they entered hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The soldiers were captured, where they were subjected to severe torture, but did not give the enemy secret information. The Romanians decided to shoot the Red Army. Ershov was the only survivor, but could not be saved.
- Soviet paratroopers land in the Crimea
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
“After the Romanians left the village, among the executed scouts, local residents discovered a fighter who had submitted signs of life crippled beyond recognition. It was Ershov ... Private Yershov, by his feat, acquired the immortal glory of the Russian hero. In the name of the motherland, he did not spare his life. On the body of Ershov, 10 gunshot wounds and 7 bayonets were pricked; both arms and leg are broken, ”the document says.
A great contribution to the defense and liberation of the Crimea was made by Soviet pilots. In August 1944, the captain Vladimir Vasilevsky, navigator of the 1st air squadron of the 30th reconnaissance air regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the battles with the occupiers, he destroyed 22 units of armored vehicles, 5 anti-aircraft batteries, 3 aircraft. He also participated in the assault landing in Kerch, Feodosia and Novorossiysk.
In the RT commentary, military historian Boris Yulin noted that “the operation to liberate the Crimea was carried out according to all the canons of military science”. The Red Army achieved the necessary superiority in the number of troops and equipment in order to defeat the invaders without major losses.
“The German group failed to provide serious resistance. Thanks to the liberation of the Crimea, the USSR gained complete control over the Black Sea. The return of the Sevastopol base made it possible to interrupt the naval communications of the Nazis and eventually withdraw Romania rich in oil from the war. The Crimean offensive operation became another glorious page in the history of the liberation of our country, ”concluded Yulin.