On August 5, 1941, the Soviet Headquarters of the High Command issued a directive ordering not to surrender Odessa to the advancing Nazi troops and to defend it "to the last resort."
From this date, historians count the beginning of the operation to defend Odessa during the Great Patriotic War.
It lasted 73 days and made it possible to pin down hundreds of thousands of enemy servicemen in the area of the city, who were distracted from advancing in the direction of the Crimea and the Caucasus.
Defense preparation
According to historians, the offensive of Hitler's troops in the southern regions of the Ukrainian SSR and Moldavia advanced much more slowly than in other sectors of the Soviet-German front.
If the Nazi troops advancing in the Moscow direction already in July 1941 passed Belarus and attacked Smolensk, then in the zone of responsibility of the Soviet Southern Front for almost the entire July battles were fought in the immediate vicinity of the state border - in Moldova and the Izmail region.
Despite the relative stability of the front in the southern regions of the USSR in the first weeks of the war, already on July 5, 1941, the construction of powerful defensive lines began in the Odessa region.
In the city itself, barricades were erected and bomb shelters were equipped.
In July, on the basis of the Primorsky group of troops covering the Odessa direction, the Separate Primorskaya Army (hereinafter - the Primorskaya Army) was formed.
In the early days, it was led by Lieutenant General Nikandr Chibisov, who then transferred command to Lieutenant General Georgy Sofronov, whom historians call one of the most successful Soviet military leaders of the first months of the Great Patriotic War.
"Sofronov was a serious specialist in defensive battles, and the organization of the defense of Odessa is, first of all, his merit," historian Grigory Popov said in an interview with RT.
Separate regiments were created from among the employees of the NKVD and the servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet for the defense of Odessa.
In addition, civilians from Odessa joined the people's militia and extermination battalions (eight of them were created in the city - in each district and a separate one from the railroad employees).
Lieutenant General Georgy Sofronov
© Wikimedia Commons
By the end of July 1941, the situation in the Odessa direction became more complicated - the troops of the Southern Front left Moldova.
On July 25, units of the Primorsky Army took up defenses on the eastern bank of the Dniester River, covering the paths to Odessa and Nikolaev.
In Odessa itself, on August 1, the commander of the Odessa naval base, Rear Admiral Gavriil Zhukov, was appointed head of the garrison.
In early August, the Soviet command had a plan to use Odessa to pin down the enemy offensive.
On August 4, 1941, the commander of the troops of the South-Western direction, Marshal Semyon Budyonny, in connection with the unfavorable development of events in Ukraine, suggested that the Headquarters withdraw the main forces of the Southern Front to the Ingul River and the city of Nikolaev, entrusting the defense of Odessa to the Primorsky Army.
Headquarters agreed with him only partly, refusing to divert the main forces so far.
On August 5, 1941, the Headquarters issued a directive on the withdrawal of the Southern Front troops to the Dnestrovsky estuary - Voznesensk - Chigirin line.
“Not to surrender Odessa and to defend it to the last opportunity, involving the Black Sea Fleet in the case,” the directive emphasized.
From this moment, historians count the beginning of the operation to defend Odessa.
Vice Admiral Gavriil Zhukov
© Wikimedia Commons
Hero city
The forces of the 4th Romanian army attacked Odessa, which were later joined by a number of German units.
On August 8, a state of siege was introduced in the city.
Until the 10th, Soviet troops managed to keep the forces of the Hitlerite coalition on the distant approaches to Odessa, but under pressure from superior enemy forces, they had to start a retreat.
On August 12, the enemy managed to break through to the east of the Kuyalnitsky estuary.
Soviet troops were able to stop this offensive.
But the next day, Hitler's troops bypassed Odessa from the east and completely blockaded the city from land.
On August 19, the Stavka created the Odessa defensive area, headed by Rear Admiral Zhukov.
Lieutenant General Sofronov was appointed his deputy, retaining the post of commander of the Primorsky Army.
At the end of the month, in the Odessa region, 11 infantry divisions, three cavalry, one motorized and one infantry brigade of the enemy attacked on the positions of four Soviet divisions (three rifle and one cavalry).
Since August 28, in addition to the Romanian units, German ground forces took part in the storming of Odessa.
“The Germans sent units of the 72nd Infantry Division, artillery battalions, sapper units to Odessa.
The Romanian 4th Army itself was not technically ready for such hostilities, ”said Grigory Popov.
Odessa's connection with the "mainland" was carried out by sea.
The ships of the Black Sea Fleet took out civilians, wounded, equipment of industrial enterprises and cultural values from the besieged city.
Replenishment was delivered to Odessa (during the defense, more than 58 thousand servicemen arrived in the city), weapons and ammunition.
On September 19, the 157th Rifle Division arrived in Odessa from Novorossiysk.
Residents of Odessa are preparing to defend the city.
The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
RIA News
© Georgy Zelma
At the end of September, five Soviet divisions were already opposed by 14 divisions and five brigades of the Hitlerite coalition.
The total number of Romanian-German troops besieging Odessa was, according to some estimates, 340 thousand servicemen, while the number of Soviet forces defending the city at its peak reached only 86 thousand people.
Despite the numerical advantage of the enemy, on September 22, 1941, Soviet troops launched a combined blow against the enemy: two rifle divisions went on the offensive in the Gildendorf - Fontanka sector with a simultaneous landing of naval and air assault forces behind enemy lines.
“The enemy was thrown back 5-8 km, having lost the opportunity to shell Odessa from artillery pieces.
Two Romanian divisions lost their combat effectiveness.
The front in the Odessa region has stabilized, "military historian Sergei Perelygin said in an interview with RT.
Defense of Odessa in 1941
© Wikimedia Commons
The workers of the factories that remained in Odessa established the production of weapons, ammunition and even armored vehicles.
They created their own mortar models, and armored tractors and steam locomotives and turned them into tanks and armored trains.
The grenades were made from cans filled with an explosive mixture.
“Despite all the heroism of the defenders of Odessa, they, unfortunately, could not completely change the situation on the Soviet-German front, and it was still developing unsuccessfully.
In September 1941, the Nazis reached Perekop, and the troops of the Primorsky Army were needed to defend the Crimea.
On September 30, the Headquarters decided to evacuate the defenders of Odessa to the Crimean Peninsula, "Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, said in a commentary to RT.
From October 1 to October 16, 1941, 86 thousand servicemen, 15 thousand civilians, 462 artillery pieces and over a thousand vehicles were removed from Odessa by sea.
The total number of people evacuated from Odessa by ships of the Black Sea Fleet for the entire period of its defense is estimated at about 190 thousand people.
Defense of Odessa
© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
According to historians' calculations, the total losses of the Red Army during the defense of Odessa amounted to about 40 thousand people (of which about 16 thousand people - irrevocably).
The losses of the Romanian-German troops near Odessa are estimated in various sources from 90 to 160 thousand people.
“The defense of Odessa ended on October 16, 1941, not in defeat, but by order of the command.
The defenders of the city left undefeated, "Andrei Gorbunov, an employee of the Victory Museum's research department, said in a conversation with RT.
Several tens of thousands of Odessa residents and employees of Soviet power structures remained in Odessa to go to the catacombs and continue the struggle underground.
Their resistance continued until the liberation of the city by the Red Army in 1944.
Occupied Odessa
© Wikimedia Commons
In the order No. 20 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of May 1, 1945, Odessa, along with Leningrad, Stalingrad and Sevastopol, was named a hero city.
In 1965, after the official approval of the regulations on the honorary title "Hero City" Odessa was awarded the "Golden Star" and the Order of Lenin.
According to Andrey Koshkin, a full member of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, the defense of Odessa played an important role in the history of the Great Patriotic War as a whole.
“For 73 days, the defenders of Odessa pulled off hundreds of thousands of servicemen of the Hitlerite coalition. These forces with a great degree of probability could have decided not in our favor the situation with the defense of the Crimea and Sevastopol, allowing the Nazis to attack the Caucasus on the move. If not for the heroic defense of Odessa, the chances of the Nazis to cut off the supply of Caucasian oil to the central regions of the USSR would have grown many times over. What this would mean for the country, I think, there is no need to explain, ”the expert summed up.