80 years ago, on April 8, 1944, the Crimean strategic offensive operation of the Red Army began. By this date, the Russian Ministry of Defense launched a new multimedia section on its website, “The Victorious Breath of the Crimean Spring of 1944,” which contains reports on military operations, summaries, dispatches, directives and maps covering the progress of the liberation of Crimea from the Nazi invaders.

“It was necessary to accumulate strength”

Hitler's troops completely occupied the Crimean peninsula in 1942, breaking the heroic resistance of the defenders of Sevastopol and the Adzhimushkay quarries. But already in 1943, Soviet troops, during the Melitopol and Kerch-Eltigen landing operations, were able to create two bridgeheads in Crimea: on the southern shore of Sivash Bay and on the Kerch Peninsula. But they failed to develop this success right away.

“The most powerful group of Nazi troops was in Crimea. Its positions were well fortified. The Nazis had no intention of leaving the peninsula at all. The Red Army needed to accumulate strength for further actions,” Valery Kulichkov, a researcher at the Victory Museum, said in an interview with RT.

The 17th Army of German General Erwin Jenecke was based in Crimea. At the beginning of 1944, it was reinforced by two divisions transported by sea. By April, the German-Romanian forces on the peninsula included 12 divisions, two assault gun brigades and various independent units. The total number of occupiers was over 195 thousand people. They had at their disposal about 3.6 thousand guns and mortars, as well as 215 tanks and assault guns.

“The enemy was well prepared and believed that the defense of Crimea, which in itself is a natural fortress, would be successful for him,” said Alexander Makushin, a member of the Association of Historians of the Union State, in a conversation with RT.

The Nazi group on the peninsula covered the Balkan strategic flank of the Wehrmacht and the communications of the German fleet in the western part of the Black Sea. In addition, control over Crimea played an important international political role.

“Hitler feared that the loss of Crimea would lead to the fact that his allies from the Black Sea region - Bulgaria and Romania - would no longer believe in his strength, and also that Turkey would then enter the war on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition,” Maxim Sinitsyn, a graduate of the IVI RAS graduate school, told RT .

  • Soviet troops are crossing the Sivash to Crimea.DateDecember 1943

  • © Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

According to historians, Berlin demanded that German-Romanian troops retain Crimea at any cost.

To liberate the peninsula from the Nazi occupiers, the Soviet leadership decided to use the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Fyodor Tolbukhin, the Separate Primorsky Army of Army General Andrei Eremenko, the Black Sea Fleet (commander - Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky) and the Azov Military Flotilla (commander - Rear Admiral Sergei Gorshkov). The 4th and 8th Air Armies, as well as the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, were entrusted with air support for the actions of ground forces and sailors. In total, the Soviet strike force consisted of about 470 thousand people, 5982 guns and mortars, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns.

  • Plan of the Crimean operation (map)

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

The representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, were responsible for coordinating Soviet forces during the liberation of Crimea.

Initially, the Crimean operation was supposed to begin in the second half of February 1944, but then its dates were repeatedly postponed due to difficult weather conditions and the need for Soviet troops advancing in the southern regions of the Ukrainian SSR to take more advantageous positions.

  • Encryption dated March 4, 1944

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“The rain yesterday and today has completely rendered the road unusable. All vehicles are standing on the roads in the mud... In this condition of the roads, it is impossible to start an operation: we will not be able to supply not only guns and shells, but even food and kitchens for the advancing troops,” says Vasilevsky’s ciphergram dated March 4, 1944, published by the RF Ministry of Defense, addressed to Joseph Stalin (code name - Ivanov).

The idea of ​​the Soviet command was to strike from the north and east with the aim of dismembering and destroying the enemy’s Crimean group. The main blow was planned to be delivered from a bridgehead on the southern shore of Sivash Bay.

"Strategic importance"

On April 8, 1944, after a powerful artillery barrage in the northern part of Crimea, units of the 4th Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. After two days of fierce fighting, Soviet soldiers managed to break through the layered defense of the Nazis. On April 11, Dzhankoy was liberated from the Nazi occupiers. Finding themselves under threat of encirclement, the Nazis began to withdraw their troops from the east of the peninsula.

“In total, the front troops, according to far from complete data, destroyed over 5.5 thousand soldiers and officers, 44 tanks, 21 aircraft in two days of fighting. Over 1.1 thousand prisoners, five self-propelled guns, six six-barreled mortars, 337 machine guns, 86 guns of various calibers, 48 ​​mortars, 2688 rifles and machine guns were captured,” says the combat report of the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, Tolbukhin, dated April 9 1944.

  • Reports of the 4th UV from April 9, 1944

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Units of the Separate Primorsky Army liberated Kerch on April 11 and moved on, pursuing the retreating enemy. Soviet troops successfully advanced south.

Documents released by the Russian Ministry of Defense note excellent cooperation between the ground forces, navy and aviation. A characteristic feature of the operation was the rapid advance of Soviet troops.

  • German prisoners of war captured in the area of ​​the Kerch Peninsula during the landing operation

  • RIA News

  • © Evgeniy Khaldey

On April 13, Evpatoria, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated from the Nazi occupiers, and in the next two days - Bakhchisarai, Alushta and Yalta. Soviet partisans successfully operated along the Nazi escape routes, disrupting German communications and destroying communication centers.

Retreating, Hitler's army traditionally used scorched earth tactics. But due to the high pace of the Soviet offensive, German-Romanian troops could not gain a foothold on the intermediate defense lines.

  • Black Sea Fleet Directive of April 10, 1944

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

According to historians, the Nazi command remembered that at the beginning of the war, Soviet troops held Sevastopol for many months, surrounded by mountains, the sea and heights convenient for defense. The Nazis decided that they, too, would be able to gain a foothold in the city for a long time.

The Nazi command tried to evacuate part of the troops by sea. Moreover, the Romanian units were sent first - thus Berlin tried to maintain the location of Bucharest. However, at sea, Nazi ships came under attack from Soviet aircraft.

Units of the Red Army approached Sevastopol on April 15-16, 1944. According to the plans of the Soviet command, units of the Primorsky and 51st armies were supposed to break through the enemy’s defenses from Balaklava in the area of ​​Sapun Mountain and the heights northeast of the village of Karan. An auxiliary strike was planned in the Belbek area. However, attempts to storm the city on April 18 and 23 were unsuccessful for Soviet troops. Units of the Red Army needed to stock up on ammunition and regroup units.

  • On the approaches to Sevastopol. Guard soldiers of Senior Lieutenant Alexandrov attack the enemy, 1944

  • © Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

On May 5, units of the 2nd Guards Army began to move, attacking enemy fortifications, and two days later the general assault on the city began. The troops of the main strike group captured Sapun Mountain, the Nazi defense was broken through. On May 9, Soviet units liberated Sevastopol from the Nazi occupiers. The remnants of the 17th Army retreated to Cape Chersonesus to the west of Sevastopol (nowadays included within the city limits). There the Nazis were completely defeated: they counted on evacuation, but help never came. In the area of ​​the cape, 21 thousand Nazi soldiers and officers surrendered.

If Soviet troops defended Sevastopol for 250 days in 1941-1942, then it took a little more than a month to liberate Crimea from the Nazis. The total losses of the 17th Field Army of the Wehrmacht in land battles alone amounted to about 100 thousand people.

According to Maxim Sinitsyn, after the victory in the Crimean operation, the Soviet command released large forces that could be used in other sectors of the front.

  • Report from the 4th UV PU dated June 13, 1944

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“The liberation of Crimea from the Nazis was of strategic importance. The Black Sea was under our control. The Balkan flank of the defense built by the Nazis began to shake. Türkiye was once again convinced of the strength of the Red Army. The USSR regained the main base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, and the inhabitants of the peninsula were freed from the savage conditions of Hitler's occupation. The Soviet troops advancing in the right bank of the Ukrainian SSR could no longer fear an attack from the rear,” concluded Valery Kulichkov.