How the Red Army fought for Crimea in World War II (PHOTOS)

Crimea was of paramount strategic importance to the USSR. The fleet based there controlled most of the Black Sea and aviation from the peninsula could reach as far as the oil fields of Romania, the main source of oil for the Third Reich.

Crimea was first stormed by Nazi Germany with the help of the 11th Army of General Erich von Manstein, supported by Romanian allies. On September 12, 1941, the first German reconnaissance groups appeared in the area of ​​the Perekop Isthmus, which connects the peninsula with the mainland.

Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov, commander of the peninsula's defense, made a fatal mistake: he was afraid of an air or sea landing, so, instead of concentrating his forces in the isthmus area, he scattered them along the entire coast.

Nevertheless, the Soviet troops managed to repel the enemy's attacks for more than a month. Only on October 28 did the German-Romanian troops break through into the depths of Crimea.

By November 16, the enemy had captured the entire peninsula, with the exception of Sevastopol – the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. The Germans penetrated the city's defenses in several areas, but significant losses forced them to abandon the offensive. A second assault in mid-December also ended in vain.

At the end of 1941, the Soviet command took advantage of the fact that Manstein's forces were bogged down in the Siege of Sevastopol and, instead, landed troops on the Kerch Peninsula.

“The launch was packed with people, the soldiers were standing right next to each other, the ship was resting right against the shore, the guys jumped out onto the ground, after which our launch rose on the wave and went back to the sea, then we recruited another group. The enemy fired heavily at the launch, hit the ships, several landing ships sank right before my eyes,” recalled sailor Vasily Ankhimov.

Soviet troops liberated the Kerch Peninsula and held it until mid-May 1942, when the Germans regained control of it with ‘Operation Bustard Hunt’. This defeat brought the fall of Sevastopol closer: on July 3, the Red Army was forced to retreat from the city.

Soviet troops returned to the peninsula at the end of 1943. During the fall battles, they broke through to the isthmus and blocked the 17th German Army on the peninsula. At the same time, a naval landing succeeded in capturing a bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula.

On April 8, 1944, the ‘Crimean Offensive Operation’ began. Soviet troops broke through the defenses with powerful blows and rushed deep into the peninsula. And Sevastopol became the last center of resistance.

“In clouds of dust and smoke from exploding shells and mines, our soldiers and the enemy were constantly engaged in hand-to-hand combat… The tranches changed hands three times. Everything was burning all around, but the enemy stubbornly did not leave the first position,” wrote Marshal Pyotr Koshevoy in his memoirs. 

However, on May 12, Sevastopol was completely liberated. It took the Red Army only 35 days to retake Crimea.