Third Stalinist blow. Liberation of Crimea. 75 years ago, on May 5, 1944, the general offensive of Soviet troops began on the Sevastopol fortified area, which was defended by the 17th German army. The first to attack was the 2nd Guards Army in the northern sector. On May 7, a general assault on Sevastopol by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front began. On May 9, Sevastopol was liberated, on May 12, the remnants of the German army were finished off and captured in the area of Cape Chersonesos.
The situation before the assault
On April 8, 1944, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of Tolbukhin went on the offensive. Having broken into a strong enemy defense in the area of Perekop, Sivash and Kerch, the Separate Primorskaya Army), the Red Army liberated most of the Crimean Peninsula. On April 15-16, our troops reached Sevastopol, which the Germans had turned into a powerful fortified area during the previous period. Therefore, the attempt of Russian troops to take the city on the move failed. Decisive attacks on April 18-19, 23-24 also did not lead to success.
In the period from April 26 to May 4, 1944, Soviet troops fought local battles to improve their positions, carried out reconnaissance in force to clarify the defensive positions of the enemy, which led to a loosening of the defense, losses in manpower and material resources of the Nazis, which could no longer be replenished. The 4th UV carried out the replenishment and regrouping of forces, the supply of ammunition and fuel, artillery. In the divisions, assault groups, barrage groups (for making passages in obstacles, destruction and rubble) and overcoming anti-tank ditches were formed. In all regiments and battalions, exercises were held in areas that were similar to the Sevastopol fortified area. Artillery and aircraft continued to destroy enemy positions. The aviation of the 4th UV Front, the Black Sea Fleet and the long-range aviation attached to the Stavka made 8,200 sorties by May 5.
By May 1, 1944, the Soviet forces numbered more than 240 thousand people, 5, 5 thousand guns and mortars, 340 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 550 aircraft. By May 5, 1944, the 17th German army numbered more than 72 thousand soldiers, with more than 1700 guns and mortars, about 50 tanks and assault guns, and about 100 aircraft.
The German high command still demanded to keep the Sevastopol fortress at any cost. Hitler feared that the loss of Sevastopol would lead to a change in Turkey's position (), which had already sharply reacted negatively to the loss of most of Crimea. That Ankara will go over to the side of the anti-German coalition, which will close the Black Sea straits for the Third Reich. Also, the final loss of Sevastopol could lead to political problems with Romania and Bulgaria. The Crimea was needed by the naval forces. In addition, the stubborn defense of the Sevastopol fortress tied a significant grouping of the Red Army, which, after the capture of Sevastopol, the Russian command could quickly transfer to another direction.
Therefore, expressing doubts about the further expediency of the defense of the city, the commander of the 17th Army Jenecke was summoned to headquarters for a report on May 1 and removed from command. The commander of the 5th Army Corps, Almendinger, was appointed commander of the 17th Army. On May 3, the new commander of the 17th Army gave the order to defend "every inch of the Sevastopol bridgehead."
Source: I. Moshchansky. The difficulties of liberation
The beginning of the decisive assault
On May 5, 1944, after 1, 5 hours of artillery fire in the northern sector, the 2nd Guards Army of the 4th UV went to the assault. The offensive was all the time supported by strong artillery fire and air strikes, especially attack aircraft. The use of small assault groups (20 - 25 fighters each) paid off. The Soviet guards wedged themselves into the defenses of the Nazis in the area of the Mekenzievy Gory station. However, the Germans fiercely counterattacked and the advance was negligible. On May 6, the guards continued to attack enemy positions, with powerful support from artillery and aviation. But the Germans strengthened their defenses, constantly counterattacked. Therefore, the 2nd Guards Army advanced even less - 100 - 400 meters in some areas.
Thus, the defense of the German 336th Infantry Division of Major General Hageman, which was supported by units of the 50th Infantry and the 2nd Romanian Mountain Rifle Divisions, the naval battalion, withstood the blow of the 2nd Guards Army. However, the battle in the Mekenzievy Gory region distracted the German command from the southern sector, where the main attack was being prepared in the Sapun-Gora, Karan sector.
Breakthrough of the main defensive zone of the enemy
May 7, 1944 at 10.30 a.m. after 1, 5 hours of artillery preparation and air attacks, the troops of the 4th UV began the assault on Sapun Mountain. To break through the powerful German defense (the Nazis had here 6 - 8 pillboxes and bunkers per 1 km of the front), the Soviet command concentrated a powerful artillery fist: from 205 to 258 artillery and mortar barrels per 1 km of the front. In this direction, 3 out of 4 guards mortar brigades M-31, 8 out of 10 guards mortar regiments, 3 separate guards mountain-pack mortar divisions operated. Pilots of the 8th Air Army made 2105 sorties that day.
The multi-tiered fortifications of Sapun Mountain stormed parts of the 63rd Rifle Corps of Koshevoy and the 11th Guards Rifle Corps of Rozhdestvensky. The fight was extremely stubborn. Soviet soldiers had to literally bite into the enemy's defenses, converge with the Germans in hand-to-hand combat. The trenches passed from hand to hand. The Nazis fiercely resisted. For nine hours a fierce battle lasted. As a result, the German 5th Army Corps could not stand it. The capture of Sapun Mountain and the entire ridge predetermined the collapse of the German army's defense system and the liberation of Sevastopol.
After the failure of the night counterattacks with the task of recapturing the positions of Sapun Mountain, the German command, fearing encirclement, began to withdraw troops to the north of the Northern Bay, that is, in the sector of the 2nd Guards Army. The Germans planned to strengthen the southern sector of the front in order to hold out until the evacuation. The Nazis stepped up the evacuation from the city. On May 8, the commander of Army Group South Ukraine, Ferdinand Schörner, asked Hitler's headquarters to evacuate, since further defense of Sevastopol became impossible. On May 9, such permission was obtained. The evacuation took place from Kamyshovaya and Kazachya bays, near Cape Chersonesos.
On May 8, by the end of the day, the guards reached the Northern Bay. Parts of the 51st Army, breaking through the outer circumference of the enemy's fortifications, approached the inner circumference of the fortifications of Sevastopol. The troops of the Primorsky Army took the Karan Heights and created conditions for the introduction of the 19th Panzer Corps into the breakthrough, which was supposed to advance in the direction of Cape Chersonesos, Kruglaya, Omega, Kamyshovaya and Kazachya bays.
Marines in battle on Primorsky Boulevard in Sevastopol
Soviet tank T-34-76 on a city street during the battles for the liberation of Sevastopol
Soviet troops enter the liberated Sevastopol near the railway station
German soldiers surrender on the streets of Sevastopol
Completion of the liberation of Sevastopol
On May 9, 1944, the defense of the German army was finally broken. Parts of the Guards Army bypassed the Northern Bay from the east and, passing along its southern coast, together with the forces of the 51st Army, liberated the Ship Side. By 17 o'clock the guardsmen massively crossed the Northern Bay. The troops of the Primorsky army, breaking the resistance of the Nazis, went to the area of the Rudolfov settlement - Otradny. Units of the 3rd Mountain Rifle Corps and the 16th Rifle Corps, supported by the 19th Panzer Corps, on May 9 made their way in the direction of the German evacuation cover line. The Germans here still fiercely fought, counterattacked, covering the withdrawal of the main forces.
By the end of May 9, 1944, after a 3-day decisive assault, our troops liberated Sevastopol. At 1 am on May 10, Moscow saluted the soldiers-liberators of Sevastopol with 24 volleys from 324 guns. All Russia rejoiced! The city of Russian glory was liberated!
However, the fighting continued. The Germans desperately clung to the "emergency" line, which was also well prepared and fortified. It was defended by battle groups, formed from the remnants of various units, branches of troops and services. The Germans pulled into this area all the weapons that remained of the Sevastopol group. The density of artillery in some places reached 100 barrels per kilometer, ammunition stocks were unlimited. There were about 30 thousand soldiers on the defensive lines. They needed to hold back the Russian offensive in order to evacuate the main forces from the area of Cape Chersonesos to Romania by sea.
Soldiers of the 393rd Marine Corps Battalion plant a naval flag in liberated Sevastopol
Tanks T-34 on the street of liberated Sevastopol
On May 9, in the evening, Soviet artillery began shelling the only airfield left by the Germans in the Chersonesos area. The last German fighters left for Romania. German troops were practically left without air cover, since those operating from airfields in Romania could not solve this problem. On the night of May 11, the Germans evacuated the headquarters and command of the 17th Army. About 50 thousand people remained in the Chersonesos region. The evacuation was disrupted, and confusion began. The ships came with ammunition supplies for the defense of the city, they had to be thrown away. Many watercraft, being under artillery fire and due to air raids, left without a full load. A large crowd of people in a tight space and the influx of new groups made it difficult to load onto transports. On the night of May 11, panic began. The soldiers stormed the ships, fought for seats on them. The captains of the ships left the berths without completing the loading, fearing that they might sink.
Thus, the evacuation of the German-Romanian troops took place in an extremely difficult situation. The harbors of Sevastopol were lost. Soviet aerial reconnaissance detected enemy convoys at sea. The ships were attacked by Russian planes along the entire route. Landing on boats was carried out directly in the sea in front of Cape Chersonesos, under the fire of Soviet artillery and during air attacks. Fighters and attack aircraft were especially active, firing at ships with onboard weapons and dropping fragmentation bombs. It was almost impossible to land during the day.
At the direction of the commander-in-chief of the fleet of the Third Reich, Grand Admiral Dönitz, 190 German and Romanian boats, transports and various ships, which could take on board more than 80 thousand people, went to sea to evacuate the remaining troops. However, the onset of an 8-point storm thwarted the operation. Some ships returned back, others stopped, and others were delayed. The commander of the evacuation operation, Rear Admiral Schultz, moved it from 11 to 12 May. But due to strong smoke and fires, shelling and airstrikes, landing was very difficult or even impossible. The German-Romanian fleet suffered heavy losses.
On the night of May 12, Soviet intelligence officers found out that German troops had received an order from 4 o'clock to leave the last line for evacuation to Cape Chersonesos. The Soviet command decided to start a night assault on enemy positions in order to disrupt the evacuation of the remnants of the German army. At 3 o'clock in the morning, after a short artillery attack, Soviet troops launched the final assault on the German positions. With the support of aviation and guards mortars, the defense of the German army was broken. The pursuit of the enemy began.
The Soviet offensive thwarted the evacuation of the remnants of the German army. Many ships in the bays were sunk by artillery fire and air strikes. So, during the evacuation, most of the Romanian Black Sea flotilla (up to 2/3 of the composition) was destroyed. By 12 o'clock on May 12, 1944, our troops completed the capture of the remaining German-Romanian troops. More than 21 thousand soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. Among the prisoners were the commanders of the 73rd Infantry and 111th Infantry Divisions, Lieutenant General Boehme and Major General Gruner. The commander of the 336th Infantry Division, Major General Hageman, was killed. During the fighting on May 7-12, German troops lost more than 20 thousand people killed. Russian troops captured a huge amount of various military equipment.
Sailors of the Black Sea Fleet on the Ship side of liberated Sevastopol
Soviet soldiers salute in honor of the liberation of Sevastopol. In the center of the photo is the supposedly tanker "Prodromos", and behind it, to the right in the distance, the tugboat "Gunther". These ships arrived in Sevastopol on May 9 as part of the Parsival convoy to evacuate German troops and were destroyed by Soviet field artillery
Residents of Sevastopol meet the soldiers-liberators. In the center of the photo is the commander of the 11th Guards Rifle Corps, General S. E. Rozhdestvensky and the commander of the 414th Anapa Red Banner Rifle Division, General V. S. Dzabakhidze. Photo source:
Results of the operation
The Crimean offensive operation was completed. If in 1941 - 1942. It took the Wehrmacht 250 days to take Sevastopol, then in 1944 the Russian troops needed 35 days to break through the powerful defense of the Crimean group and clear the peninsula of the Nazis. Soviet troops broke into the enemy's defenses at Perekop, Sivash, on the Kerch Peninsula and took Sevastopol by storm. The 17th German army was defeated. German-Romanian losses amounted to about 140 thousand people (including those killed on ships), including over 61, 5 thousand people taken prisoner. Soviet losses (army and navy) during the operation amounted to more than 84 thousand people killed and wounded.
Russia has returned an important economic region to the country. Soviet troops eliminated an important strategic foothold of the enemy, which threatened the rear and flank of the groupings operating on the Right Bank of Ukraine, the base of the German Air Force and the Navy. The Black Sea Fleet reclaimed its main base and regained dominance in the Black Sea. The loss of Crimea by the Germans provoked a negative reaction in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
P. P. Sokolov-Skalya. Liberation of Sevastopol by the Soviet Army. May 1944
