Battle for Sevastopol, (30 October 1941–4 July 1942) Part-2 One of the great battles on the Eastern Front. Sevastopol is located on the southwestern tip of the Crimean Peninsula. In 1941, it was one of the world’s most powerful fortresses and home to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Its location made any approach to the city difficult, and it was strongly defended by large concrete bunkers, minefields, and a dozen naval gun batteries containing 42 heavy guns ranging from 152 mm to 304 mm in caliber. Securing Sevastopol was a major German military objective. By taking the entire Crimean Peninsula with Sevastopol, Hitler sought to deny the Red Air Force the ability to strike the Ploesti oil fields, which were vital to the German war effort. He also hoped that destruction of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet might bring neutral Turkey into the war against the Soviet Union. Hitler was determined to have Sevastopol, but Stalin was just as determined to hold it. In Soviet hands, it could threaten any further German advance into the southern Soviet Union. Sevastopol came under air attack in the first hours of the German invasion of 22 June 1941. From late September to mid-November, Lieutenant General Erich von Manstein’s Eleventh Army overran the entire Crimean Peninsula save for Sevastopol. Meanwhile, during the last two weeks of October, the Soviets reinforced the base, sending to Sevastopol by sea from Odessa the remains of Major General I. Y. Petrov’s Independent Maritime Army, some 32,000 men. Petrov, who took command of all ground forces at Sevastopol, immediately set his men to work building three defensive lines, the most northerly of which was 10 miles from the fortress. Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky had overall command of Sevastopol and used his cruisers and destroyers to bring in supplies from Novorossisk, which they could reach overnight. In all, Oktyabrsky commanded about 102,000 men. Manstein had the smallest German army on the Eastern Front-seven divisions comprising about 100,000 troops-but with more guns and many more aircraft. There were few tanks on either side. The siege itself began on 30 October, when Manstein mounted the first effort to break through the well-fortified Soviet lines. After three weeks, the attack had barely penetrated the Soviet defenses and was halted. On 17 December, the Germans launched a second and more intense attack that breached the three defensive lines and pushed to within five miles of the city. The Soviets, however, fought for every inch of ground. The rainy and cold weather became a serious problem for the Germans, who were ill-prepared in summer uniforms. The fighting was bitter, and tunnels deep below ground helped the Soviets survive. On 26 December, Soviet forces landed on the Kerch Peninsula to the east, diverting German troops. By mid-January. the Germans were again forced to discontinue the attack. For a few months that winter, the population of Sevastopol believed they had won the battle, and life in the city even began to return to some semblance of normalcy. It was not to be. Stavka, the Soviet High Command, activated the Crimea Front under Major General D. T. Kozlov and ordered him to deploy three armies on the Kerch Peninsula, which was possible in winter when the Kerch Strait was frozen solid. When good weather returned in the spring, Manstein dealt with Kozlov, committing 5 German and 2 Romanian infantry divisions and a German panzer division against Kozlov’s 21 infantry divisions and 4 tank brigades. A German amphibious landing unhinged Kozlov’s defenders and led to the surrender of more than 170,000 Red Army troops. Manstein now returned to the conquest of Sevastopol, which Hitler insisted be taken. On 2 June, the Germans used 700 guns to begin the systematic reduction of the massive Soviet forts. The German artillery included some three dozen very heavy siege guns that had been specially developed to reduce the French Maginot Line, ranging in size from 280 mm to 800 mm (10.9 inches to 31 inches). The largest of these, the “Dora” Gustav Gun, was in fact the largest artillery piece of all time. Manstein opened a third assault by four divisions from the north on 7 June, but it failed to break through the defenders, who from tunnels and caves continued an effective resistance with small arms. On 11 June, three German divisions attacked on the southeast but also made little headway. After two weeks of fighting, the Germans were on the shore of Severnaya Bay north of Sevastopol and at the Sapun Heights to the southeast. The last Soviet reinforcements arrived between 22 and 26 June. Thereafter, the only links between Sevastopol and the outside world were by submarine and air. Waves of German bombers leveled the city and naval base, in a week dropping some 50,000 bombs. A surprise German assault by boat across the bay on 28 June shattered the defenders, and beginning on the night of 30 June, Admiral Oktyabrsky, Petrov, and a few hundred top Soviet military, party, and government personnel were evacuated by air. Fighting ended on 4 July 1942. The Germans claimed 92,000 Soviet prisoners taken, along with 460 guns, but they suffered 24,000 casualties of their own in the June and July fighting alone. An overjoyed Hitler promoted Manstein to field marshal. Manstein had indeed achieved much, given the difficult terrain and weather and the defenders’ determination. Hitler then transferred Eleventh Army north to Leningrad, a decision that adversely affected the German army in its drive on Stalingrad later that year. The Soviets retook Sevastopol in May 1944. Then the situation was reversed, with the German Seventeenth Army defending the city and the Soviets attacking. Although the Germans evacuated 38,000 troops by sea, the Soviets claimed 100,000 others killed and captured. After the long siege and this battle, little was left of Sevastopol itself.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 13:32:15 +0000
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