Liberation of Crimea (1944). Crimean strategic offensive operation

The liberation of Crimea and Sevastopol in April-May 1944 was one of the most important battles of the Great Patriotic War: the Soviet Union defeated the 200,000-strong German-Romanian group and regained control of the Black Sea. The last city on the peninsula to be liberated was Sevastopol, on May 9. But on May 10, 1944, Moscow saluted the soldiers, sailors and officers of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Primorsky Army also because this victory was symbolic: the liberators regained places that had always been and will be associated with the military glory of Russia. recalls how the Crimean offensive operation took place.

Kerch landing

The Red Army made attempts to enter Crimea on the move until 1944. In the fall of 1943, troops of the North Caucasus Front liberated the Taman Peninsula. The Supreme High Command set the task of seizing a bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula. In early November, ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Military Flotilla landed units of the 18th and 56th armies on the eastern outskirts of Crimea - soldiers and officers were transported on torpedo boats, longboats and fishing schooners. Soviet troops drove the Germans out of a small piece of land - from the edge of the coast to the outskirts of Kerch. The paratroopers held out on this bridgehead until the beginning of April, when the Crimean offensive operation began. By that time, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front had already occupied a bridgehead in the north of Crimea. Back in November 1943, they crossed the Sivash and made their way to Armyansk on the Perekop Isthmus.

“With the advance of our troops to the lower reaches of the Dnieper, to the Perekop Isthmus, to Sivash and with the simultaneous capture of a bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula, the enemy group (17th German Army and a number of Romanian formations), defending in the Crimea, found itself blocked and cut off from the rest of the enemy’s ground forces ", the marshal, who then held the post of chief, described the situation on the peninsula before the start of the Soviet offensive in his memoirs.

The defending Germans numbered about 200 thousand, with 3,600 guns and mortars, 215 tanks and assault guns and 150 aircraft. The strike force of the Red Army consisted of 470 thousand people, a little less than 6 thousand guns and mortars, more than 500 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, and 1,250 aircraft.

Behind enemy lines

According to the plans of the Soviet command, the offensive was to begin simultaneously from the north - with the forces of the 4th Ukrainian Front, and from the east, from the bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula - by units of the separate Primorsky Army (the former 56th Army). The goal of the operation was to fragment the German-Romanian group and destroy it, preventing it from evacuating from the peninsula. Vasilevsky explained that the Soviet command decided to deliver the main blow from positions beyond Sivash, hoping to take the enemy by surprise. “In addition, the blow from Sivash, if successful, would bring our troops to the rear of all enemy fortifications on Perekop, and therefore allow us to break out into the vast expanses of Crimea much faster,” the marshal detailed in his memoirs.

The 4th Ukrainian Front, advancing from the north, was supposed to liberate Dzhankoy, and then attack in the direction of Simferopol. The separate Primorsky Army was tasked with attacking from the east on Simferopol and Sevastopol, and with part of its forces along the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

Due to bad weather and storms in the Sea of ​​Azov, the start of the operation was postponed. Finally, on April 8, after artillery preparation, the Red Army went on the offensive; A few days later, Soviet units reached the flank of a group of German troops at Perekop and took Dzhankoy. To avoid encirclement, parts of the Wehrmacht began to roll back. The fears of the Soviet command that the Wehrmacht would use the mountainous terrain of the peninsula for a stubborn defense were not confirmed: in general, the operation developed as planned.

At the same time, the Separate Primorsky Army was advancing through Karasubazar (Belogorsk - approx. "Tapes.ru") and Feodosia to Sevastopol. On April 13, Soviet troops liberated Yevpatoria, Simferopol and Feodosia; by April 16, the Wehrmacht was driven out of Bakhchisarai, Alushta and Yalta.

“The Red Army was strong in armored vehicles, and its command chose the direction of attack on tank-accessible terrain - along the Yalta Highway. The Germans abandoned such tactics in 1942 because they had more artillery and fewer tanks and feared the impact of the Black Sea Fleet firing on Soviet ships. In general, the Black Sea Fleet operated according to the principle of fleet on being, as the British say, - it was in action, it pinned down the enemy’s forces: having superiority at sea, the Soviet command could strike where it was convenient for it,” says the military historian, candidate of historical sciences.

General assault on Sevastopol

Two attempts to take Sevastopol on the move failed - the Germans repelled attacks on April 19 and 23. On May 7, after a regrouping of forces, the Red Army began a general assault on the Sevastopol fortified area, breaking through the enemy positions on the same day, and broke into Sapun Mountain. As Isaev notes, despite the legends about heavy losses, several dozen Red Army soldiers and officers were killed during the assault on Sapun Mountain - Soviet units wisely used their advantage in firepower and air superiority. “The impression was that on Sapun Mountain there was not a single square meter of clean land: it all seemed to consist of solid firing points... An avalanche of fire also fell on Sapun Mountain from the air. In this stream of metal, the attack pilots managed to fix the firing points and methodically suppressed them,” recalled the pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, who then fought in the Crimea.

Communication by sea for the blocked group of German-Romanian troops became problematic at the very beginning of the assault on Sevastopol due to mistakes by its command. “When Soviet troops took the key height - Sapun Mountain, the commander of the German 17th Army, Karl Allmendinger, almost without a fight surrendered the northern side, where there were good positions: the 365th battery, the 30th battery, where the Red Army was in 1942 defended herself stubbornly. Soviet units reached the bay, German and Romanian ships entering the harbor were shot immediately from field cannons,” explains Isaev.

German units were driven out of the city on May 9. The next day, fireworks went off in Moscow in honor of the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front who liberated Sevastopol. The remnants of the German 17th Army and Romanian units retreated to a piece of land near Cape Chersonese. As in the Battle of Stalingrad, in the last days of the liberation of Crimea, the evacuation became another tragedy for the German army and its Romanian allies. “The Germans began to evacuate everything that was in Crimea already in April 1944, until Hitler called Sevastopol a fortress and ordered to stay in it until the last. Only a small part of the group that defended Sevastopol was taken out. In addition, Soviet aviation created several “titanics” at sea: they sank several loaded transports, for example, four thousand German soldiers and officers on the Romanian motor ship Totila. If you look at this episode from the point of view of German documents - for example, the report of the commander of the German naval forces in the Black Sea, Helmut Brinkmann - then it was a disaster,” says Isaev.

Photo: Alexander Sokolenko / RIA Novosti

One of the German soldiers who survived the evacuation from Sevastopol recalled: “In order not to drown, we threw overboard all the weapons, ammunition, then all the dead, and all the same, when we arrived in Constanta, we stood in the water up to our necks in the holds, and the bedridden wounded all drowned... At the hospital, the doctor told me that most of the barges were half filled with the dead.”

In some ways, exactly the opposite situation was repeated when, on the 20th of June 1942, German units, having occupied the northern side of the city, excluded the possibility of normally supplying the city, which predetermined the collapse of its defense, and the remnants of the Primorsky Army, deprived of the opportunity to evacuate, fought on Cape Chersonesos. Thus ended more than six months of defense of Crimea by Soviet troops. In 1944, they would liberate the peninsula in 35 days.

“No name is pronounced in Russia with such reverence”

From the point of view of military art, the liberation of Crimea and the battles for Sevastopol are also interesting because there the Wehrmacht tried to apply Hitler’s new concept: to make fortresses out of defended cities. “The concept was outlined in order number 11 of March 8, 1944. The Fuhrer named the cities that the German army had to hold even in the event of encirclement. This was a reference to the experience of the 17th-19th centuries, the experience of the Napoleonic wars. For the Germans, theorists of maneuverable, lightning-fast warfare, this was a setback in the art of war. But, despite the catastrophic consequences of using this concept, during the defense of Crimea it was used until 1945, even on German territory - and with the same result,” says Isaev.

The historian emphasizes that the liberation of Crimea was one of the turning points in the war: “In August 1944, the Antonescu regime fell in Romania, Bucharest ceased to be an ally of Berlin. One of the impetus for this was the defeat of the Romanian army in Crimea with a large number of prisoners. The liberation of Sevastopol also influenced Turkey’s position towards the Germans: before this, Ankara, formally being a neutral party, secretly supplied the Reich with chrome ore. And for the Soviet Union, this meant not only the return of its land, but also the restoration of control over the Black Sea.”

The total irretrievable losses of German and Romanian troops on the peninsula amounted to about 100 thousand people, the 17th Wehrmacht Army virtually ceased to exist, and the Soviet Union regained control over the Black Sea. The successful completion of the Crimean offensive operation also had symbolic significance. “When General Karl Allmendinger took command of the 17th German Army in the Crimea, he appealed to the soldiers and officers to defend Sevastopol, because not a single name is pronounced in Russia with such reverence as the name of this city - this is an almost verbatim quote from his order,” says Isaev.

160 formations and units of the Red Army received honorary names associated with Crimea: Evpatoria, Kerch, Perekop, Sevastopol, Sivash, Simferopol, Feodosia and Yalta. More than two hundred Red Army soldiers and officers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In Soviet times, Sevastopol and Kerch were awarded the title of hero cities. Feodosia became the city of military glory of Russia in 2015, after the peninsula returned to its native harbor.

April 8, 1944 began The Crimean strategic offensive operation, which ended on May 12 with the complete liberation of the peninsula from the Nazi occupiers. “Blessed places! Now they are ours forever!” – Konstantin Paustovsky wrote then.

Fireworks in liberated Sevastopol. May 1944

The liberation of Crimea from the Nazis became one of the most heroic pages in its already rich history. After all, the Nazis expected to stay on the peninsula forever. And many invaders succeeded. True, not at all as they dreamed, but in the damp Crimean soil...

"German Gibraltar"

To Crimea Adolf Gitler and his entourage have been closely watched since pre-war times. Head of the German Labor Front Robert Ley dreamed of turning the peninsula into “one huge German resort.” The Fuhrer himself was eager to make Crimea a “German Gibraltar” in order to control the Black Sea from there. Planning to populate the peninsula with Germans, Hitler and the Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories Alfred Rosenberg They planned to clear Crimea of ​​Jews and Russians after the war and rename it Gotenland.

Rosenberg proposed uniting Crimea with the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and creating the general district of Tavria. This Nazi ideologist himself flew to the peninsula. Having visited the site of the fighting, he wrote in his diary: “Sevastopol: complete ruins. Only the witnesses of the ancient Greek past – the columns and the museum – remained standing, unharmed by our aviation and artillery.” A native of Revel (now Tallinn), who lived in Russia for up to 25 years, Rosenberg understood better than other Nazi bosses what a treasure Crimea was, how much it meant for the Russians.

The feelings of Soviet people about the loss of Sevastopol and Crimea were reflected in one of the articles in Literaturnaya Gazeta:

“Crimea was for us the image of a victor – for the first time in the history of mankind, victorious! - happiness. He always reminded us with new freshness of the joyful meaningfulness of every minute of our daily work; he was our annual meeting with the main, best thing that was in us - with our goal, with our dream. So this is what the enemy wanted to take away from us forever - the very image of our happiness!”

The worst thing is that the enemy wanted to deprive Soviet citizens not only of hope for a happy life, but also of the very right to life. While clearing “living space” for themselves, the Nazis and their accomplices did not stand on ceremony with the indigenous population of the peninsula.

The future of any nation is its children. The attitude of “true Aryans” towards Crimean boys and girls leaves no ground for illusions. “During the liberation of Kerch, the following brutal crime was revealed,” writes the historian Nina Petrova. – The local German commandant’s office ordered the parents to send their children to school. Obeying the order of the German SS cavalry brigade, 245 children with textbooks and notebooks in their hands went to their classes. No one returned home. What happened to them became known after the liberation of the city, when 245 corpses of these children were found 8 km from it in a deep ditch. They were not shot, they were buried alive by the occupiers. There are documents and photographs relating to this heinous crime."

Also, on November 2, 1943, a one-year-old child and 35 other residents of the “Crimean Khatyn” - the village of Friedental (now Kurortnoye, Belogorsk district) were burned alive. On the territory of the former state farm "Red" (now the village of Mirnoye, Simferopol region), the occupiers created a concentration camp where thousands of prisoners of war, partisans and civilians were tortured. The list of crimes committed by the Germans, Romanians and their accomplices in Crimea during the war is endless...

Crimean bridgeheads

Crimea not only symbolized a happy Soviet life - it had great military-political and strategic significance. Later in his memoirs, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky stated:

“By owning it, the Nazis could keep the entire Black Sea coast under constant threat and put pressure on the policies of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Crimea also served the Nazis as a springboard for the invasion of the territory of the Soviet Caucasus and stabilization of the southern wing of the entire front.”

After the defeat of the Wehrmacht at the Kursk Bulge, it became clear that the liberation of the entire territory of the Soviet Union was a matter of time. On November 1, 1943, troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of General Fedora Tolbukhin made an attempt to break into Crimea from the north.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky, coordinated the operation to liberate Crimea

19th Tank Corps Lieutenant General Ivana Vasilyeva made his way through the enemy fortifications at Perekop. And although the desperately defending Germans managed to temporarily block the tankers, the 51st Army of Lieutenant General Yakov Kreiser soon connected with them. Thus arose an important bridgehead, which was destined to play a prominent role during the operation to liberate the peninsula.

The commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Crimean offensive operation, Fyodor Tolbukhin, was awarded the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union on September 12, 1944

“CRIMEA WAS FOR US AN IMAGE OF A WINNER – FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY, A WINNER! - HAPPINESS. This is what the enemy wanted to take away from us forever - the very image of our happiness!”

Our valiant fighters created two more bridgeheads - northeast of Kerch and on the southern bank of Sivash. The collective farmer was the first to lead scouts and advanced units through the Rotten Sea Vasily Kondratievich Zaulichny. For this feat he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. Another guide through Sivash was a 68-year-old Ivan Ivanovich Olenchuk. 23 years earlier - in early November 1920 - along the same route, he led units of the Red Army to the rear of the White Guard troops Peter Wrangel. Ivan Ivanovich did not disappoint this time either.

Walking through the Rotten Sea was very difficult. Yakov Kreizer recalled that if “a fighter with light weapons crossed Sivash in 2–3 hours, then a 76-mm gun was transferred by boat by a group of soldiers in 5–6 hours.”

Soviet troops in liberated Sevastopol. May 1944

The Red Army soldiers who held the bridgeheads in the winter of 1943–1944 fought both the enemy and nature. Sergey Biryuzov, at that time Lieutenant General, Chief of Staff of the 4th Ukrainian Front, testified in his memoirs:

“Our bridgehead beyond Sivash was very uncomfortable. There are salt marshes all around, not a hill, not a bush - everything is in full view of the enemy and under his fire. However, the Sivash bridgehead was not much different from two other important bridgeheads on the approaches to Crimea - Perekop and Kerch.”

Despite all the problems, preparations for the operation to liberate Crimea were in full swing. Creating the crossings required truly titanic efforts. Marshal Vasilevsky, who, as a representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, coordinated the actions of all forces involved in the operation, later recalled:

“Storms, enemy air raids and artillery shelling destroyed bridges. By the beginning of the operation, two crossings had been created - a bridge on frame supports 1865 m long and two earthen dams 600–700 m long and a pontoon bridge between them 1350 m long. The carrying capacity of these crossings, through the efforts of the front engineering troops, was increased to 30 tons, which ensured the crossing of tanks T-34 and heavy artillery. For the purpose of camouflage, a false bridge was built a kilometer from these crossings.”

The Germans did not sit idly by either. Thus, in the Perekop area, on a narrow section of the isthmus - up to 14 km long, up to 35 km deep - the enemy created three powerful defensive lines. The main defense line, 4–6 km deep, had three defensive positions with full-profile trenches, pillboxes and bunkers. The center of defense was Armyansk, on the streets of which barricades were erected. In total, in the Perekop area the enemy concentrated up to 20 thousand soldiers and officers, 325 guns and mortars, up to 50 tanks and assault guns.

HITLER WANTED TO MAKE CRIMEA A "GERMAN GIBRALTAR" to control the Black Sea from there

The idea of ​​the Crimean offensive operation was to carry out simultaneous attacks by troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front from Perekop and Sivash and the Separate Primorsky Army of General Andrei Eremenko from a bridgehead in the Kerch region in the general direction of Simferopol and Sevastopol - with the assistance of long-range aviation, the Black Sea Fleet, Azov military flotilla and partisans - to dismember and destroy the enemy group, preventing its evacuation from the peninsula.

The most important task of the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky was to disrupt the enemy’s sea communications with Crimea. In addition, in the coastal zone, the fleet was supposed to help the Red Army soldiers with its aviation and naval artillery fire.

The command of the 4th Ukrainian Front, having an idea of ​​the strength of the enemy defense in the Perekop area, decided to deliver the main blow from Sivash, where the main tank formations were concentrated for this purpose. It was assumed that, having broken through to the enemy's rear, they would launch an offensive deep into the peninsula.

“The Northern Front cannot be held”

Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were eager to fight, eager to drive the Germans and Romanians out of Crimea. However, the sea was stormy, and the rains made the roads completely insurmountable. Due to muddy roads and bad weather conditions, the start of the operation was postponed more than once.

Finally, on the morning of April 8, 1944, after powerful artillery preparation, Soviet troops went on the offensive. They immediately met stubborn enemy resistance. Sergei Biryuzov recalled:

“In some places the guards had to use a trick, placing effigies dressed in tunics and helmets from behind their shelters, creating the appearance of starting an attack. The visual imitation was accompanied by sound - a powerful “hurray!” thundered. And the Nazis took this bait. Apparently, after our two-hour artillery preparation, their nerves were tense to such an extent that they were unable to distinguish stuffed animals from living people. The Nazis crawled out of their dugouts and “fox holes”, hastily took up places in the trenches, and at that moment they were again covered by our artillery.”

Sevastopol was liberated from the Nazi invaders exactly one year before the Great Victory - May 9, 1944

However, not only the Nazis encountered unpleasant surprises at the beginning of the battle. Deep in the enemy defenses, Soviet tanks ran into minefields, where several combat vehicles were blown up on the move.

Meanwhile, the Red Army continued to increase pressure. April 10 in the diary of an officer of the operations department of the headquarters of the 17th German army, captain Hans Ruprecht Hansel there was an entry:

“The northern front cannot be held. The 50th Infantry Division, having suffered heavy losses, barely managed to retreat to a reserve line of defense. But a strong Russian tank group is now advancing through the gap in the Romanian defense sector, posing a threat to our rear. We are working feverishly to prepare for the deployment of troops on the Gneisenau defensive line. I was ordered to fly to the 5th Corps to the Kerch Peninsula to deliver there the order to retreat to Sevastopol.”

Reich Minister of Eastern Occupied Territories Alfred Rosenberg planned to populate Crimea with Germans and rename it Gotenland

Breaking into enemy defenses, soldiers and officers of the Red Army showed massive heroism. On the award list of the squad commander of the machine gun company of the 262nd Guards Rifle Regiment, Guard Senior Sergeant Alexandra Korobchuk It was noted that on April 12, in a battle near the village of Ishun, Krasnoperekopsk region, he “with grenades in his hands, dragging the soldiers with him, was among the first to break into the enemy trenches, where he destroyed 7 Nazis with grenades.” After the release of the grenades, the machine gunner boldly moved forward and covered the bunker embrasure with his body.

"We all–children of one mother, the Motherland!

On April 13, Evpatoria, Feodosia and Simferopol were liberated. Preparing to retreat, the Nazis mined the most important buildings in Simferopol, intending to blow them up along with Soviet soldiers. The Crimean underground did not allow the crime to take place. Sergei Biryuzov wrote in his memoirs:

“We entered the city when it was still shrouded in gunpowder smoke; the battle was ending on the southern and eastern outskirts. Some houses and even neighborhoods were destroyed, but on the whole Simferopol remained intact. Thanks to the rapid advance of our troops, the enemy was unable to carry out his black plans to destroy all residential buildings, cultural institutions, parks and squares there. The city was beautiful like spring in its green decoration and blossoms.”

Soviet pilots fought heroically in Crimea

The day before the liberation of Yevpatoria, near the village of Ashaga-Dzhamin (now Heroyskoye) in the Saki region, nine reconnaissance officers of the 3rd Guards Motorized Engineering and 91st Separate Motorcycle Battalions fought an unequal battle for about two hours: the commander of the guard group, Sgt. Nikolay Poddubny, his deputy guard junior sergeant Magomed-Zagid Abdulmanapov, privates Pyotr Veligin, Ivan Timoshenko, Mikhail Zadorozhny, Grigory Zakharchenko, Vasily Ershov, Pyotr Ivanov And Alexander Simonenko. They repelled several enemy attacks. When the cartridges ran out, the wounded and bleeding scouts fought the enemy hand-to-hand.

The Germans tied the captured Red Army soldiers with barbed wire and, seeking the necessary information, began to brutally torture them. They were beaten with rifle butts, stabbed with bayonets, their bones were crushed, and their eyes were gouged out. But they never achieved anything from them. And then the German officer turned to 19-year-old Avar Abdulmanapov:

“Well, they are Russians, and who are you? Why are you silent? What have you got to lose? You are a stranger to them. Everyone should think about their own life. Where are you from?" To the enemy’s question, Magomed-Zagid answered directly: “It’s known where. We are all children of one mother, the Motherland!” – and spat in the officer’s face.

After torture, the Red Army heroes were shot near the village. On May 16, 1944, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, all nine intelligence officers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

One of them, a 24-year-old machine gunner Vasily Ershov, miraculously survived. Local residents who discovered the hero saw 10 gunshot and 7 bayonet wounds on his body. Ershov's jaw was reduced to mush. The native of the Sandovsky district of the Tver region remained a disabled person of the 1st group for the rest of his life. After the war, Vasily Alexandrovich came to the battlefield, and the village residents greeted him as the person closest to them.

Hitler's dreams were not destined to come true: Soviet soldiers cleared Crimea of ​​occupiers

Soviet pilots also fought heroically. On April 22, the 134th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment received an order to strike an airfield where there were more than fifty enemy aircraft. The Germans met the attackers with strong defensive fire from anti-aircraft batteries. One shell hit the plane of the air regiment commander, Major. Viktor Katkov.

General Grigory Chuchev, then commander of the 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Division, recalled:

“The commander energetically put the burning plane into a dive. During the dive, the flames of fire were torn from the wing of the aircraft. Diving, the pilot took aim and dropped bombs on enemy planes stationed on the border of the airfield. When exiting the dive into level flight, the plane caught fire again. Only after completing the task, Major Katkov left the battle formation, turned the plane in the direction of his territory and began to land. The flames were already approaching the cockpit of the pilot and navigator.

A few minutes later a fire broke out in the cabin. The pilot landed on the fuselage on rough terrain. The plane crawled some distance on uneven ground and stopped. The pilot's canopy was jammed and could not be reset, as a result of which the pilot and navigator could not get out of the cockpit. The flames spread throughout the plane.

An explosion was about to happen. Without hesitating for a second, gunner-radio operator Senior Sergeant D.I. The lonely man left his cabin, risking his life, ran up to the burning cabin and, using his heroic strength, broke the plexiglass of the cabin canopy with his feet. First, he helped the regiment commander get out, then he pulled the burnt navigator out of the burning plane and took him to a safe place. A few seconds later the plane exploded.”

“Now they are forever ours!”

The worse the situation at the front became for the enemy, the more ferocious the Germans, Romanians and their accomplices behaved on Crimean soil. They tried to take everything they had stolen during the occupation from the peninsula. And the worst thing was that the enemies were killing civilians, including children and the elderly.

“Right at the entrance to the house of doctor Fedotov, who died during the days of occupation, the Germans shot his 64-year-old wife Elena Sergeevna and Marina Ivanovna Chizhova, who lived with her. Across the street, near a small house, there is a puddle of blood. Here, a 14-year-old boy, Rustem Kadyrov, died from a bullet from a Nazi scoundrel. We also saw bloody traces of the crimes of German monsters on Severnaya and Armenian streets, and here almost all the houses are empty - the Germans destroyed all their inhabitants. On April 12, 1944, the Germans shot and bayoneted 584 people in Old Crimea!”

Meanwhile, Hitler did not give up the hope of defending Crimea until the last minute. The possessed Fuhrer ignored the demands of the Romanian dictator Jonah Antonescu withdraw Romanian troops from Crimea. And the doubt of the commander of the 17th German Army, Colonel General Erwin Gustav Jenecke the fact that Sevastopol could be held cost him his position. The general who replaced Jenecke Karl Allmendinger in an order dated May 3, 1944, he brought the following to the attention of his subordinates:

“I received orders to defend every inch of the Sevastopol bridgehead. You understand its meaning. No name in Russia is pronounced with more reverence than Sevastopol. Monuments of past wars stand here...

Due to the fact that Sevastopol has such historical significance, Stalin wants to regain this city and port. Therefore, we are given the opportunity to bleed the superior forces of the Reds on this front. I demand that everyone defend themselves in the full sense of the word; so that no one retreats and holds every trench, every crater and every trench.”

And our soldiers had to take these trenches and trenches. The multi-tiered fortifications of Sapun Mountain with 63 pillboxes and bunkers looked especially formidable. They were stormed by troops of the 63rd Rifle Corps of Major General Peter Koshevoy and the 11th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Seraphim Rozhdestvensky.

After the war, Pyotr Koshevoy wrote about those days:

“The battle became intense throughout the entire offensive zone of the corps. There was no rapid advance of troops anywhere.<…>In clouds of dust and fumes from the explosions of shells and mines, our soldiers and the enemy constantly fought hand-to-hand.<…>Three times the trenches changed hands. Everything was burning all around, but the enemy stubbornly did not leave the first position.”

Poster of the Leningrad association of artists “Combat Pencil”. 1944

On the approaches to Sevastopol, a feat Alexandra Matrosova repeated the lieutenant Mikhail Dzigunsky, sergeants Fedor Skoryatin And Stepan Pogodaev, private Alexander Udodov(he was seriously wounded, but survived). All four, like 122 other liberators of Crimea, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And the commander of an air squadron who escaped from captivity to the partisans Vladimir Lavrinenkov received a second Gold Star medal.

Exactly one year before the Great Victory, on May 9, 1944, Sevastopol was liberated. As a sign of victory, a vest and cap were placed on the stem of the Count's Pier arch. Three days later, the Crimean peninsula was completely cleared of invaders.

Summing up the Crimean strategic offensive operation, the historian Mikhail Myagkov stated:

“The total losses of German and Romanian troops far exceeded the losses of the Red Army. If we lost 13 thousand killed and 54 thousand wounded in this operation, then the Germans and Romanians lost 60 thousand people as prisoners alone. And the total losses exceeded 140 thousand soldiers and officers. It was an outstanding operation in a series of decisive blows by the Red Army in 1944. It was carried out by commanders and ordinary soldiers who went through the bitter school of 1941–1942. Now the Red Army was lowering the punishing sword of retribution on the head of the hated enemy who was ravaging the Crimean land.”

The dream of the Soviet people came true: the land of Crimea became free again. “Blessed places! Now they are ours forever!” - the writer rejoiced Konstantin Paustovsky, expressing the sentiments of all our people in an essay published in Izvestia.

Soon, artists from the front-line branch of the Maly Theater arrived in Sevastopol. On the local stage, they played in performances based on the plays of the great Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky, “Guilty Without Guilt” and “In a Lively Place.” And a few days later, the residents of Sevastopol saw the film “Two Fighters,” which a year earlier had been shot by an outstanding Soviet director Leonid Lukov.

Life on the peninsula quickly returned to normal. Already at the beginning of February 1945, Crimea became the venue for a conference of heads of state of the anti-Hitler coalition. Joseph Stalin received the US President in Yalta Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill…

Oleg Nazarov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

The Crimean Peninsula has always been a strategic center in the Black Sea, first for the Russian Empire and later for the USSR. The Crimean operation was very important for the advancing Red Army, and at the same time Hitler understood: if he gave up the peninsula, the entire Black Sea would lose. Fierce fighting lasted for more than a month and led to the defeat of the defending fascists.

On the eve of the operation

From the end of 1942 to the beginning of 1943, a radical change occurred during the Second World War: if until that moment the Red Army was retreating, now it went on the offensive. The Battle of Stalingrad became a tragedy for the entire Wehrmacht. In the summer of 1943, the Battle of Kursk took place, called the largest tank battle in history, in which Soviet forces strategically outplayed the Nazis, capturing them in a pincer movement, after which the Third Reich was already doomed. The generals reported to Hitler that further continuation of hostilities was becoming pointless. However, he ordered to stand and hold positions until the last.

Operation Crimea was a continuation of the glorious achievements of the Red Army. After the Lower Dnieper offensive operation, the 17th German Army found itself blocked on the Crimean Peninsula without the possibility of replenishment and reinforcement. In addition, Soviet troops managed to seize a convenient bridgehead in the Kerch region. The German high command once again recalled the hopelessness of the situation at the front. As for Crimea itself, the generals specifically said that without possible ground reinforcements, they remain there to certain death with further resistance. Hitler did not think so - he gave the order to hold the defense of this important strategic point. He motivated this by the fact that in the event of the surrender of Crimea, Romania and Bulgaria would cease to be allies with Germany. The order was given, but what was the attitude of ordinary soldiers to this instruction and to the war in general when the Crimean defensive operation began for them?

War theorists often talk only about the balance of forces of the opposing sides and their strategies, presuming the outcome of the battle as a whole by the beginning of the battle, simply by counting the number of military equipment and the number of fighters.

Meanwhile, practitioners believe that morale plays a huge role, if not a determining one. What happened to both sides?

Morale of the Red Army

If at the beginning of the war the morale of Soviet soldiers was quite low, then during its actions, and especially after Stalingrad, it grew unimaginably. Now the Red Army went into battle only for victory. In addition, our troops, unlike the first months of the war, were battle-hardened, and the command acquired the necessary experience. All this together gave us a complete advantage over the invaders.

Morale of the German-Romanian army

At the beginning of the Second World War, the car was undefeated. In less than two years, Germany managed to capture almost all of Europe, approaching the borders of the USSR. The morale of the Wehrmacht soldiers was at its best. They considered themselves invincible. And going into the next battle, they already knew in advance that it would be victorious.

However, at the end of 1941, the Nazis encountered serious resistance for the first time in the Battle of Moscow. During the counter-operation, the Red Army pushed them back from the city to a distance of more than 200 km. It was a blow to their pride and, most importantly, to their morale.

This was followed by the Stalingrad breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad, and the Crimean strategic offensive operation began. The Third Reich was retreating on all fronts. Besides the fact that the German soldiers suffered defeat one after another, they were simply tired of the war. No matter how we treat them, they are people too, they had families that they loved and wanted to return home quickly. They no longer needed this war. Morale was at zero.

Strengths of the parties. USSR

Operation Crimea became one of the largest during the Second World War. The Red Army was represented by:

• 4th Ukrainian Front, commanded by F.I. Tolbukhin. It consisted of the 51st Army under the command of Ya. G. Kreiser; 2nd Guards Army under the command of G.F. Zakharov; the 8th Air Army under the command of T. T. Khryukin, as well as the 19th Tank Corps, initially under the command of I. D. Vasiliev, who was later replaced by I. A. Potseluev.
• A separate Primorsky Army, subordinate to General A. I. Eremenko, but on April 15, 1944, its command was entrusted to K. S. Melnik, who was a lieutenant general of the army.
• The Black Sea Fleet, commanded by Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky
• 361st Sevastopol separate radio division.
• Azov military flotilla, led by Rear Admiral S.G. Gorshkov.

Strengths of the parties. Germany, Romania

The defense of the captured peninsula was carried out by the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht. On May 1, 1944, its command was entrusted to Infantry General K. Allmendinger. The army included 7 Romanian and 5 German divisions. The main headquarters is located in the city of Simferopol.

The Crimean operation by the Wehrmacht in the spring of 1944 was defensive in nature. The Wehrmacht's territorial defensive strategy can be divided into 4 parts:

1. North. The command of these forces was located in Dzhankoy, and reserves were also concentrated there. Two formations were concentrated here:

• 49th Mountain Rifle Corps: 50th, 111th, 336th Infantry Divisions, 279th Assault Gun Brigade;
• 3rd Romanian Cavalry Corps, consisting of the 9th Cavalry, 10th and 19th Infantry Divisions.

2. West. The entire coast from Sevastopol to Perekop was guarded by two regiments of the 9th Romanian Cavalry Division.

3. East. Events unfolded on Here they defended themselves:

• 5th Army Corps (73rd and 98th Infantry Divisions, 191st Assault Gun Brigade);
• 6th Cavalry and 3rd Mountain Rifle Romanian Divisions.

4. South. The entire southern coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia was patrolled and defended by the 1st Romanian Mountain Rifle Corps.

As a result, the forces were concentrated as follows: the northern direction - 5 divisions, Kerch - 4 divisions, the southern and western coast of Crimea - 3 divisions.

The Crimean operation was launched precisely with this arrangement of combat formations.

The balance of forces between the opposing sides

In addition, the Red Army had 322 units of naval equipment. These figures indicate a significant numerical superiority of the Soviet Army. The Wehrmacht command reported this to Hitler in order to obtain permission for the retreat of the forces remaining in the blockade.

Plans of the parties

The Soviet side saw Crimea, and mainly Sevastopol, as the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. With the receipt of this facility for its use, the USSR Navy could more conveniently and successfully conduct operations at sea, which was necessary for the further advancement of troops.

Germany was also well aware of the importance of Crimea for the overall balance of power. Hitler understood that the Crimean offensive strategic operation could lead to the loss of this important bridgehead. Moreover, Adolf was often informed about the impossibility of containing the Red Army in this direction. Most likely, he himself already understood the hopelessness of the situation, but he no longer had other considerations. Hitler gave the order to defend the peninsula to the last soldier, and under no circumstances to surrender it to the USSR. He saw Crimea as a force that held allies such as Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey close to Germany, and the loss of this point would automatically lead to the loss of allied support.

Thus, Crimea was very important for the Soviet army. For Germany it was vital.

The strategy of the Red Army consisted of a simultaneous massive attack from the north (from Sivash and Perekop) and east (from Kerch), followed by advance to the strategic centers - Simferopol and Sevastopol. After which the enemy had to be divided into separate groups and destroyed, without giving the opportunity for evacuation to Romania.

On April 3, using her heavy artillery, she destroyed the enemy’s defenses. On April 7, in the evening, reconnaissance in force was carried out, confirming the location of enemy forces. On April 8, the Crimean operation began. For two days, Soviet soldiers were in conditions of fierce fighting. As a result, the enemy's defenses were broken through. On April 11, the 19th Tank Corps managed to capture Dzhankoy, one of the headquarters of the enemy forces, on its first attempt. German and Romanian formations, fearing encirclement, began to retreat from the north and east (from Kerch) to Simferopol and Sevastopol.

On the same day, the Soviet army captured Kerch, after which the pursuit of the retreating enemy began in all directions using aviation. The Wehrmacht began evacuating soldiers by sea, but the forces of the Black Sea Fleet attacked the evacuating ships, as a result of which the Nazi allied forces lost 8,100 people.

On April 13, the cities of Simferopol, Feodosia, Saki, and Yevpatoria were liberated. The next day - Sudak, the next day - Alushta. The Crimean operation in the Second World War was coming to an end. The matter remained only with Sevastopol.

Partisan contribution

A separate topic of conversation is the partisan and underground activities of the Crimeans. The Crimean operation, in short, became the unity of the army and partisans in achieving a common goal. It is estimated that there were about 4,000 people in total. The objectives of their activities were the destruction of enemy rear lines, subversive activities, disruption of communications and railways, and blockages were made on mountain roads. The partisans disrupted the work of the port in Yalta, which greatly complicated the evacuation of German and Romanian soldiers. In addition to disruptive activities, the goal of the partisans was to prevent the destruction of industrial, transport enterprises and cities.

Here is one example of active partisan activity. On April 11, during the retreat of the 17th Wehrmacht Army to Sevastopol, the partisans captured the city of Old Crimea, as a result of which they cut the road to the retreating.

Kurt Tippelskirch, General of the Wehrmacht, described the last days of the battles as follows: throughout the entire operation, the partisans actively interacted with the Soviet troops and provided them with assistance.

Assault on Sevastopol

By April 15, 1944, Soviet troops approached the main base - Sevastopol. Preparations for the assault began. By that time, the Odessa operation, which took place within the framework of the Dnieper-Carpathian operation, was completed. The Odessa (and Crimean) operation, during which the northern and northwestern coast of the Black Sea was liberated, made a significant contribution to the cause of Victory.

The first two attempts to capture the city on the 19th and 23rd were unsuccessful. The regrouping of troops began, as well as the supply of provisions, fuel and ammunition.

On May 7, at 10:30, with massive air support, the assault on the fortified area of ​​Sevastopol began. On May 9, the Red Army entered the city from the east, north and southeast. Sevastopol was liberated! The remaining Wehrmacht troops began to retreat, but were not overtaken by the 19th Panzer Corps, where they took part in the final battle, as a result of which the 17th Army was completely defeated, and 21,000 soldiers (including officers) were captured along with the mass equipment and other weapons.

Results

The last Wehrmacht bridgehead in Right Bank Ukraine, located in Crimea, represented by the 17th Army, was destroyed. More than 100 thousand German and Romanian soldiers were irretrievably lost. The total losses amounted to 140,000 Wehrmacht soldiers and officers.

For the Red Army, the threat to the southern direction of the front disappeared. The return of Sevastopol, the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, took place.

But the most important thing is that the USSR, after the Crimean operation, regained control in the Black Sea basin. This fact sharply shook Germany's previously strong positions in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

The most terrible grief in the history of our people in the 20th century is the Great Patriotic War. The Crimean operation, like all the others, had positive consequences for the offensive and strategies, but as a result of these clashes hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of our citizens died. The Crimean offensive operation was an important strategic goal set by the Soviet command. Germany needed it in 1941-1942. 250 days to capture Sevastopol. Soviet troops had 35 days to liberate the entire Crimean peninsula, 5 of which were required to storm Sevastopol. As a result of the successfully carried out operation, favorable conditions were created for the advance of Soviet armed forces to the Balkan Peninsula.

On April 8, 70 years ago, the Crimean strategic offensive operation began. It went down in history as one of the most important offensive operations of the Great Patriotic War. Its goal was the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula, an important strategic bridgehead in the Black Sea theater of military operations, by defeating the 17th German Army of Colonel General E. Eneke, who was holding Crimea.

On April 8, 70 years ago, the Crimean strategic offensive operation began. It went down in history as one of the most important offensive operations of the Great Patriotic War. Its goal was the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula, an important strategic bridgehead in the Black Sea theater of military operations, by defeating the 17th German Army of Colonel General E. Eneke, who was holding Crimea.

As a result of the Melitopol (September 26 - November 5, 1943) and (October 31 - November 11, 1943) Soviet troops broke through the fortifications of the Turkish Wall on the Perekop Isthmus, captured bridgeheads on the southern bank of the Sivash and on the Kerch Peninsula, but liberated Crimea immediately It didn’t work - there wasn’t enough strength. A large group of German troops continued to remain on the peninsula, relying on deeply echeloned defensive positions. On the Perekop Isthmus and against the bridgehead on Sivash, the defense consisted of three, and on the Kerch Peninsula - of four lines.

The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (SHC) considered Crimea as a strategically important area, and its liberation as the most important opportunity to return the main base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol, which would significantly improve the conditions for basing ships and conducting combat operations at sea. In addition, Crimea covered the Balkan strategic flank of German troops and their important sea communications running along the Black Sea straits to the western coast of the Black Sea. Therefore, the German leadership also attached great military and political importance to keeping Crimea in their hands, which, in their opinion, was one of the factors in maintaining the support of Turkey and its allies in the Balkans. In this regard, the command of the 17th Army was obliged to hold the peninsula to the last. Despite this, the German command developed a detailed plan in the event of its retreat, called Operation Adler.

At the beginning of 1944, the German army was reinforced by two divisions: at the end of January 1944, the 73rd infantry division was delivered to the peninsula by sea, and at the beginning of March - the 111th infantry division. By April, the army had 12 divisions: 5 German and 7 Romanian, 2 brigades of assault guns, various reinforcement units and numbered more than 195 thousand people, about 3,600 guns and mortars, 215 tanks and assault guns. It was supported by 148 aircraft.

The Soviet leadership entrusted the task of defeating the enemy's Crimean group and liberating Crimea to the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front (commanding army general), which included the 2nd Guards and 51st armies, the 19th tank corps, the 16th and 78th nd fortified areas, air support was provided by aviation of the 8th Air Army and the Black Sea Fleet Air Force; Separate Primorsky Army (commanded by Army General), whose operations were supported by aviation of the 4th Air Army; Black Sea Fleet (commander admiral), whose forces supported the offensive on the coastal flanks and disrupted the enemy's sea communications; Azov military flotilla (commanded by rear admiral), which supported the offensive of the troops of the Separate Primorsky Army.

The balance of forces and means of the parties at the beginning
Crimean strategic offensive operation

In total, the Soviet strike force consisted of about 470 thousand people, 5982 guns and mortars, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns (SPG), 1250 aircraft, including the Black Sea Fleet aviation. By April 1944, the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov military flotilla included a battleship, four cruisers, six destroyers, two patrol ships, eight basic minesweepers, 47 torpedo and 80 patrol boats, 34 armored boats, 29 submarines, three gunboats and other auxiliary vessels. In addition, the troops were supported by Crimean partisan detachments. Created in January 1944, the Crimean partisan forces, numbering almost 4 thousand people, were united into three formations: Southern, Northern and Eastern. Thus, the forces of the USSR significantly exceeded the enemy forces.

The actions of the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Separate Primorsky Army were coordinated by representatives of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, Marshal and the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal.

Preparations for the Crimean offensive operation began in February 1944. On February 6, Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky and the Military Council of the 4th Ukrainian Front presented their considerations to the Supreme Command Headquarters regarding the conduct of the Crimean operation, which was supposed to begin on February 18-19.

However, the start date of the operation was subsequently postponed several times. So, on February 18, Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Command Headquarters, ordered Army General F.I. Tolbukhin, the Crimean operation will begin after the entire coast of the Dnieper up to and including Kherson is liberated from the enemy. Despite this, the Headquarters in its further instructions demanded that the operation begin no later than March 1, regardless of the progress of the operation to liberate the Right Bank Dnieper from the enemy. A.M. Vasilevsky reported to Headquarters that, given the weather conditions, the Crimean operation could only begin between March 15 and 20. The Headquarters agreed with the target date, but on March 16 the front received new instructions that the Crimean operation “begin after the troops of the left wing of the 3rd Ukrainian Front captured the area of ​​​​the city of Nikolaev and advanced them to Odessa.” However, the front, due to poor meteorological conditions, was able to begin the operation only on April 8, 1944.

The entire operation of the 4th Ukrainian Front was planned to a depth of up to 170 km, lasting 10-12 days with an average daily rate of advance of 12-15 km. The rate of advance of the 19th Tank Corps was determined to be 30-35 km per day.

The idea of ​​the Crimean operation was to deliver a simultaneous strike in the general direction of Simferopol and Sevastopol, with the forces of the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front from the north - from Perekop and Sivash, and the Separate Primorsky Army from the east - from the Kerch Peninsula, to dismember and destroy the enemy group , preventing her evacuation from Crimea. The main blow was planned to be delivered from a bridgehead on the southern bank of Sivash. If successful, the main group of the front went to the rear of the enemy’s Perekop positions, and the capture of Dzhankoy opened up freedom of action towards Simferopol and the Kerch Peninsula to the rear of the enemy group located there. An auxiliary attack was carried out on the Perekop Isthmus. The separate Primorsky Army was supposed to break through the enemy’s defenses north of Kerch, deliver the main blow to Simferopol, Sevastopol, and with part of its forces along the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

On April 8, 1944, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. Five days earlier, heavy artillery destroyed a significant part of the enemy's long-term structures. On the evening of April 7, reconnaissance in force was carried out, confirming previous information about the grouping of Wehrmacht troops in the area of ​​Perekop and Sivash. On the day the operation began, at 8:00 am, artillery and aviation preparation began in the zone of the 4th Ukrainian Front for a total duration of 2.5 hours. Immediately after its end, the front troops went on the offensive, striking with the forces of the 51st Army of Lieutenant General from a bridgehead on the southern bank of Sivash. After two days of fierce fighting, thanks to the courage of Soviet soldiers, the enemy’s defenses were broken through. The 51st Army reached the flank of the German Perekop group, and the 2nd Guards Army of the Lieutenant General liberated Armyansk. On the morning of April 11, the 19th Tank Corps of the Lieutenant General captured Dzhankoy on the move and successfully advanced to Simferopol. Fearing the threat of encirclement, the enemy abandoned the fortifications on the Perekop Isthmus and began to retreat from the Kerch Peninsula.

The troops of the Separate Primorsky Army, having launched an offensive on the night of April 11, captured the fortified city of Kerch in the morning - a fortified center of enemy resistance on the eastern coast of Crimea. The pursuit of enemy troops retreating to Sevastopol began in all directions. The 2nd Guards Army developed an offensive along the western coast towards Yevpatoria. The 51st Army, using the success of the 19th Tank Corps, rushed across the steppes to Simferopol. A separate Primorsky army advanced through Karasubazar (Belogorsk) and Feodosia to Sevastopol. As a result, Yevpatoria, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated on April 13, and Bakhchisarai, Alushta, and Yalta on April 14-15.

German troops continued to retreat. Aviation of the 8th and 4th Air Armies carried out massive attacks on retreating enemy troops and communications centers. The forces of the Black Sea Fleet sank its ships and transports with evacuated troops. The enemy lost 8,100 soldiers and officers from attacks on sea convoys and single ships.

Crimean partisans and underground fighters fought courageously. Crimean partisan formations received tasks to destroy enemy rear lines, nodes and communication lines, destroy railways, set up blockages and ambushes on mountain roads, disrupt the work of the Yalta port and thereby prevent the withdrawal of German-Romanian troops to it and other loading points for evacuation to Romania . The partisans were also entrusted with the task of preventing the enemy from destroying cities, industrial and transport enterprises.

On April 15-16, Soviet troops reached Sevastopol and began preparations for the assault on the city. In accordance with the decision of the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, approved by the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, the main blow was planned to be delivered from the Balaklava area by formations and units of the left flank of the 51st and the center of the Primorsky Army, which became part of the 4th Ukrainian Front on April 18. They had to break through the enemy’s defenses in the area of ​​​​Sapun Mountain and the heights northeast of the settlement of Karan with the task of cutting it off from the bays located west of Sevastopol. According to the front command, the defeat of the enemy on Sapun Mountain, despite the difficulty of its assault, should have allowed the stability of the German defense to be quickly disrupted. The auxiliary strike was planned in the zone of the 2nd Guards Army and, in order to divert the enemy’s attention, was planned two days before the main strike. The army had to break through the enemy’s defenses in the area southeast of Belbek with the forces of the 13th Guards and 55th Rifle Corps and develop an offensive on the Mekenzi Mountains and the eastern shore of the Northern Bay in order to press the German group to the sea and destroy it.

On April 19 and 23, front troops made two attempts to break through the main defensive line of the Sevastopol fortified region, but they ended in failure. A new regrouping and training of troops was required, as well as the supply of ammunition and fuel. On May 5, the assault on the city’s fortifications began - the 2nd Guards Army went on the offensive, which forced the enemy to transfer troops to Sevastopol from other directions.

On May 7 at 10:30, with massive support from all front aviation, Soviet troops began a general assault on the Sevastopol fortified area. The troops of the front's main strike group broke through the enemy defenses along a 9-kilometer stretch and captured Sapun Mountain during fierce battles. On May 9, front troops from the north, east and southeast broke into Sevastopol and liberated the city. The remnants of the German 17th Army, pursued by the 19th Tank Corps, retreated to Cape Khersones, where they were completely defeated. At the cape, 21 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured, and a large amount of equipment and weapons were captured.

Combat report from the headquarters of the 4th Ukrainian Front on the capture of the city and sea fortress of Sevastopol

Soviet tanks on Frunze Street (now Nakhimov Avenue)
during the days of the city's liberation from German invaders. May 1944

The Crimean offensive operation is over. If in 1941-1942. While it took German troops 250 days to capture heroically defended Sevastopol, in 1944 Soviet troops only needed 35 days to break through powerful fortifications in Crimea and clear almost the entire peninsula of the enemy.

Already by May 15, 1944, the headquarters of the 4th Ukrainian Front began to receive reports about military parades held in military units and formations dedicated to the final defeat of the group of German troops in Crimea.

Combat reports from the headquarters of the Primorsky Army to the headquarters of the 4th Ukrainian Front on the conduct of military parades in military units and formations.

Fireworks in liberated Sevastopol. May 1944 Photo by E. Khaldei

The objectives of the operation were achieved. Soviet troops broke through the deeply echeloned defenses on the Perekop Isthmus, the Kerch Peninsula, in the Sevastopol region and defeated the 17th Field Army of the Wehrmacht. Its losses on land alone amounted to 100 thousand people, including over 61,580 people captured. During the Crimean operation, Soviet troops and naval forces lost 17,754 people killed and 67,065 people wounded.

The victory in Crimea returned an important economic region to the country. In general, a territory covering an area of ​​about 26 thousand square meters was liberated. km. During the years of occupation, the Nazi invaders caused enormous damage to Crimea: more than 300 industrial enterprises were put out of action, livestock was almost completely exterminated, cities and resorts were severely destroyed - Sevastopol, Kerch, Feodosia and Yevpatoria were especially affected. Thus, at the time of liberation, 3 thousand inhabitants remained in Sevastopol out of 109 thousand people in the city on the eve of the war. Only 6% of the housing stock in the city survived.

Considering the progress and assessing the results of the Crimean operation, it is clear that its successful completion was predetermined by the skillful choice by the Soviet command of the directions of the main attacks, the good organization of interaction between strike groupings of troops, aviation and naval forces, the decisive dismemberment and defeat of the main enemy forces (Sivash direction), and the capture of key defensive positions in a short time (storming of Sevastopol). Mobile groups (advanced detachments) of armies were skillfully used to develop the offensive. They quickly penetrated into the operational depth of the enemy's defense, preventing his retreating troops from gaining a foothold on intermediate lines and in defense areas, which ensured a high rate of attack.

For heroism and skillful actions, 160 formations and units were given the honorary names of Evpatoria, Kerch, Perekop, Sevastopol, Sivash, Simferopol, Feodosia and Yalta. 56 formations, units and ships were awarded orders. 238 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, thousands of participants in the battles for Crimea were awarded orders and medals.

As a result of the Crimean operation, the last large enemy bridgehead that threatened the rear of the fronts operating in Right Bank Ukraine was eliminated. Within five days, the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol, was liberated and favorable conditions were created for a further offensive in the Balkans.

________________________________________________________________

* The Great Patriotic War is not classified. Book of losses. Latest reference publication / G.F. Krivosheev, V.M. Andronikov, P.D. Burikov, V.V. Gurkin. - M.: Veche, 2010. P. 143.

Anna Tsepkalova,
Research Institute employee
military history of the Military Academy of the General Staff
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,
Candidate of Historical Sciences

On May 9, 1944, 70 years ago, after a general assault, Sevastopol was liberated. By May 12, the remnants of the German 17th Army, who fled to Cape Chersonesus, were completely defeated. “Stalin’s third blow” - the Crimean offensive operation, led to the complete liberation of the Crimean peninsula from the Nazis. Having recaptured Crimea and Sevastopol, the Soviet Union regained control of the Black Sea.

Soviet soldiers salute in honor of the liberation of Sevastopol

General situation before the start of the operation. Previous operations

1943 The German military-political leadership clung to Crimea until the last opportunity. The Crimean peninsula had enormous military-strategic and political significance. Adolf Hitler demanded to hold Crimea at any cost. Berlin needed the Crimean peninsula not only for operational reasons (a base for the air and sea fleet, a forward outpost of ground forces allowing to stabilize the position of the southern flank of the entire front), but for political ones. The surrender of Crimea could affect the position of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and the general situation on the Balkan Peninsula. The loss of Crimea strengthened the capabilities of the Soviet Air Force and Black Sea Fleet.

On August 13 - September 22, 1943, troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of General F.I. Tolbukhin, during the Donbass offensive operation, reached the line of the Dnieper and Molochnaya rivers. Conditions appeared for the liberation of Northern Tavria and the Crimean Peninsula. From September 9 to October 9, 1943, the Novorossiysk-Taman operation was carried out (). During this operation, Soviet troops liberated Novorossiysk, the Taman Peninsula and reached the coast of the Kerch Strait. The successful completion of the operation created favorable opportunities for attacks on the Crimean Wehrmacht group from the sea and through the Kerch Strait.

The position of German troops on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front continued to deteriorate further. From September 26 to November 5, 1943, the Southern Front (from October 20, 1943 - the 4th Ukrainian Front) carried out the Melitopol offensive operation. October 24-25, 1943 19th Tank Corps of General I.D. Vasiliev, Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps of General N.Ya. Kirichenko and rifle units broke through the German defenses. The Red Army was rapidly advancing towards Perekop, Sivash and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. As a result of the Melitopol operation, the Red Army defeated 8 enemy divisions and inflicted heavy damage on 12 divisions. Soviet troops advanced 50-230 km, liberating almost all of Northern Tavria and reaching the lower reaches of the Dnieper. German troops in Crimea were cut off from other troops. By the end of the day on October 31, the advanced units of the 19th Tank Corps and Cavalry Corps approached the Turkish Wall and broke through it on the move. On November 1, Soviet soldiers fought in the Armyansk area. The attack of Soviet tankers and cavalrymen on the Turkish Wall was so sudden that the Nazis did not have time to organize a powerful defense.

The problem of the advanced units was that they did not have enough artillery, ammunition, and besides, the rifle units lagged behind. The German command, realizing that the Turkish Wall had been broken, organized a powerful counterattack. There was a stubborn battle all day. On the night of November 2, the Nazis again occupied the Turkish Wall with an attack from the flanks. The advanced Soviet units were forced to fight surrounded. German attacks followed one after another. Komkor Vasiliev was wounded, but remained in service and continued to lead the troops. As of November 3, units had 6-7 rounds per gun and 20-25 rounds per rifle left. The situation was critical. The front headquarters ordered to leave the encirclement, but if possible, to hold the bridgehead. The commander of the 19th Tank Corps, Ivan Vasiliev (by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 3, 1943, Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces Vasiliev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union) decided to hold the bridgehead and, with a strike from it (from the south), again break through the German positions on the rampart. At night, two small assault detachments (each with 100 soldiers) made up of tankers, dismounted cavalrymen, sappers, signalmen and drivers broke through the German defenses. Thus, they were able to hold a bridgehead south of the Turkish Wall, 3.5 km wide and up to 4 km deep.

At the same time, units of the 10th Rifle Corps of Major General K.P. Neverov crossed Sivash and captured another important bridgehead. The German command, realizing the danger of this breakthrough, sent reinforcements with tanks and artillery into the battle. However, Soviet troops also received reinforcements. The bridgehead was retained and expanded to 18 km along the front and 14 km in depth. Thus, the operation ended with the capture of bridgeheads on Perekop and south of Sivash, which played a vital role during the Crimean operation.

The commander of the 17th Army, General Erwin Gustav Jäneke, fearing a “new Stalingrad”, drew up a plan for the evacuation of German troops from the peninsula through Perekop to Ukraine (“Operation Michael”). The evacuation was planned to take place on October 29, 1943. However, Hitler at the last moment banned this operation. Hitler proceeded from the strategic and military-political importance of the peninsula. He was also supported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Grand Admiral K. Doenitz. The German Navy needed Crimea to control a significant part of the Black Sea; the loss of the peninsula sharply worsened the capabilities of the German fleet. The admiral promised that in a critical situation the fleet would evacuate 200 thousand people. 17th Army in 40 days (in bad weather - 80). However, the naval command was mistaken in its forecasts and assessment of the capabilities of the Navy and Soviet troops. When the need arose, the 17th Army could not be quickly evacuated, which became the reason for its destruction.

From October 31 to November 11, 1943, Soviet troops conducted the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation. The Soviet command planned to liberate the Kerch Peninsula. It was not possible to liberate the peninsula, but an important bridgehead was captured and significant enemy forces were attracted to this direction. The German command was forced to transfer troops from the northern (Perekop) direction, where the Nazis planned to launch a strong counterattack on the advancing troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front. The German 17th Army became even more bogged down in the Crimea, now under threat of attacks from two directions. The Romanian leadership, having lost confidence in the Germans, began to evacuate its troops from Crimea.

1944 German forces and defense

The 17th Army of Yeneke (Yeneke) was still a powerful and quite combat-ready group. It consisted of up to 200 thousand soldiers, 215 tanks and assault guns and about 360 thousand guns and mortars, 148 aircraft. The headquarters of the 17th Army was located in Simferopol.

The army received orders from Adolf Hitler to stay on the peninsula. Subsequently, the 17th Army, together with the 6th Army located in the Nikopol area, was to launch a counterattack against the Red Army and restore land connections with the rest of the German troops cut by Soviet troops. The 17th Army was to play an important role in disrupting the Soviet offensive on the southern flank of the Eastern Front. Back in November 1943, plans for “Litzmann” and “Ruderboot” were developed. They provided for the breakthrough of most of the 17th Army from Crimea through Perekop to join the 6th Army holding the Nikopol bridgehead, and the evacuation of a smaller part of the army by naval forces.

However, the actions of Soviet troops thwarted these plans. Units of the 10th Rifle Corps, which held the bridgehead south of Sivash, improved their tactical position and expanded the bridgehead during several local operations. The troops of the Separate Primorsky Army in the Kerch region also carried out a number of local operations, improving their position and expanding the bridgehead. The 17th Army found itself in an even more difficult situation. As General E. Jenecke noted on January 19, 1944: “... the defense of Crimea hangs by a “silk thread” ....”

The situation of the 17th Army was also aggravated by the actions of the Crimean partisans. On December 20, 1943, the operational and intelligence departments of the 5th Army Corps recognized the futility of fighting partisan detachments, since: “the complete destruction of large gangs in the mountains is possible only with the involvement of very large forces.” The command of the 17th Army also recognized the hopelessness of fighting the partisans. The partisan detachments were supported by an “air bridge” with the USSR. The Germans tried to suppress resistance through terror, including exterminating the population of foothill villages among which the partisans were hiding. However, punitive measures did not produce the expected results. In addition, Crimean Tatars were brought in to fight the partisans, who massively collaborated with the occupiers.

By April 1944, three partisan formations were actively operating in Crimea, with a total number of up to 4 thousand fighters. The most powerful was the Southern Unit of Partisans under the command of I. A. Makedonsky. The southern detachment was located in the reserve of the Southern Coast of Crimea, in the Alushta - Bakhchisarai - Yalta region. The northern formation under the command of P.R. Yampolsky was stationed in the Zuysky forests. The Eastern Union under the leadership of V.S. Kuznetsov was based in the Old Crimean forests. In fact, Soviet partisans controlled the entire mountainous and forested part of the peninsula. Throughout the occupation they strengthened their positions. Even some invaders went over to them. So, a group of deserted Slovaks fought on the side of the partisans.

On January 22-28, the Separate Primorsky Army conducted another local operation. The offensive did not lead to success, but showed the precarious position of the 17th Army. The German command had to transfer reserves from the northern direction, which thwarted the possibility of a counterattack at Perekop. From January 30 to February 29, 1944, troops of the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts conducted the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog operation (). The Nikopol bridgehead was liquidated, which finally deprived the Germans of hope of restoring land communications with the 17th Army encircled in the Crimea. The 4th Ukrainian Front was given the opportunity to direct all its forces to the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula.

True, in January-February, the 73rd Infantry Division from the 44th Separate Army Corps was airlifted to Crimea from the south of Ukraine, and in March, the 111th Infantry Division from the 6th Army of Army Group “A”. The German high command still wanted to hold Crimea. However, the command of the 17th Army understood that reinforcements were not capable of changing the situation, they would only prolong the agony. Jenecke and his staff repeatedly reported to the high command about the need for a speedy evacuation of the army.

By April, the 17th Army had 12 divisions: 5 German and 7 Romanian, 2 brigades of assault guns. In the Perekop area and against the bridgehead on Sivash, the defense was held by the 49th Mountain Rifle Corps (50th, 111th, 336th Infantry Divisions, 279th Assault Gun Brigade) and the Romanian Cavalry Corps (9th Cavalry, 10th -I and 19th Infantry Divisions). In total, the Northern group consisted of about 80 thousand soldiers. The group's headquarters were located in Dzhankoy.

The German defense in the Perekop area consisted of three stripes up to 14 km long and up to 35 km deep. They were occupied by the 50th Infantry Division, reinforced by several separate battalions and units (in total about 20 thousand bayonets, up to 50 tanks and assault guns and 325 guns and mortars). The main defensive line was up to 4-6 km deep, had three defensive positions with full-profile trenches and long-term firing points. The main defense center was Armyansk. From the northern direction, the city was covered by a deep anti-tank ditch, minefields and anti-tank guns. The city was prepared for a perimeter defense, the streets were blocked with barricades, and many buildings were turned into strongholds. Communication passages connected Armyansk with the nearest settlements.

The second line of defense took place in the southern part of the Perekop Isthmus between Karkinitsky Bay and lakes Staroe and Krasnoe. The depth of the second defense line was 6-8 km. Here the Germans built two defensive positions, covered by an anti-tank ditch, minefields and other obstacles. The defense was based on the Ishun positions, which blocked access to the steppe regions of the peninsula. The third line of defense, the construction of which was not completed at the beginning of the Red Army's offensive, ran along the Chartylyk River. In the gaps between the defense lines there were separate resistance centers and strongholds and minefields. An anti-landing defense was prepared on the coast of the Karkinitsky Gulf. The command of the 17th Army expected the main attack of the Red Army in the Perekop area.

On the southern bank of Sivash, the Germans built 2-3 defensive lines up to 15-17 km deep. They were occupied by the 336th German and 10th Romanian infantry divisions. The defensive positions ran along the shores of four lakes and had a land length of only 10 km. Due to this, a high density of defense was achieved, rich in manpower and firing points. In addition, the defense was strengthened by numerous engineering obstacles, minefields, pillboxes, and bunkers. The 111th German Infantry Division, the 279th Assault Gun Brigade and part of the 9th Romanian Cavalry Division were in reserve at Dzhankoi.

The Kerch direction was defended by the 5th Army Corps: the 73rd, 98th Infantry Divisions, the 191st Assault Gun Brigade, the Romanian 6th Cavalry Division and the 3rd Mountain Rifle Division. In total, the group numbered about 60 thousand soldiers. Coastal defense in the area from Feodosia to Sevastopol was entrusted to the Romanian 1st Mountain Rifle Corps (1st and 2nd Mountain Rifle Divisions). The same corps was engaged in the fight against partisans. The coast from Sevastopol to Perekop was controlled by two cavalry regiments from the Romanian 9th Cavalry Division. In total, about 60 thousand soldiers were allocated for anti-landing defense and the fight against partisans. The headquarters of the 17th Army and the Romanian 1st Mountain Rifle Corps were located in Simferopol. In addition, the 17th Army included the 9th Air Force Anti-Aircraft Division, an artillery regiment, three coastal defense artillery regiments, the Crimea mountain rifle regiment, a separate Bergman regiment and other units (security, engineer battalions, etc. .).

There were four defense lines on the Kerch Peninsula. Their total depth reached 70 kilometers. The main line of defense rested on Kerch and the heights surrounding the city. The second line of defense ran along the Turkish Wall - from Adzhibay to Lake Uzunlar. The third lane ran near the settlements of Seven Kolodezei, Kenegez, Adyk, Obekchi and Karasan. The fourth band covered the Ak-Monai Isthmus (“Perpach position”). In addition, the Germans equipped rear defense lines on the line Evpatoria - Saki - Sarabuz - Karasubazar - Sudak - Feodosia, Alushta - Yalta. They covered Simferopol. Sevastopol was a powerful defensive hub.

Operation plan and Soviet forces

The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (SHC) considered the Crimean Peninsula as a strategically important area. The liberation of Crimea restored the capabilities of the Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol was the main base of the Soviet fleet. In addition, the peninsula was an important base for the German fleet and aviation, covering the enemy’s southern strategic flank. Crimea was important in determining the future of the Balkan Peninsula and influenced Turkish policy.

The operation to liberate Crimea began to be prepared in February 1944. On February 6, Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky and the Military Council of the 4th Ukrainian Front presented the plan for the Crimean operation to Headquarters. On February 22, 1944, Joseph Stalin approved the decision to direct the main attack from Sivash. For this purpose, crossings were organized across Sivash, through which they began to transfer manpower and equipment to the bridgehead. The work took place in difficult conditions. The sea, German air raids and artillery strikes more than once destroyed the crossings.

The date for the start of the operation was postponed several times. From the beginning, this was due to the expectation of liberation of the Dnieper coast to Kherson from the Nazis, then due to weather conditions (because of them, the start of the operation was postponed for the period between March 15 and 20). On March 16, the start of the operation was postponed in anticipation of the liberation of Nikolaev and the entry of the Red Army to Odessa. On March 26, the Odessa offensive operation began (). However, even after Nikolaev was liberated on March 28, the operation could not begin. Bad weather conditions got in the way.

The general idea of ​​the Crimean operation was that the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin from the north - from Perekop and Sivash, and the Separate Primorsky Army of Army General Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko from the east - from the Kerch Peninsula, would deliver a simultaneous blow to general direction to Simferopol and Sevastopol. They were supposed to break through the German defenses, dismember and destroy the German 17th Army, preventing its evacuation from the Crimean Peninsula. The offensive of the ground forces was supported by the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral Filipp Sergeevich Oktyabrsky and the Azov Flotilla under the command of Rear Admiral Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov. The naval forces included a battleship, 4 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 2 patrol boats, 8 base minesweepers, 161 torpedo, patrol and armored boats, 29 submarines and other ships and vessels. From the air, the offensive of the 4th UV was supported by the 8th Air Army under the command of Colonel General of Aviation Timofey Timofeevich Khryukin and the aviation of the Black Sea Fleet. The 4th Air Army under the command of Colonel General of Aviation Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin supported the offensive of the Separate Primorsky Army. In addition, the partisans were supposed to hit the Germans from the rear. Representatives of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, Marshals of the Soviet Union, K. E. Voroshilov and A. M. Vasilevsky, were responsible for the coordination of the troops. In total, about 470 thousand people, about 6 thousand guns and mortars, 559 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and 1,250 aircraft took part in the operation.

The main blow was dealt by the 4th UV. It included: the 51st Army, the 2nd Guards Army and the 19th Tank Corps. The main blow from the Sivash bridgehead was delivered by the 51st Army under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Yakov Grigorievich Kreiser and the reinforced 19th Tank Corps under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Ivan Dmitrievich Vasiliev. Ivan Vasiliev will be wounded during reconnaissance, so the offensive of the corps will be led by his deputy I. A. Potseluev. They received the task of advancing in the direction of Dzhankoy - Simferopol - Sevastopol. In the event of a breakthrough of the German defense and the capture of Dzhankoy, the main group of the 4th UV went to the rear of the German positions at Perekop. It could also develop an attack on Simferopol and behind the Kerch enemy group. The 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant General Georgy Fedorovich Zakharov launched an auxiliary attack on the Perekop Isthmus and was supposed to advance in the direction of Evpatoria - Sevastopol. Zakharov’s army also had to clear the western coast of Crimea from the Nazis. The separate Primorsky Army received the task of breaking through the German defenses near Kerch and advancing towards Vladislavovka and Feodosia. In the future, part of the forces of the Primorsky Army was supposed to advance in the direction of Simferopol - Sevastopol, the other part - along the coast, from Feodosia to Sudak, Alushta, Yalta and Sevastopol.

The Black Sea Fleet received the task of disrupting enemy sea communications. Submarines and torpedo boats were supposed to attack enemy ships on the near and far approaches to Sevastopol. Aviation (more than 400 aircraft) was supposed to operate along the entire length of German maritime communications - from Sevastopol to Romania. Large surface ships did not participate in the operation. Headquarters ordered them to be preserved for future naval operations. The actions of the Black Sea Fleet were coordinated by a representative of the Headquarters - the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Naval Forces, People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov. The Azov flotilla transported troops and cargo through the Kerch Strait and supported the advance of the Separate Primorsky Army from the sea.

Long-range aviation under the command of Air Marshal A.E. Golovanov (more than 500 aircraft) was supposed to paralyze the work of railway junctions and ports with massive night strikes, strike important enemy targets, and sink German ships and vessels. Long-range aviation was supposed to strike the most important Romanian ports of Galati and Constanta.

Crimean partisans received the task of disrupting German traffic on the roads, interrupting wire communications, organizing attacks on enemy headquarters and command posts, preventing the Nazis from destroying cities and towns during their retreat, and preventing the destruction and abduction of the population. They were also supposed to destroy the Yalta port.

To be continued…