Where the Iron Crosses Grow

After a week of intense ground combat, Hansen’s strength was beginning to fade. Zuckertort’s artillery was still providing daily artillery bombardments, but the heaviest weapons such as the 60cm Karl mortars and the pair of 42cm howitzers had expended all their ammunition by June 13. The Soviet troops in Sectors III and IV had taken hard knocks, but were still holding their ground. Manstein was concerned that the German offensive might culminate before reaching Severnaya Bay due to heavy casualties, so he ordered Hansen to reinvigorate his main effort by stripping forces from less essential areas. Since the 24. Infanterie-Division was achieving little in its sector, Hansen shifted Tettau’s division onto the defense and transferred battalions from IR 31 and IR 102 to reinforce the 132. Infanterie-Division’s front. Manstein directed the Romanian 4th Mountain Division to take over the front line formerly held by these troops. In addition, Manstein transferred I. and III./IR 97 from the idle 46. Infanterie-Division, which was once again guarding Kerch. Thus, Lindemann’s 132. Infanterie-Division would have 12 or more infantry battalions to use against the flank of Kapitokhin’s division. On June 15, Hansen pulled some of his battalions out of the line briefly to refit and prepare for the next offensive pulse. He intended to mount an all-out attack with both the 22. and 132. Infanterie-Divisionen and all the support he could muster in order to reach Severnaya Bay.

Despite ferocious resistance for over a week, Kapitokhin’s troops were in worse shape than Hansen’s, and he barely had 1,000 troops in the five battalions guarding the approaches to Coastal Battery No. 30. Hundreds of his wounded had been brought inside the reinforced concrete block of Bastion I, which was proof against virtually all the German artillery. Kapitokhin’s division was bleeding to death, and he was now holding too much frontage with too few men. The real weak spot in the defense lay south of the Neuhaus Heights, where the remnants of Laskin’s 172nd Division held the positions known as Molotov, GPU, Siberia and Volga. Guz’s 345th Rifle Division had suffered significant losses but was still the strongest Soviet unit on the north side of Severnaya Bay – unfortunately, it was in the wrong place. Most of Guz’s division was focused on opposing the slow advance of the 50. Infanterie-Division toward the railroad tunnels near the Serpentine (a section of the main road that consisted of several hairpin turns), but this area was not a priority for the Germans. Petrov also committed his only fresh unit – Major Petr Zielinski’s 138th Naval Infantry Brigade – to this sector as well. Zielinski’s brigade had been brought to Sevastopol by two convoys between June 12 and June 15 and was not ready to be sent to the front until June 16. On paper, 138 NIB was a very strong formation, with four 716-man rifle battalions, a battalion of 16 76mm guns, two mortar battalions, and an antitank battalion. However, many of the ethnic Caucasian troops in the unit were not particularly loyal to the Soviet regime, and morale was a problem from the moment they arrived in Sevastopol.