Where the Iron Crosses Grow

The Germans had seized some, but not all, of the high ground overlooking Balaklava harbor on November 17. The most important position was Hill 212, on which the old Balaklava North Fort sat, and which gave the Germans excellent observation of Balaklava and the vicinity. Adjacent to Hill 212, Lieutenant-Colonel Gerasimos A. Rubtsov’s 456th Rifle Regiment (NKVD) held a craggy, boulder-strewn ridge known to the Germans as “Sulzbacher Hill” protecting the harbor mouth, located near the old Genoese Cembalo fortress. Rubtsov’s troops were atop the same area where the 93rd (Highland) Regiment made its famous “Thin Red Line” stand to defend Balaklava harbor from Russian cavalry in October 1854. Another key Soviet position was Fort Kuppe, atop a hill that had been Redoubt 1 in 1854; this position was heavily fortified behind a thick barrier of mines and barbed wire. At the boundary between Novikov’s Sector I and Colonel Nikolai F. Stutel’nik’s Sector II, Colonel Zhidilov’s 7th Naval Infantry Brigade held the same ground where Russian artillery had repulsed the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. In this sector, Zhidilov’s defense was based on holding Chapel Hill, an important point with a ruined church that overlooked the Yalta–Sevastopol road. Stutel’nik also had his own 386th Rifle Division to defend the Chernaya River valley.

When the artillery preparation for Störfang began on June 2, XXX Armeekorps’ fire was directed by General der Artillerie Robert Martinek’s Arko 110. His heavy firepower was limited to two Czech 30.5cm mortars, six 21cm mortars, and 12 Czech-made 14.9cm s.FH 37(t) howitzers from schwere Artillerie-Abteilung 154. He also had 36 Nebelwerfers from Werfer-Regiment 70. The Romanian Mountain Corps contributed its corps-level artillery: three battalions with 33 Czech-made M1934 15cm howitzers. Martinek could not afford to be extravagant with his artillery preparation, as Zuckertort had done, so he massed his fires against a few of the most important positions, such as “Sulzbacher Hill” and Fort Kuppe. Novikov’s artillery remained silent during Martinek’s preparation bombardment, so it was impossible for Fretter-Pico to determine if the enemy’s defense had been weakened.

Manstein did not want Fretter-Pico to launch an all-out ground offensive until Hansen’s LIV Armeekorps had made progress, but apparently he did not exercise sufficient supervision over XXX Armeekorps’ planning for Störfang. Uncertain of the enemy’s strength, Fretter-Pico timidly began his ground offensive by making two separate single-battalion probing attacks by Sinnhuber’s 28. leichte-Infanterie-Division. Just after dawn on June 7, III./Jäger-Regiment 83 attacked Rubtsov’s NKVD troops atop the Sulzbacher Hill, which meant crossing hundreds of yards of steep, open ground. The men were surprised when the NKVD troops opened up with direct fire with flak guns that had been brought onto the hill during the spring; the attack was repulsed with heavy losses. Ivan I. Bogatir’, a renowned NKVD sniper in the 456th Rifle Regiment, inflicted numerous casualties upon the enemy before he himself was wounded and evacuated.

Meanwhile, III./ Jäger-Regiment 49 used a more stealthy approach to push north toward the fortified Blagodat State Farm, which was held by 2nd Battalion, 381st Rifle Regiment. In this case, they were able to seize a small hillock overlooking the farm and begin to fortify it before the Soviets noticed what was going on. Yet once the German infiltration was detected, the 381st Rifle Regiment acted energetically to repel the enemy intrusion. Lieutenant Nikolai I. Spirin’s machine-gun company laid down heavy fire upon the Germans, supplemented by mortar and artillery fire, which inflicted heavy casualties. It turned out that Martinek’s artillery preparation had failed, and now Novikov used his own artillery to break up the German attacks, as well as to inflict painful losses on Martinek’s artillery. After a day of being pounded in no man’s land, the Germans withdrew after suffering 500 casualties for no gain. Two of the hardest-hit companies in JR 49 had been reduced to just 20–30 survivors each.⁷³ The Romanian 1st Mountain Division also began an effort to seize two hilltops known as “North Nose” and “Sugarloaf,” which controlled a crossing site over the Chernaya River valley. The initial small-scale attack was repulsed, but the Romanians were determined to contribute to the fall of Sevastopol.