Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Shortly after the Soviet leadership fled, German infantry from Oberst Ernst Maisel’s IR 42 began advancing into the shattered and burning ruins of Sevastopol, followed by IR 72. Captain-Lieutenant Aleksei P. Matyukhin’s battery of two 130mm guns located on the edge of the city on the Malakhov Hill fired as long as they could against advancing German troops, but was overrun when it ran out of ammunition. Matyukhin was captured. Nearby, the armored train Zhelezniakov was found abandoned in a tunnel. There was negligible resistance inside the city. By 1313hrs a German flag was flying over the southern part of the city, and by 1400hrs Axis troops were pouring in. Major Willy Marienfeld, commander of II./IR 123, reached the center of the city and radioed his division command post that, “the target was reached.” In an awkward moment for Axis cooperation, Manstein tried to prevent the Romanians from participating in this photo moment – he wanted the fall of Sevastopol to be seen as a purely German victory – but a column from the 4th Mountain Division ignored German orders, made its way into the city, and hoisted a Romanian flag on the prominent Nakhimov Monument. Over 12,000 Soviet prisoners were taken on July 1, and by the end of the day most of the city was in Axis hands. At 2100hrs Berlin radio announced the fall of Sevastopol to the world.

As the Germans moved into Sevastopol they encountered numerous Soviet wounded, as well as civilians. The treatment of these individuals depended upon the unit. Choltitz, having won a splendid reputation as commander of IR 16 throughout the Crimean campaign, was not about to spoil that reputation with war crimes against a vanquished foe. He ordered his troops to ignore the standing order to execute commissars, and directed his medical personnel to treat Soviet wounded. However, other German units were less chivalrous, and treated Soviet wounded in expedient fashion – with a bullet. Later, Choltitz recalled that 30,000 Jews were executed after the fall of Sevastopol, although most of these were probably Soviet POWs and local communist officials.⁸⁶

Novikov retreated into the Chersonese Peninsula with about 50,000 troops from the Maritime Army and the naval base, intent upon making a last stand. The peninsula, which was about 5 miles long and a mile wide, was very heavily fortified, but Coastal Battery No. 35 had expended its last rounds on July 1. The only reasonably intact Soviet units were Major Nikulshin’s 1st Battalion from 9 NIB, which had been assigned to defend the Chersonese airstrip, and a VVS-ChF security battalion. As Sanders’ 170. Infanterie-Division approached the Chersonese they did not expect much resistance, but were astounded when the survivors of the 386th and 388th Rifle Divisions mounted a powerful counterattack at 1700hrs against the vanguard of IR 399 and IR 401, which inflicted 600 casualties. Thereafter, Fretter-Pico resolved to simply seal off the Soviet forces in the Chersonese and rely upon artillery and aerial bombardment to finish them off. Yet the Soviet mood for a suicidal last-stand evaporated quickly. Captain Aleksandr Leshchenko, commander of Coastal Battery No. 35, decided to detonate the powder magazines on the night of July 1/2, which completely demolished the battery and its turrets.

Could the Black Sea Fleet have conducted a “Dunkirk-style” evacuation from the Chersonese Peninsula and saved thousands of Soviet troops? If Oktyabrsky had committed the entire fleet, it is likely that a sizeable number of troops could have been evacuated over several nights, although the fleet would have suffered damage. Yet Oktyabrsky was unwilling to lose more warships, and rejected the idea of an evacuation. Nevertheless, a number of small craft from Gorshkov’s Azov Flotilla made runs to the Chersonese at night to try and extract some survivors. At least two minesweepers, a survey vessel, three trawlers, and ten MO-IV type subchasers made runs to Cape Chersonese during July 2–4, saving several hundred members of the garrison. When the MO-IV sub-chaser SKA-112 arrived around 0100hrs on July 2, Novikov decided that discretion was the better part of valor and boarded it in an attempt to escape, but he had no luck. Off Yalta, SKA-112 was intercepted by Birnbacher’s S-Boats and, after a running fight, the Soviet vessel was sunk and Novikov was captured. However, Nikolai Blagoveshchensky, commander of the 9th NIB, succeeded in evading the Axis dragnet aboard another MO-IV boat and made it to Novorossiysk. Several small craft were sunk or damaged by German air attacks, but the Axis blockade was not effective in stopping many of these vessels. A tugboat loaded with 77 troops made for the Turkish coast; under Soviet diplomatic pressure, the Turks allowed the vessel to proceed through their coastal waters to Batumi.