Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Still, the Luftwaffe had a good day. Mölders began sending his Bf-109F fighters over the Perekop at 0700hrs and caught the VVS-ChF by surprise. Hauptmann Gordon Gollob, the commander of II./JG 3, claimed to have shot down nine MiG-3 fighters over the Perekop during the course of three sorties – while it is unclear if these claims are all valid, there is no doubt that the Soviet naval fighters suffered heavy losses over the Perekop. Gollob, an Austrian, had 61 aerial victories before coming to the Crimea, and had been awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, but it was in the Crimea that he really established his reputation.

Despite this lackluster start on the first day, Hansen’s troops enjoyed remarkable success on October 19. Latz’s depleted IR 47 was forced to make another attempt against the Tumulus Assis strongpoint, and this time he sent in Oberstleutnant Rudolf G. Buhse’s III./IR 47 and the assault guns. The 36-year-old Buhse was no stranger to critical situations, having fought in the air-landing operation in Holland in 1940 and then having led his battalion in an assault crossing of the Dnepr at Berislav in 1941. He was an aggressive Prussian infantry officer and an excellent tactician. Supported by a battery of StuG III assault guns, pioneers, and a 2cm flak platoon that suppressed some of the Soviet machine gunners, Buhse led his battalion in small assault teams. Eventually, they managed to get through the barbed-wire obstacle belts and get close enough to suppress some of the forward Soviet positions with grenades and automatic-weapons fire. Once they realized that their defense had been pierced, the Soviet 397th Rifle Regiment abandoned the Tumulus Assis strongpoint. Although Buhse’s gallant attack, combined with the earlier success by Haccius’ss IR 65, had unhinged Kuznetsov’s right flank, the Soviet 106th and 271st Rifle Divisions simply fell further back on the isthmus, which afforded numerous defensive positions.

Infantrymen from Bieler’s 73. Infanterie-Division achieved an even larger tactical success on the western side of the isthmus, where Zuckertort finally massed enough firepower to pulverize the obstacle belt in front of the 361st Rifle Regiment. Once the path was clear, two battalions from IR 186 and the III./IR 213 assaulted through the breach, supported by Oberleutnant Hartmann’s 2./Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 190.¹¹ Zuckertort’s bombardment apparently suppressed the defenders, because the German infantry quickly overran the Soviet infantry in the center of their front and captured the fortified village of Krasnoperekops’k. The two battalions of Soviet naval infantry holding the sector along Lake Staroe and a rifle battalion from the 172nd Rifle Division protecting the Black Sea coast were soon isolated by the German advance. As Soviet resistance evaporated in the center, Bieler’s Stossgruppen continued to advance, and were in the town of Ishun before Major Baranov’s tankers, placed there in reserve, knew what was happening – Kuznetsov’s command and control had collapsed. Two T-34s were immobilized and captured by German Panzerjägers before the remaining seven tanks beat a hasty retreat. Still full of fight, IR 186 pressed on and seized a crossing over the Chatyrlyk River from dumbfounded security troops from the Soviet 42nd Cavalry Division. Bieler’s troops had advanced over 5 miles straight through the densest part of the 51st Army’s defenses, and at the cost of only 150 casualties.