Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Although MG 34 machine-gun fire and 8cm mortar rounds broke up the first Soviet assault, the naval infantrymen attacked in waves that stressed the German defense to its limits. Matushenko’s Battery No. 10 laid down a prepatory barrage that succeeded in destroying some German vehicles, and, after three hours of fighting, Vilshansky’s sailors had seized three hilltop objectives. Vilshansky claimed to have eliminated 250 German soldiers, and Bidermann admitted that his battalion “suffered numerous losses.” However, the Soviet sailors could not hold their hard-won ground and were forced to yield to German counterattacks on November 8. Nevertheless, Vilshansky’s counterattack caused Manstein to realize that LIV Armeekorps was not strong enough to fight its way into Sevastopol with just two divisions, and he ordered Salmuth to transfer the 22. Infanterie-Division to reinforce Hansen’s corps. On the Simferopol–Sevastopol road the German pursuit was now over, and Hansen now had to begin preparing for another deliberate assault, which bought precious time for the defenders.

While Hansen’s corps had been trying to push through directly to Sevastopol, the 72. Infanterie-Division had been pursuing Petrov’s Coastal Army through the Yaila Mountains. Here and there the Soviets turned to fight when the German pursuit grew too arrogant. On November 4, the 95th Rifle Division ambushed Panzerjäger-Abteilung 72 near the village of Ulu-Sala, destroying half its vehicles and most of its Pak guns. A winter storm that brought heavy rain on November 6 further slowed down the German pursuit, and the Coastal Army steadily won the race to Sevastopol. Nevertheless, the 72. Infanterie-Division had to fight its way into Yalta, which was occupied on the morning of November 8, and an advance guard began to march west along the coast road toward Balaklava. Near Baidary on the coast, Lieutenant Aleksandr S. Terletskiy was in charge of a small group of NKVD border guards retreating toward Sevastopol. On November 9, his group moved through the Baydar Gates, an important mountain pass east of Balaklava. In order to delay the pursuing Germans, Terletskiy’s detachment emplaced explosives on a rock overhang over the narrow coast road and then detonated it to block the pass. Terletskiy was later awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for delaying the 72. Infanterie-Division’s advance along the coast from Yalta, although the impact of his feat on German operations appears to have been minimal. Furthermore, Terletskiy’s group failed to reach Sevastopol and instead joined a partisan group in the mountains east of Balaklava, as did other Soviet troops who became isolated by the German pursuit.

By November 9, the German pursuit across the Crimea was over. Petrov had managed to save 17,000 troops from his Coastal Army, but had lost a good part of his artillery and vehicles. The 25th Rifle Division Chapaevskaya had suffered 50 percent losses and only 4,233 of its troops made it to Sevastopol; two of its three rifle regiments were reduced to fewer than 500 troops.²⁵ One exception was Colonel Ivan I. Khakhanov’s 52nd Artillery Regiment, which made it to Sevastopol with 13 of their 155mm Schneider Model 1917 howitzers (taken from Poland in 1939). Brigade Ziegler had captured 2,711 prisoners, 52 trucks, and 9 76.2mm guns, while suffering 215 casualties in the pursuit.²⁶ Nevertheless, the escape of Petrov’s Coastal Army was a minor tactical feat for the Red Army, and a major blow to Manstein’s plans to seize Sevastopol in a swift coup.

____________

While Petrov was trying to organize Sevastopol’s defenses, the remnants of the 51st Army continued to retreat toward Kerch. On the evening of November 3, the 170. Infanterie-Division captured the port of Feodosiya. With the Germans racing across the Crimea and cities falling like nine pins, Communist Party officials and NKVD personnel bolted toward the coast in an effort to save themselves. The Komsomol (Young Communist League) had established Artek camps in the pleasant climate of the Crimea to indoctrinate the next generation of Soviet leaders, and these camps still had thousands of youths stranded by the German invasion; many were the children of party officials who now used their influence to get them evacuated from the Crimea. Everyone who could headed for the ports of Yalta and Alushta, which had not yet fallen.