Where the Iron Crosses Grow

At 0350hrs on December 29, the Soviet flotilla approached Feodosiya and the destroyers Shaumyan and Zhelezniakov fired star shells that illuminated the port, followed up by a 13-minute naval bombardment. Then four MO-IV type sub-chasers sprinted toward the outer edge of the long harbor mole where the lighthouse sat at the end. Pulling up alongside the mole, about 60 naval infantrymen led by Lieutenant Arkady F. Aydinov leapt onto it and quickly secured the lighthouse. They then began clearing the mole, capturing two unmanned 3.7cm Pak guns, and Aydinov used green flares to signal to the fleet that the harbor entrance was clear. German gunners from II./AR 54 engaged the patrol boats ineffectually, and the Soviet naval infantrymen seized the entire mole before the Germans could effectively react. Amazingly, the raft boom was found to be open, apparently due to negligence. At 0426hrs the destroyer Shaumyan entered the harbor, moved alongside the mole, and disgorged a company of naval infantrymen within 20 minutes. The destroyers Zhelezniakov and Nyezamozhnik repeated the maneuver, further reinforcing the Soviet lodgment. Although the Shaumyan was damaged by German artillery fire, the Germans never expected the Soviets to attempt anything so bold, and had not properly fortified the harbor entrance. Soviet audacity and the speed of the initial landings caught the Germans completely by surprise.

Once the three destroyers had disembarked their assault troops, Captain 1st Rank Aleksei M. Guscin brought his cruiser Krasny Kavkaz alongside the mole at 0500hrs and began landing 1,853 troops from the 633rd Rifle Regiment of the 157th Rifle Division. By this point, the Germans were fully awake and concentrated all their fire on the Soviet cruiser, hitting her 17 times, setting her No. 2 turret on fire. However, Guscin was far from helpless, and he directed his 180mm batteries to fire point-blank at the enemy artillery and machine-gun positions, winking at them from the shoreline. After more than three hours of intense combat in the port, Guscin finally maneuvered his damaged cruiser away from the mole, having accomplished his mission.⁷ Belatedly, the Luftwaffe showed up and sank a minesweeper and patrol boat, but were too late to impede the Soviet landing operation.

By 0730hrs the Germans had completely lost control of the port and the Soviet transports had begun to land artillery and vehicles. Once Soviet infantry began moving into the city, the German artillerymen began abandoning their positions and the German defense quickly collapsed. Ahlfen’s pioneers briefly tried to put up resistance but they soon retreated as well. By 1000hrs, Sponeck learned that the Soviets had seized most of Feodosiya and were pouring ashore. Indeed, the remarkable thing about the Feodosiya landing is the speed that Oktyabrsky’s fleet was able to land 4,500 troops in the morning and have elements of three rifle divisions from Pervushin’s 44th Army ashore by the end of the day. Sponeck realized that no substantial German forces were near Feodosiya and that the Soviet landing represented a clear threat to his corps’ lines of communications. He immediately ordered Teodorini’s 8th Cavalry Brigade to turn around and march back to Feodosiya, while Manoliu’s 4th Mountain Brigade was ordered to form blocking positions west of the city. In a telephone conversation with Manstein, Sponeck requested permission to withdraw the 46. Infanterie-Division from Kerch back to the Parpach Narrows, where it could contain the Soviet bridgehead at Feodosiya and establish a viable defensive line until reinforcements arrived. Manstein refused, and ordered Sponeck to hold on; he promised Gruppe Hitzfeld from the 73. Infanterie-Division, that the entire 170. Infanterie-Division would be sent to retake Feodosiya.