Where the Iron Crosses Grow

At 0425hrs, German infantry from the three lead divisions began moving forward. Although the Soviet 251st Rifle Regiment (63rd Mountain) held a very strong position on the 40m high “Tatar Hill” north of the Feodosiya–Kerch road, the unit was not completely tied in with the neighboring 346th Regiment to the south. Stukas from StG 77 blasted the top of the hill just as troops from Generalleutnant Johann Sinnhuber’s 28. leichte Infanterie-Division crossed the line of departure. The dust from the air raid had barely settled when Stossgruppen from Jäger-Regiment 49 of Sinnhuber’s division, supported by 21 assault guns and a company of 18 captured Soviet tanks, was able to first bypass then overwhelm the isolated 346th Rifle Regiment. Less than 2 miles to the south, the 132. Infanterie-Division’s two lead regiments and 22 assault guns were able to overwhelm the 291st Rifle Regiment’s strongpoints on the coast by 0445hrs, and by 0540hrs IR 438 had reached the west side of the antitank ditch. After “Tatar Hill” was overrun, the Jäger-Regiment 49 spearhead pushed rapidly up the 1½-mile stretch of road to reach the west side of the antitank ditch. Despite the fact that the 11-yard-wide antitank ditch was protected by a minefield and barbed wire, as well as steel girders to stop tanks, Jäger-Regiment 49 was able to overcome the stunned Soviet defenders and to secure a bridgehead across the ditch by 0755hrs. In only three and a half hours, the 63rd Mountain Rifle Division’s frontline regiments had been shattered, and the Soviet second line of defense had been pierced. Soviet tanks appeared to contest the crossing, but a one-sided duel with Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 190 resulted in the loss of 24 Soviet tanks in exchange for the loss of just one StuG III.³ The only sector where Fretter-Pico’s XXX Armeekorps encountered difficulties was south of Koi-Asan, when the 50. Infanterie-Division, supported by 14 assault guns, attacked the 276th Rifle Division. The German infantrymen from the 50. Infanterie-Division had to cross very swampy terrain and then attack through three rows of obstacles before reaching the antitank ditch late in the day.

The collapse of Cherniak’s 44th Army was accelerated by a coordinated attack upon the second-echelon defenses as well. Shortly after the initial artillery bombardment, one infantry company from Infanterie-Regiment 436 (132 ID) and a pioneer platoon were moved by a flotilla of assault boats from the 902. Sturmboote-Kommando from Feodosiya to land 1,500 yards behind the antitank ditch. Amazingly, not a single vessel of the Black Sea Fleet interfered with this German amphibious operation, although one or two small warships would have annihilated the flimsy speedboats. Some Soviet mortars and light artillery did engage the assault boats as they approached the shore, but they failed to hit any. This attack was an extremely bold move, and it helped to unhinge the Soviet second line of defense. The German infantrymen quickly overwhelmed two bunkers covering this stretch of coast and then radioed for the next wave to come in. During the day, the 902. Sturmboote-Kommando ferried in most of the rest of the infantrymen of IR 436, which proceeded to overrun the antitank-ditch defenders from behind. Very effective Luftwaffe close-air support kept any Soviet counterattacks away during the early hours of the landing, although Soviet artillery and mortar fire succeeded in destroying 13 assault boats. The two second-echelon formations from the 44th Army – the 157th and 404th Rifle Divisions – were hard hit by Stuka and Hs 129 B attacks during the day and failed to redeploy in time to either deal with the amphibious landing or the penetration up the center by the 28. leichte Infanterie-Division. Once the antitank ditch was breached, Manstein committed his only mobile unit – the Groddeck Brigade – to move through the gap, and its units soon linked up with the IR 436 beachhead and pushed 2 miles further east. Fretter-Pico’s XXX Armeekorps had suffered only 104 killed and 284 wounded on the first day of Trappenjagd, but it had captured 4,514 prisoners and ripped open the 44th Army’s left flank.