Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Manstein was finally able to commit the 22. Panzer-Division and its 200 tanks in the late afternoon of May 9, but the unit had barely crossed the antitank ditch and begun moving north when a drenching rain began to fall. The heavy rains created mud that temporarily slowed the panzers and grounded the Luftwaffe, which gave the Soviets a brief respite. Despite Lvov’s death, Kozlov tried to block the 22. Panzer-Division by shifting the 40th Tank Brigade and 229th OTB, with 53 tanks including 21 KV-1s. Yet when the rain stopped the next morning, the Luftwaffe easily spotted the Soviet heavy tanks and pulverized them – 11 KV-1s were destroyed and others immobilized. With the Soviet armor knocked out, the 22. Panzer-Division resumed its advance and quickly reached the Sea of Azov, cutting off the entire 51st Army by midday on May 10. The 28. leichte Infanterie-Division followed hard on the heels of the panzers, and with the help of the 50. and 170. Infanterie-Divisionen, they sealed off the Kessel pinned against the Sea of Azov.

By this point, the Stavka began to realize that the Crimean Front was in serious trouble, and ordered Kolganov’s 47th Army – which was not inside the Kessel – to counterattack, but his handful of second-rate infantry units had little artillery or tank support and could not even form a new front line. There were still five intact RVGK artillery regiments, but communication with these critical fire-support assets was lost on the first day of the German offensive and no effort was made to restore it, so they sat inactive and without orders to support either counterattack or defense.⁶ It was not long before Kozlov realized that the only viable course of action was to order an immediate retreat to the Turkish Rampart, but it was too late. Brigade Groddeck’s vanguard captured several crossings over the southern part of the virtually unguarded “Turkish Rampart” on the morning of May 10. Manstein also increased the pressure on the trapped 51st Army by ordering the German XXXXII Armeekorps and Romanian 7th Corps to begin attacking the western side of the pocket. Once this happened, Soviet command and control completely collapsed and Kolganov’s 47th Army began a disorganized stampede to the rear, with all units not already encircled attempting to reach the imagined safety of Kerch. There was only one main paved road running from Feodosiya to Kerch and the Luftwaffe had a field day, conducting merciless low-level strafing and bombing runs on the retreating Soviet columns. However, Soviet antiaircraft units were still operational, and when KG 55 proved overly bold, they lost eight He-111s to ground fire on May 10.⁷

Less than 24 hours elapsed before the eight divisions of the encircled 51st Army realized that their situation was hopeless and surrendered, which quickly released XXX Armeekorps to pursue the retreating Soviet fragments. Once through the “Turkish Rampart,” the only unit between Brigade Groddeck and the southern approaches to Kerch was the Soviet 11th NKVD Division, a well-equipped and full-strength formation assigned to rear-security duties. On May 11 the NKVD troops managed to ambush the German vanguard, and Groddeck himself was badly wounded. However, once the NKVD troops realized that the German brigade had armor and artillery, they broke contact and fell back toward Kerch, intent only upon saving themselves. Once it became clear that his front was collapsing, Kozlov began organizing an evacuation from Kerch by calling upon Gorshkov’s Azov Flotilla and about 80 local fishing craft. However, Fliegerkorps VIII concentrated its bombers on interdicting the Kerch Strait and sank three transports with 900 wounded aboard between May 10 and May 12, as well as sinking a gunboat, six patrol boats, and various other craft. The decimated VVS-Crimean Front put up a better effort over the straits and managed to inflict some losses on Fliegerkorps VIII, but could not stop Richthofen’s bombers from savaging the evacuation flotilla. Richthofen’s forces dropped 1,780 bombs around Kerch in one day, setting the city aflame.⁸