Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Shevchenko’s Svobodnyi was the newest destroyer in the Black Sea Fleet and had only entered service in January 1942. Consequently, the Svobodnyi had received five of the improved 37mm 70-K antiaircraft guns, rather than the obsolescent 45mm 21-K gun. The smokescreen helped to conceal the vessels in Severnaya Bay, and Shevchenko’s antiaircraft gunners were able to fend off a number of attacks by individual He-111 bombers. Then – for reasons never explained – Oktyabrsky personally ordered the smoke screen turned off around 0640hrs. Most likely, Oktyabrsky wanted to conserve the limited supply of diesel fuel for the smoke generators when the ships were not under serious air attack, but the generators remained off even as Fliegerkorps VIII began to appear in strength around 0800hrs. Shevchenko moved the Svobodnyi into Korabelnaya Bay and moored alongside the long wharf. At 0915hrs, a group of He-111s from Major Bätcher’s I./KG 100 attacked the Abkhazia and scored a direct hit that set the transport on fire. Ten minutes later, Ju-87 Stukas from StG-77 scored more hits on the burning Abkhazia, which heeled over against a pier. Although Shevchenko’s destroyer had suffered light hull damage from two near-misses, it was still operational, and it is not clear why he decided to remain in Sevastopol after the Abkhazia was sunk. At any rate, the Svobodnyi was still moored along the wharf when a full Stuka Gruppen launched a multi-directional “hammer and anvil” attack against the destroyer at 1315hrs, which overwhelmed its antiaircraft gunners. A 50kg bomb hit the gun shield of the second 130mm gun, then two bombs hit the bridge and wounded Shevchenko, then six more bombs ripped her apart from stem to stern, killing 67 of the crew. The wounded Shevchenko ordered the remaining crew to abandon ship, and the survivors assembled on the wharf to watch their burning destroyer heel over and sink. Nearby, the Abkhazia burned all day, and its vital cargo of ammunition finally exploded around 2200hrs. It had been a bad day for the Black Sea Fleet.

Neither of the Soviet antiaircraft batteries, nor the 3 OAG, had been able to save the Svobodnyi and the Abkhazia, because they were both becoming rapidly combat-ineffective. The flak batteries were running short of ammunition and their barrels were worn out. Replacement pilots and aircraft continued to arrive from the Caucasus, but 3 OAG was reduced to the role of a guerilla air force. As the amount of air-to-air combat declined, the Luftwaffe transferred I./JG 77 out of the Crimea.

On the night of June 11/12, the heavy cruiser Molotov and destroyer Bditelny conducted a high-speed run into Sevastopol that successfully delivered 3,341 troops from the 138th Naval Rifle Brigade, as well as 190 tons of ammunition. However, when the German-built transport Gruziya tried to make it into Sevastopol with the minesweeper T-413 and an MOIV-class patrol boat on June 13, it was spotted. The Gruziya was carrying an enormous load of 1,300 tons of ammunition, including artillery shells filled with Mustard Gas and Lewisite, a chemical weapon that acts as a blister agent (this was confirmed by post-war divers on the wreck). The convoy was spotted by German aircraft at first light and a single bomb hit the Gruziya’s aft cargo hold, detonating the ammunition. A massive explosion broke the ship in two, leaving no survivors. The T-413 and the patrol boat survived this air attack, but both were sunk at 1145hrs off Cape Fiolent. It is uncertain why the Soviets were shipping chemical weapons into Sevastopol, but most likely it was based upon the fear that AOK 11 would use chemical weapons to reduce the fortress.