Retreat from the Kuban Bridgehead
During late 1943 and early 1944, the Wehrmacht was pressed back along its entire frontline in the east. In October 1943 the German 17. Army was forced to retreat from the Kuban Bridgehead across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. By November, the commander of the 17. Army, General Jaenecke, had a total force of six German Infantry Divisions, three Romanian Mountain Divisions, two Romanian Cavalry Divisions and two Romanian Infantry Divisions to defend the Crimea.
The situation of the Axis forces in Crimea worsened, as the Soviet Southern Front of general Tobulkhin had reached the Perekop Isthmus. The 17th Army was made up of 3, later six German divisions and the Romanian Cavalry Corps (6th and 9th Cavalry, 10th and 19th Infantry Divisions) and Mountain Corps (1st, 2nd and 3rd Mountain Divisions), far too few to cover the entire coastline with a continuous line and fight the large partisan formations. This is why the defence was concentrated around some resistance points (mainly ports) that the Soviets would have had to take in order to consolidate a landing. Observation posts and naval artillery batteries covered the rest of the coast.
On 24 October the Red Army restarted its offensive and, on 1 November 1943, the 4th Ukrainian Front closed the Perekop Isthmus. They made several attempts to brake through the defence, but failed. Then the Soviets established a bridgehead south of the Sivash Sea. The Sivash Sea also known as the Rotten is a large system of shallow bays on the west coast of the Sea of Azov. The waters in Sivash heat up in the summer and produce a rotten smell, hence the name, "Rotten Sea". For the same reason the water is extremely salty.
During the night of 31 October/1 November Red Army troops landed south of Kerch and quickly took over village Eltigen. The bridgehead was widened the next day to about 4.5 km and had a depth of 1.5-2 km. Eltigen was in the sector of the 98th German Infantry Division. It was reinforced with a Romanian cavalry detachment from the 6th Cavalry Division
Because the Red Army made another landing, this time north-east of Kerch, the situation was becoming critical for the 98th Division, which also had to defend that sector. The German 5th Corps decided to move the whole Division to face the new threat. The Eltigen bridgehead was going to be taken over by the Romanian 6th Cavalry Division. By December 7 the bridgehead was eliminated by the Romanians.
Partisans in the Yaila Mountains
An important problem for the defenders of Crimea were the large partisan formations in the Yaila Mountains, which in November 1943 were estimated to be about 7-8,000 men strong. After the Red Army had reached the Perekop Isthmus, they intensified their actions, which until then had been pretty rare and involved small groups. They became so troublesome that the Romanian Mountain Corps was ordered to clear the main partisan group, 20 km east of Simferopol. The operation took place between 29 December and 4 January. Their success was limited.
During the spring of 1944, the Red Army was getting ready to eliminate the German 17th Army. For this task, Stavka had prepared the 4th Ukrainian Front of Colonel General. F. I. Tolbulkhin, in the Perekop Isthmus and the Separate Coastal Army in the Kerch Peninsula. There were in total 462,400 soldiers, 5.982 artillery pieces, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns and 1,250 aircraft. These forces were supplemented by the partisan detachments still active inside Crimea.
On the other side, the 17th Army of Colonel General Erwin Jänecke had 230,000 men, some 1,000 artillery pieces and 200 tanks and self-propelled guns. Northern Crimea was defended by the German 49th Mountain Corps, commanded by General Rudolf Konrad, made up of two infantry divisions. The German 50th Infantry Division blocked the access through Perekop and the German 336 Division was positioned south of the Sivash Sea. To the east, the front was manned by the Romanian Cavalry Corps, subordinated to the 49th Corps, with the 10th and 19th Infantry Divisions at Karanki, Chiongar and Arabat. The corps' reserve consisted of a part of the German 111th Infantry Division. At Kerch was the German 5th Corps, commanded by General Karl Allmendinger, which was made up of the German 73rd and 98th Infantry Divisions and the Romanian 3rd Mountain and 6th Cavalry Divisions. On the southern coast of Crimea was the Romanian Mountain Corps, commanded by Major General Hugo Schwab, which consisted of the 1st and 2nd Mountain Divisions. The 9th Cavalry Division was defending a 260 km sector along the western coast of the peninsula, going from south of Evpatoryia to Kisil-Bay.
Breakthrough at Perekop
The fighting started in the evening of 7 April, when Soviet troops attacked the 33rd Infantry Regiment, situated north of Karanky, and pierced its centre positions. Several counterattacks carried out during the night managed to re-establish the situation. The main assault began on 8 April. South of the Sivash Sea where the German 336th Infantry ands Romanian 10th Infantry Divisions were attacked in force by infantry supported by tanks. Soviet mechanized troops infiltrated behind the positions of the 33rd Infantry Regiment, but were stopped 1 km south of Karanky by a battalion of the German 111th Division. The 23rd Infantry Regiment, on the other hand, managed to repulse a frontal assault and an enemy landing attempt. In the Perekop Isthmus, the German 50th Division had lost Armeansk. On 9 April, at 0900 hours, a powerful artillery preparation started on the entire northern front and afterwards the Soviet infantry stacked supported by over 100 tanks. In the morning, the 10th Infantry Division managed to hold its positions and the artillery knocked out 17 tanks. During the second assault, in the afternoon, the 33rd Infantry Regiment was practically destroyed in the Karanky area and the division had to pull back. Beside it, however, the German 336th and Romanian 19th Infantry Divisions managed to hold their ground. In the Perekop Isthmus, the front of the 50th Infantry Division was broken south of Armeansk and the unit's remains started to retreat southwards.
On 10 April, the command of the 17th Army reached the conclusion that it didn’t have the necessary forces to hold the northern front and gave the general retreat order. All forces were to head towards Sevastopol. The first phase of the evacuation was also going to begin. To stop the encirclement of the German and Romanian forces south of the Sivash Sea, col. gen. Erwin Jänecke deployed a detachment of 32 StuGs (Sturmgeschütze =self-propelled guns)in the threatened area. The German 5th Corps also started to pull back from Kerch and the Romanian Mountain Corps received the mission to secure the defence of Sevastopol with a part of its forces and to defend the southern coast against possible landings. The length of the front in the care of Lieutenant General Hugo Schwab was 280 km, more than his two divisions, already engaged with partisans in the Yaila Mountains, could handle.
Simferopol fell on 13 April. The German 5th Corps had only one possibility of retreat: the coastal road Feodosyia – Alushta – Yalta – Sevastopol, while the passes in the Yaila Mountains were defended by Romanian detachments at Perival and Enisala. The Mountain Corps dispatched the 7th Mountain Battalion from the 2nd Division to Alushta to defend the rear of the 23rd Battalion in the Perival Pass and to secure the road for the troops of the 5th Corps. Another 7 mountain manned the defensive perimeter at Sevastopol. The German 50th, 111th and 336th Divisions were encircled on the Gneisenau Line, but managed to open their way to Sevastopol during night time and reached the fortress the following day.
On 15 April, when the first Soviet spearheads reached the outskirts of Sevastopol. The Soviet assaults continued between 17 and 26 April. By April 16, between 10 am and 11 am, the last units of the German 5th Corps arrived at Sevastopol. The 5th Corps had no heavy artillery anymore and hardly any heavy infantry weapons. The 98th Infantry Division did not even have any entrenching tools. General Reinhard had to collect pickaxes and shovels from the fortress zone and sappers fabricated sticks. On 3 May the number of German and Romanian troops still in Crimea was 64,700. Two days later, the 4th Ukrainian Front began the general assault. The 336th Infantry and 2nd Mountain Divisions, which defended Hill 104 that barred the access into the Belbek Valley, repulsed the Soviet attacks. In the sector of the 8th Mountain Battalion and of a German battalion, the enemy managed to brake through and advance northeast of Hill104. Later the line of the German 1st Battalion/686th Regiment was broken in the Bunker Berg area.
On 5 May, the expected Russian assault started with a barrage of 400 guns and another 400 Katyushas (multiple rocket launchers). The thrust of five Russian Rifle Divisions is aimed at General Hagemanns 336.Infantry Division. Hagemanns division was able to hold its line for 36 hours. On 7 May, Jeremenko opened the battle at the south and east front of the German 5th Corps with 200 guns. By 18.00 the German units have already lost 5.000 casualties. After loosing the Sapun Heights, during the night of 7/8 May, the Axis troops started to retreat towards the positions at Kherson, from where they hoped to be evacuated by sea. O n 10 May, the bridgehead were incessantly bombarded by Soviet artillery and by aircraft. On 12 May the last of the German and Romanian ships had left the Crimea.
In total, some 150.000 men of the 17th Army arrived at Constanta transported by sea or by air. The Romanian losses were 23,397 of approximately 62,000 – 65,000 soldiers in Crimea in April. The Germans lost 31,700 men and the fate of about 20,000, mostly local volunteers, is unknown. On the other side, the Soviet losses were 17,754 dead and missing, 67,065 casualties, 171 tanks, 521 artillery pieces and 179 aircraft. Obviously, this disaster could have been avoided if Hitler would have agreed to the evacuation of the 17th Army at the end of 1943 or at least in February 1944, after the loss of Nikopol. It was a disaster the size of Stalingrad.
