Crimean Offensive (1944)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Crimean Offensive
partof= Soviet-German War, World War II


caption=Red Army Offensives during 1943–1944
date= 8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944
place= Crimea Peninsula, Russia
result= Soviet Victory
combatant1=flag|Soviet Union|1923
combatant2=flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany
flagicon|Romania Romania
commander1=Soviet STAVKA
commander2=German OKW
strength1=ca. 300,000
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=85,000 all causes
casualties2=97,000 all causes
notes=

The Crimean Offensive (8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944) – known in German sources as the Battle of the CrimeaFact|date=October 2008 – was a series of offensives by the Red Army in the effort to liberate Crimea from the German Wehrmacht occupation. The Red Army's 4th Ukrainian Front engaged German 17. Armee of Army Group South, which consisted of German and Romanian formations, in an operation to liberate the Crimean peninsula. The result of the battle was complete victory for the Red Army, and a botched evacuation effort across the Black Sea, leading to significant German and Romanian losses.

etting the stage

During late 1943 and early 1944, the Wehrmacht was pressed back along its entire frontline in the east. In October 1943 the 17. Armee was forced to retreat from the Kuban Bridgehead across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. During the following months, the Red Army pushed back the Wehrmacht in southern Ukraine, eventually cutting off the land-based connection of 17. Armee through the Perekop Isthmus in November 1943.

Progress of the battle

Soviet landings across the Kerch Strait and in the north-eastern sector of the Crimea near Sivash at the end of 1943, together with an attack at the Perekop Isthmus forced 17. Armee back towards Sevastopol from 10 April 1944. The OKW intended to hold Sevastopol as a fortress, as the Red Army had done during the first battle for the Crimea in 1941/42. The rapid movement of the Red Army together with inadequate preparation of the defences of Sevastopol made this impossible, and on 9 May 1944, not even one month after the start of the battle, Sevastopol fell.

Consequences

The German and Romanian formations suffered very high irrecoverable losses of ca. 65,000 men, many of them taken prisoner when the evacuation failed. Soviet losses were slightly lower. The table below is based on information from Glantz/House "When Titans Clashed"Fact|date=October 2008:

German losses:Irrecoverable: 31,700 Wounded: 33,400 Total: 65,100

Romanian losses:Irrecoverable: 25,800 Wounded: 5,800 Total: 31,600

Total Axis:Irrecoverable: 57,500 Wounded: 39,200 Total: 96,700

Soviet losses (according to Krivosheev):Irrecoverable: 17,754 Wounded: 67,065 Total: 84,808

Tanks: 171 Artillery: 521 Aircraft: 179

Formations and units involved

oviet

*4th Ukrainian Front
**2nd Guards Army
**51st Army
**4th Air Army
*Black Sea Fleet
*Separate Coastal Army
*Soviet partisans

Axis

*Army Group South
**17th Army
***Romanian Mountain Corps
****1st Mountain Division
****2nd Mountain Division

ources

*Pickert, W. "Vom Kuban-Brueckenkopf bis Sewastopol - Flakartillerie im Verband der 17. Armee'
*Glantz, D'./House, J. 'When Titans Clashed'
*Ziemke, E.F. 'Stalingrad to Berlin'
* [http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/?article=14 Fortress Crimea - A Romanian View]
* [http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/?article=775 Last Stand in Crimea - A Romanian View]
* [http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/?article=776 "Operation 60,000" Evacuation from Crimea - a Romanian View]
* [http://english.pobediteli.ru/contents.html Soldiers of the Great War]
* [http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=worldwarii_europe_maps_map31.htm Link to external map of Eastern Front]