Blücher company
Company Blücher was the cover name for German and Romanian operations to conquer the Taman Peninsula in September 1942.
In shortly after the fall of the fortress Sevastopol adopted "Directive no. 43" of the High Command of the Armed Forces of 11 July 1942, originally provided early to mid-August with the mass of on the Crimean deployed 11 army over the Kerch Strait ferry to support the action of Army Group A on the Caucasus as part of the Fall Blau summer offensive . Due to the decision to add strong forces to the 11th Army of Army Group North for the planned conquest of Leningrad ("Operation Northern Lights"), as well as the need to further secure the Crimea, the scope of the company was greatly reduced, it was now called " Blücher II ".
The company began on September 1, 1942 with an attack by the Romanian 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions on the Taman Peninsula from the east. On September 2, units of the German 46th Infantry Division and the Romanian 3rd Mountain Division landed on the north and east sides of the peninsula. This was done with the help of 24 naval ferry frames as well as various sieve ferries , assault and pioneer landing boats of the Crimean naval task force formed for this purpose in July 1942 under Rear Admiral Ernst Scheurlen .
In order to avoid the impending encirclement, most of the Soviet army and marine infantry units were evacuated from the south coast of the Taman peninsula to the port of Novorossiysk by sea. This was done by ships of the Soviet Azov flotilla in the period from September 2nd to 5th. On September 2nd, 3rd and 5th, boats of the German 1st Schnellbootflotilla attacked the Soviet loading points and sank 19 Soviet ships. On September 9, the Soviets began evacuating Novorossiysk, which was then the largest remaining base of the Black Sea Fleet .
The Blücher II company formed the basis for the translation of other German and Romanian divisions across the Kerch Strait and their participation in the Battle of the Caucasus .