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Enterprise Trappenjagd (May 8-19 , 1942) was the code name for a German - Romanian military enterprise to conquer the Kerch peninsula on the east side of the Crimea during the Second World War .

Starting position

Front line in the Crimea in early May 1942

After the conquest of the Crimean peninsula, the German Wehrmacht was repulsed by Soviet troops in several landing operations in the winter of 1941/42 ( Kerch-Feodosia operation ). The landings took place in Eupatoria , on both sides of the city of Kerch and near Feodosia . German units that had been detached from the Sevastopol front succeeded in retaking Eupatoria in the west and Feodosiya in the east of Crimea and pushing the Soviet troops back into the Parpatsch position. Several attacks from this position were repulsed during the winter.

For the planned summer offensive ( blue case ) of the Wehrmacht it was important that a possible flank threat from the Crimea was removed. For this reason the Kerch peninsula was to be recaptured first and then the Sevastopol fortress was to be taken.

Associations involved

"Deployment to attack the Kerch peninsula" (then caption)

In total, the Soviet units consisted of 26 major units of the 44th (Gen. Lt. Stepan I. Tschernjak ), 47th (Gen. Major KS Kolganow ) and 51st Army (Gen. Lt. WN Lwow ) of the Crimean Front under the command of Lieutenant General DT Kozlov with 17 Infantry - divisions , three infantry brigades , two cavalry divisions and four armored brigades .

The 3: 1 defeated German-Romanian troops of the 11th Army under the command of Colonel General von Manstein were divided into three corps .

The XXX. Corps ( General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico ) consisted of three infantry divisions ( 28th light division , 132nd and 50th infantry division ). The newly established 22nd Panzer Division was also attached to the corps for the attack .

The XXXXII. Corps (General of the Infantry Franz Mattenklott ) commanded the 170th and 46th Infantry Divisions . The attack unit was supplemented by the Romanian VII Corps (Gen. Lt. Florea Mitrănescu ) with the Romanian 19th and 10th infantry divisions and the Romanian 8th cavalry brigade.

Support was provided by the VIII. Fliegerkorps under Colonel General von Richthofen , reinforced by additional forces from Air Fleet 4 , so that a total of around 460 machines were available, divided into eleven combat , three Stuka , two attack aircraft and five fighter groups.

The battle

A large-scale encircling action was not possible due to the narrow isthmus at Parpatsch (18 km). Nevertheless, Manstein wanted not only to push back the Soviet troops, but also to destroy them on the Kerch peninsula.

"In the fight for the Kerch peninsula" (caption at the time)

The plan stipulated that after the breakthrough in the south, the troops should be encircled in the northern section. At the same time, a rapid advance in the direction of Kerch was to be made, through which the retreat of the Soviet troops and the construction of a new line of defense should be prevented.

The Germans were accommodated by blatant mistakes made by the Soviet military leadership. So they had concentrated the majority of their troops in the northern promontory of Kiet-Korpetsch. Due to their numerical superiority, the Soviet troops did not expect an attack by the Germans. That is why they failed to develop deeply staggered defenses and containment lines, and their command posts and artillery positions were poorly camouflaged.

The southern sector of 44th Army was even less prepared for the attack because it was believed that the swampy coastline would make all attacks impossible.

The German surprise attack began on May 8, 1942 at 4:15 a.m. After 3 ½ hours, the breakthrough was made through the second line of defense, an anti-tank ditch. The surprise effect was intensified by the landing of a battalion of 436 Infantry Regiment (132nd Infantry Division) with collapsible assault boats behind the second line of defense. Aimed artillery fire and the operations of the 8th Air Corps on the command structure of the Crimean front quickly paralyzed the Soviet troops.

After overcoming the anti-tank ditch, the 22nd Panzer Division was pulled forward. The aim was to advance to the Sea of ​​Azov and complete the containment of the 51st Army. Furthermore, a motorized advance division of the corps (Colonel Groddeck) was sent to the east. It was supposed to establish the connection with the 436th Infantry Regiment, destroy enemy communication links, prevent the construction of a new enemy line of defense behind the Tatar trench and secure the eastern flank created by enclosing the Soviet 51st Army.

It was not the Soviet resistance that stopped the German troops for the time being, but a strong thunderstorm, which led to both motorized units (22nd Panzer Division and Brigade Groddeck) getting completely stuck.

On May 11, 1942, the 22nd Panzer Division reached the coast, including large parts of the Soviet 51st Army. The corps (XXXXII. And VII. Rum.), Advancing quickly from the west, removed the pocket and pursued units of troops that had escaped from the pocket on the north coast and in the central sector.

With that, all three corps of the 11th Army drove the Soviet troops ahead of them. It was only in Kerch that the Soviet units were able to build up a defense and resisted tenaciously, because they wanted to evacuate as many units as possible across the Strait of Kerch. Kerch was attacked simultaneously from the south and north, the main objective was the capture of the port, which was achieved on May 14, 1942 by Infantry Regiment 213 of the 170th Infantry Division. The battles for the conquest of Kerch lasted until May 20, 1942. Some Soviet units holed up for weeks, and large parts of the city were undermined like mines and formed an underground labyrinth of nests of resistance (see Siege of the Ajimushkai Quarries ).

Result

Kerch Peninsula, Soviet soldiers surrender

The losses of the German troops amounted to 3,397 soldiers (600 of them dead), 8 tanks, 3 assault guns and 9 guns.

Three Soviet armies (44th, 47th and 51st) with 21 divisions were destroyed. The Soviet losses amounted to approximately 28,000 fallen, 170,000 prisoners, 1133 guns destroyed , 258 tanks destroyed and 417 aircraft destroyed .

Only about 37,000 soldiers were able to save themselves from heavy German air and artillery attacks on the Taman Peninsula on the other side of the Kerch Strait.

In just under 14 days, the 11th Army removed the threat on its eastern flank and defeated a three times superior enemy. The Sevastopol fortress was on its own.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Forczyk Sevastopol 1942. Osprey Publishing, 2008, p. 36
  2. ↑ Erich von Manstein Lost victories. 17th edition, Bonn 2004, p. 256.
  3. ↑ Bernd Wegner: The war against the Soviet Union 1942/43. In: The German Reich and the Second World War. Volume 6, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1990, p. 841.
  4. ↑ Erich von Manstein Lost victories. 17th edition, Bonn 2004, pp. 256f.
  5. ^ Konstantin M. Simonow: War diaries. Second volume, 1942–1945, Berlin, pp. 99f.
  6. ↑ Erich von Manstein: Lost victories. 17th edition, Bonn 2004, p. 259.
  7. ↑ Bernd Wegner: The war against the Soviet Union 1942/43. In: The German Reich and the Second World War. Volume 6, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1990, p. 844.
  8. ↑ a b Erich von Manstein: Lost victories. 17th edition, Bonn 2004, p. 258.
  9. ^ A b Maximilian Fretter-Pico "... abandoned by the gods of victory" (Abused Infantry). Wiesbaden 1969, pp. 87ff.
  10. ↑ Robert Forczyk Sevastopol 1942. Osprey Publishing, 2008, p 36; Bernd Wegener: The German Reich and the Second World War. gives the number of fallen soldiers as 7,588.
  11. ↑ Robert Forczyk Sevastopol 1942. Osprey Publishing, 2008, p. 37
  12. ↑ Erich von Manstein Lost victories. 17th edition, Bonn 2004, p. 261.
  13. ↑ Robert Forczyk Sevastopol 1942. Osprey Publishing, 2008, p. 36. This information fits in with Manstein's statements that only “vanishing parts of the enemy” could withdraw, whereas Soviet figures speak of 120,000 “rescued” soldiers.

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