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STEF78 -> RE: Rear area security and Soviet airborne (10/31/2013 6:39:59 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink
I mentioned 'large' operations,
From wikipedia, I think it can be seen as a large operation:
Soviet landings on Kerch and German counter-attack[edit]
On 26 December 1941, the Soviets landed on Kerch, and on 30 December executed another landing near Feodosiya with the 44th and 51st Armies. The operation was to drive to Sevastopol and relieve the garrison, now encircled by the German 11th Army.[3] The 46th Infantry Division, under Generalleutnant Kurt Himer, was the only division in a position to be able to block the Soviet advance. Von Manstein believed it could contain the landing, but the Soviets consolidated their bridgeheads and defeated the attacking Romanian brigades. As a result, the XLII Corps commander, Lieutenant General Hans Graf von Sponeck, chose to withdraw the 46th Infantry division from Kerch through the Parpach narrows to avoid being caught and encircled by Soviet forces advancing from the landing zones located at the extreme east (Kerch) and west (Feodosiya) of the peninsula. Manstein diverted the XXX Corps to support XLII Corps, forming a new front at Feodosiya. They succeeded in sealing off the Soviet armies in the Kerch peninsula. The Soviet landings had saved Sevastopol and seized the initiative.[4] Casualties were high. The Germans lost 8,595 between 17 and 31 December. The Soviets lost 7,000 killed and another 20,000 as prisoners of war.[5]
To slow the Soviet build-up, Alexander Löhr's Luftflotte 4 was sent to the region to interdict shipping. The 7,500 long tons (7,600 t) transport Emba was severely damaged on 29 January. Still, the Luftwaffe failed to prevent the transport of 100,000 men and hundreds of artillery pieces to Kerch between 20 January and 11 February. At Sevastopol, 764 short tons (693 t) of fuel, 1,700 short tons (1,500 t) of supplies were sent to the port. On 13 February, the cruiser Komintern and destroyer Shaumyan brought in 1,034 soldiers and 200 tons of supplies. The cruiser Krasny Krym and destroyer Dzerzhinskiy brought in a further 1,075 men on 14 February. The next day, the minesweeper T410 brought in 650 and evacuated 152. On 17 February, the transport Belostok brought in 871 men. The Black Sea Fleet regularly shelled German positions on the coast. The Luftwaffe increased its pressure, dispatching KG 27, KG 55, and KG 100 to bomb the ports at Anapa, Tuapse, and Novorossiysk on the Caucasian Black Sea coast. On 20 February, the 1,900 long tons (1,900 t) transport Kommunist was sunk by KG 100.[6]
Manstein was unwilling to surrender the initiative, and ordered counterattacks which recaptured Feodosiya in January 1942. The German 11th Army lacked the strength to destroy the 44th and 51st Army in the Kerch Peninsula, and the Stavka reinforced the front with nine rifle divisions. The Stavka created the Crimean Front under Lieutenant General Dimitri Kozlov on 28 January to coordinate operations. Kozlov began a series of offensives in February, March, and April, which were defeated by Hansen's LIV Corps, all with heavy Soviet losses. Petrov's Coastal Army also supported the operations on 26 February, inflicting 1,200 casualties while losing 2,500 in return.[5] A stalemate ensued. The spring thaw arrived in early May, and both sides prepared for the battle that would decide the campaign.[5]
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