This is a difficult episode to describe for two main reasons. One is that the troop movements and battles were concentrated in such a small place and the other is that the episode describes this thrust and parry in some detail, including the names of dozens of Army units on both sides. That is, it's a little like describing two boxers in a ring, including all the footwork, feints, jabs that don't connect, and whatnot.
The context is this. The Germans invade the Soviet Union in 1941 and a southern movement races on towards the oil fields of the Caucasus, north of Turkey. The Crimea is a sizable peninsula that juts out into the Black Sea. It's occupied by the Soviet Army and is being supplied through ports on the Black Sea.
It's of no strategic importance in itself. There are no natural resources to speak of -- no iron, gold, or oil -- but the Germans can't very well let this hostile community sit on its flank like a boil ready to burst.
So the Wehrmacht assaulted the peninsula. There were heavy casualties on both sides but finally Field Marshall Manstein prevailed, except for a few pockets of resistance. Manstein was one of Germany's best generals, and Hitler thought him so good at taking cities like Sevastopol that he transferred him to the siege of Leningrad, far to the north.
The Wehrmacht never did take the oil fields of the Caucasus. They lost the battle of Stalingrad and began a retreat that sometimes paused but never stopped. By all logic, the Crimea should have been evacuated because by this time it had become a German outlier. But Hitler was in his "not one millimeter of retreat" mood, and the German general in charge was ordered to hold on.
He couldn't do it. So much time had passed that the German troops in the Crimea were worn down, under strength, and lacking in equipment. The Soviet Army, on the other hand, had been greatly improved. The Soviet generals were no longer inept political appointees. The Soviets had better equipment and sophisticated tactics.
Numerically, two-hundred thousand exhausted German troops faced four-hundred and seventy thousand fresh Soviet soldiers, and the air belonged to the Soviets. Hitler finally allowed for an evacuation but it was too late and most of the troops went into the bag, not to be seen again.
The curious thing about the Crimea and, in fact, most of the fighting on the Eastern front is that it was so brutal and inhumane. Destruction on both sides was thorough. The Western front, where American and British troops were involved, seemed to be guided by the usual rules of modern warfare. Northern Africa had been practically a gentleman's war. But in Russia, the Germans behaved with a barbarity that was unexcelled. Whole villages were deliberately wiped out. And the Soviet Union was hardly less savage. If the Russians wanted to find out where the German gun emplacements were, they sent out their prisoners and loafers to be shot down. If the prisoners and loafers turned around and ran back, the Soviet leaders shot them down. After the peninsula was taken back from Germany, Stalin accused some of the residents of collaboration with the Nazis and used it as an excuse for ethnic cleansing, deporting Greeks, Cossacks, and some other minorities and replacing them with ethnic Russians.
The Crimean peninsula has a long recorded history, which the episode doesn't have time to explore. The ancient Greeks colonized the region. And among the odd place names, one finds hills with names like the MacKenzie Heights -- left over from the Crimean War of the 1850s. And it's once again in the news.
This episode doesn't provide a very good general introduction to the war in Russia. The Crimea was never of much importance in itself. And, unless you're a completist or military historian, you're liable to be as confused as I was by the troop movements. It was a little like watching a chess game played at triple speed. However, I can't think of another program that covers these particular engagements so well.
The context is this. The Germans invade the Soviet Union in 1941 and a southern movement races on towards the oil fields of the Caucasus, north of Turkey. The Crimea is a sizable peninsula that juts out into the Black Sea. It's occupied by the Soviet Army and is being supplied through ports on the Black Sea.
It's of no strategic importance in itself. There are no natural resources to speak of -- no iron, gold, or oil -- but the Germans can't very well let this hostile community sit on its flank like a boil ready to burst.
So the Wehrmacht assaulted the peninsula. There were heavy casualties on both sides but finally Field Marshall Manstein prevailed, except for a few pockets of resistance. Manstein was one of Germany's best generals, and Hitler thought him so good at taking cities like Sevastopol that he transferred him to the siege of Leningrad, far to the north.
The Wehrmacht never did take the oil fields of the Caucasus. They lost the battle of Stalingrad and began a retreat that sometimes paused but never stopped. By all logic, the Crimea should have been evacuated because by this time it had become a German outlier. But Hitler was in his "not one millimeter of retreat" mood, and the German general in charge was ordered to hold on.
He couldn't do it. So much time had passed that the German troops in the Crimea were worn down, under strength, and lacking in equipment. The Soviet Army, on the other hand, had been greatly improved. The Soviet generals were no longer inept political appointees. The Soviets had better equipment and sophisticated tactics.
Numerically, two-hundred thousand exhausted German troops faced four-hundred and seventy thousand fresh Soviet soldiers, and the air belonged to the Soviets. Hitler finally allowed for an evacuation but it was too late and most of the troops went into the bag, not to be seen again.
The curious thing about the Crimea and, in fact, most of the fighting on the Eastern front is that it was so brutal and inhumane. Destruction on both sides was thorough. The Western front, where American and British troops were involved, seemed to be guided by the usual rules of modern warfare. Northern Africa had been practically a gentleman's war. But in Russia, the Germans behaved with a barbarity that was unexcelled. Whole villages were deliberately wiped out. And the Soviet Union was hardly less savage. If the Russians wanted to find out where the German gun emplacements were, they sent out their prisoners and loafers to be shot down. If the prisoners and loafers turned around and ran back, the Soviet leaders shot them down. After the peninsula was taken back from Germany, Stalin accused some of the residents of collaboration with the Nazis and used it as an excuse for ethnic cleansing, deporting Greeks, Cossacks, and some other minorities and replacing them with ethnic Russians.
The Crimean peninsula has a long recorded history, which the episode doesn't have time to explore. The ancient Greeks colonized the region. And among the odd place names, one finds hills with names like the MacKenzie Heights -- left over from the Crimean War of the 1850s. And it's once again in the news.
This episode doesn't provide a very good general introduction to the war in Russia. The Crimea was never of much importance in itself. And, unless you're a completist or military historian, you're liable to be as confused as I was by the troop movements. It was a little like watching a chess game played at triple speed. However, I can't think of another program that covers these particular engagements so well.
