Once inside Sevastopol’s perimeter, the German and Romanian troops went underground in order to avoid enemy artillery and air attacks. Large stockpiles of food had accumulated in Sevastopol, and these were freely distributed to the troops in order to maintain morale. One German artillery officer from III./AR 117 stated that “we could not complain about our creature comforts. Chocolate, candy, canned food – as much as we would like. I drank a bottle of wine every evening in my cave.” Some senior German officers still enjoyed sleeping on clean sheets in Sevastopol, despite incessant Soviet bombing and artillery fire.
Gerhard Barkhorn was in Germany for an extended period, and did not return to the Crimea until late April 1944. In the interim, II./JG 52 continued its daily combat with the VVS and inflicted painful losses, despite being badly outnumbered. On the morning of April 17, General-Major Ivan P. Vilin, deputy commander of the 214th Assault Aviation Division (Shad), personally led a low-level raid by four Il-2s against the Chersonese airstrip, but ran into a gaggle of Bf-109 fighters. Three of the Il-2s were shot down, but Vilin managed to reach Soviet lines before crashing; he was rescued but died of his wounds.[9]
On April 16 Eremenko was transferred to the Baltic front and the Coastal Army, now under General-Lieutenant Kondrat S. Mel’nik, was subordinated to Tolbukhin’s 4th Ukrainian Front. Three days later, the Maritime Army launched a strong attack against the V Armeekorps positions around Balaklava while the 51st Army attacked the center of the Axis line, but neither made progress. Soviet artillery ammunition was still in short supply in the Crimea. On April 23 the Soviets attacked again, and the 2nd Guards Army seized ground on Mekenzievy Mountain, but the tanks of the 19th Tank Corps were stopped by dense minefields. After these attacks were repulsed, Jaenecke was given enough of a respite to reorganize his forces. Gruppe Konrad (XXXXIX Gebirgs-Korps), now consisting of the 50. and 336. Infanterie-Divisionen and the Romanian 1st and 2nd Mountain Divisions, was assigned to defend the northern sector of Sevastopol, including the area around Mekenzievy Mountain. Allmendinger’s V Armeekorps, consisting of the 73., 98., and 111. Infanterie-Divisionen and Romanian 3rd Mountain Division, were assigned to defend the southeast approaches. Only small detachments of the Romanian infantry and cavalry divisions were still left, and they were rolled into the three mountain divisions. All five of the German divisions were reduced to about 30 percent of their authorized strength in personnel and equipment and both corps had only limited artillery left. Hitler made a token gesture of trying to replenish AOK 17’s losses in men and equipment by sending 1,300 replacements, 15 antitank guns, and four howitzers, but this was a drop in the ocean.[10]
Despite his bombastic proclamation, Jaenecke knew that AOK 17 could not withstand a determined enemy assault, so he demanded to know when more reinforcements would arrive in the Crimea and requested “freedom of action” in the event that Tolbukhin launched an all-out offensive. This was too much for Hitler, and he ordered that Jaenecke personally report to him at Berchtesgaden on April 29. Once in Hitler’s presence, Jaenecke argued that the rest of AOK 17 had to be withdrawn immediately or face destruction. Hitler was infuriated that a general would talk to him in this manner and began screaming at him. Jaenecke simply turned and left the room, slamming the door. Striding past Hitler’s adjutant, Jaenecke said, “Tell the Führer I have left” and drove off to the airfield.[11] Jaenecke did not get far. Hitler had his plane stopped in Romania and ordered the Generaloberst placed under arrest. Hitler ordered that Generaloberst Heinz Guderian conduct a formal inquiry into Jaenecke’s behavior and hold a formal court martial; Guderian obeyed the letter of the order, but in a deliberately slow manner. Meanwhile, General der Infanterie Karl Allmendinger was ordered to take command of AOK 17. Apparently believing that AOK 17 needed leaders made of firmer stuff, Hitler ordered that Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller would fly from Crete to take over V Armeekorps. Müller had distinguished himself in the Crimea as a regimental commander in the 72. Infanterie-Division in 1942, but subsequently had earned a reputation as “the Butcher of Crete,” which was the kind of man Hitler wanted in a tight spot. Müller did not arrive in the Crimea until May 4.
Tolbukhin steadily increased the pressure on Festung Sevastopol. On May 1, a major attack was launched by the 2nd Guards Army against the German defenses on the south side of the Bel’bek River. During the fighting, Generalleutnant Friedrich Sixt, commander of the 50. Infanterie-Division, was wounded by artillery fire while inspecting forward defenses on the Ölberg. Sixt was evacuated and Oberst Paul Betz took over the division. Mel’nik’s Coastal Army also succeeded in liberating Balaklava. By this point, AOK 17 had only 64,000 troops left in the Crimea, against over 400,000 Soviet troops. On May 5, Tolbukhin commenced his final offensive at 0930hrs with a massive two-hour barrage by 400 artillery pieces concentrated against the XXXXIX Gebirgs-Korps front in the north. Generalmajor Wolf Hagemann’s 336. Infanterie-Division managed to repulse attacks by five Soviet rifle divisions for the next two days, but Hagemann was badly wounded and was flown out.
While the attacks of the 51st Army focused German attention toward the center of their perimeter around Sevastopol, Mel’nik moved up General-Major Konstantin I. Provalov’s 16th Rifle Corps and a large quantity of artillery into assault positions west of Balaklava. Provalov was an experienced infantry commander who had been awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for leading a rifle regiment during the battle of Lake Khasan in 1938. On the morning of May 7, Provalov’s 16th Rifle Corps attacked V Armeekorps after a heavy-artillery bombardment and quickly achieved a penetration in the center of the sector held by Generalleutnant Hermann Böhme’s 73. Infanterie-Division. II./Grenadier-Regiment 170 was pummeled by volleys of rocket artillery then overrun by a massive assault spearheaded by the 83rd Naval Infantry Brigade. By evening, Provalov’s troops had penetrated 1,500 yards into the German defense and reached their artillery positions near the village of Karan. V Armeekorps was so badly hurt by this attack that there was no option but to begin withdrawing to its second line of defense. On the same day, Zakharov’s 2nd Guards Army reached the edge of Sevastopol’s Severnaya Bay while Kreizer’s 51st Army pushed back the northern part of the V Armeekorps’ front line and reached the foot of Sapun Mountain with two rifle corps.
Kreizer attacked the German positions around the Sapun Heights with his 63rd Rifle Corps and 1st Guards and 11th Guards Rifle Corps, supported by a strong artillery concentration and considerable close air support. Starting at 0900hrs on May 7, Soviet artillery blasted the top of the heights – held mostly by the 98. and 111. Infanterie-Divisionen – with tube and rocket artillery. At 1030hrs, the Soviet infantry attacked but encountered very strong automatic-weapons and mortar fire from the still-intact German positions. One Soviet rifle-platoon leader, Lieutenant Mikhail Y. Dzigunsky from the 1372nd Rifle Regiment, succeeded in knocking out three German positions, but was killed attempting to knock out a stone machine-gun bunker; he was the first of six men to earn a Hero of the Soviet Union on the Sapun Heights. General-Major Peter K. Koshevoi’s 63rd Rifle Corps attacked all day long, fighting its way through German barbed wire and trenches. By 1800hrs his troops were within 100–200 yards of the crest of the Sapun Heights, but his rifle and artillery units were almost out of ammunition. This was one of those moments where the enemy – not knowing that the attack had actually exhausted itself – made the mistake of pulling back to regroup. Koshevoi’s troops surged forward and overran some of the German positions atop the ridge, and even captured the commander of Grenadier-Regiment 117. Nevertheless, the Soviet foothold was tenuous and Kreizer quickly brought up the 10th Rifle Corps to solidify the Soviet hold on the Sapun Heights. Tolbukhin also ordered the 19th Tank Corps deployed to support the Coastal Army’s attack on May 8.[12]
11
Soenke Neitzel,