Perekop: the Iron Gate of Crimea

In late September 1941, the German 11th Army, commanded by General Erich von Manstein, is advancing through southern Ukraine and sets its sights on Crimea, a strategic peninsula that commands the Black Sea and shelters the great Soviet naval base of Sevastopol. As long as it remains in the hands of the Red Army, Soviet aviation can threaten the Romanian oil fields of Ploiești, vital to the Reich's war effort.

The only land access to the peninsula runs through the Isthmus of Perekop, a narrow tongue of land a few kilometers wide, flat and featureless. The Soviets have turned it into a lock: trenches, minefields, an antitank ditch inherited from past centuries, pillboxes, and lines staggered in depth, supported by artillery. But the peninsula also has a long coastline, and the Axis forces have air support in the region.

Manstein commands battle-hardened infantry divisions, whose strength and equipment vary from sector to sector along the Eastern Front. The season is advancing and autumn, with its rains, is approaching, while other operations are tying up German resources. Several courses of action are open to the command for tackling this lock. He must decide.