Sevastopol 1941: Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky's Dilemma
In late October 1941, the Crimean front collapses. 's German 11th Army has just forced the narrow isthmus of Perekop, sweeping aside the Soviet defenses, and is surging toward the south of the peninsula. Within a few days, its armored and motorized columns reach the approaches to Sevastopol, the great naval base that harbors the Black Sea Fleet. You, Vice Admiral , command this fleet and bear responsibility for the fate of the city.
The situation is critical. The stronghold's land defenses were designed against an attack from the sea, not from inland. General 's Coastal Army, falling back in disorder from the north, has not yet arrived in force, and the garrison consists for the most part of disembarked sailors, coastal batteries, and assorted units. Yet Sevastopol locks the maritime access to the entire region and stands as a considerable symbol for both Moscow and Berlin. To lose it would open the Black Sea to the enemy; to defend it would require reinforcements, ammunition, and a supply line wholly dependent on convoys exposed to aircraft and mines.
Every hour counts before Manstein tightens his vise around the city. The order you give now will seal the destiny of the fleet and the garrison.
Sevastopol, 1 November 1941, you are Admiral Oktyabrsky facing Manstein's 11th Army: what order to give for the naval fortress?
Oktyabrsky and the Soviet command chose to hold Sevastopol at all costs. The city, defended by 's Coastal Army and the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, repulsed the first German assaults of November and December 1941. Supplied by sea at the cost of heavy losses, the fortress held out for some 250 days, one of the longest sieges on the Eastern Front. Manstein had to mass colossal artillery, including giant mortars, to reduce the stronghold. Sevastopol did not fall until July 1942, after fierce fighting; some of the command cadre was evacuated while tens of thousands of defenders were killed or captured.
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