Battery 35, Cape Fiolent, Sevastopol (07/02/42)

[Mauser HSc]

OP wall with hat.

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Inside Battery Tunnel.

[PANZERPIONIERE]

Great pictures!
Do you have more?
Steve

[Mauser HSc]

Ask and ye shall receive!

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Doorway below CP.

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Back of complex.

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Opposite view.

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Guard Bunker.

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New monument to killed at back of Complex. Shrapnel and human bone fragments on base.

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Crimean Coast Sunset from BB-35. I'll post some photos from Sapun Gora in a new thread soon. Stay tuned!

[nilles]

I look forward to see the other pics.

Brgds

Paul

[Chet Sowersby]

Great pictures. Are there anymore of the battery when it was in operation? Also, what is the history of the action that took place there?

Chet

[CCN]

I visited the same place two years ago and would love to go back. Did you go on your own or was it a tour?

[Mauser HSc]

Thanks for the comments!

While we were staying in Sevastopol my wife got a tip about a new beach which happens to be just below the battery. I knew the battery still existted from talking to a tour guide but wasn't sure where it was. When we got to the beach, I spotted the guard bunker first and went up for a look and found the big holes. That's when I realized what it was. Later I found the monuments and confirmed it. I just lucked across it!

Not much has been written about the fighting at Battery-35. The Germans referred to BB-35 as Maxim Gorky II. The only book that I could find on the Siege of Sevastopol, "Blood and Iron," only has about 2 sentences about Battery 35. The book says that the stand-off at the battery occurred around late June to early July, 1942 and ended on July 2.

A great deal more has been written on the capture of BB-34, the identical battery north of the city that the Germans called Maxim Gorky I. There is a good account of that standoff in an old Soviet propaganda laden book called "The Last Days of Sevastopol." I believe that "Years of Triumph," the reprint of the English Language Nazi Propaganda Signal magazines has a write up and photos on the destruction of Battery-34. There is also an account in a "Then and Now" article on Battery-34 in "After the Battle" magazine.

According to the Soviet propaganda version, around 40 Red Army soldiers disobeyed an order to abandon Battery-34 and decided to go down fighting. Battery-34 had to be assaulted by Wehrmacht engineers who mined the bunker and blew it up to get inside. They then started to fill it up with gasoline and explosives for a massive explosion to finish it off.

While the Germans were prepping their explosives, the surviving Soviets set off a counter explosion which killed several of the German engineers. Later the Germans succeded in setting off their final explosion killing most of the defenders. A few charred Soviets continued to resist but all were eventually killed.

I'd imagine BB-35 met a similar fate. The area where the Battery is was the last line of Soviet defense, so the fighting was really heavy all around the area. "Blood and Iron" describes BB-34 as the most modern fort in the Soviet defenses. There were more than 600 personnel operating it durin g the final days of the siege. Supposedly, they were expecting to be evacuated but ended up fighting to the end.

Somehow, the Soviets rebuilt Battery-34 and it continues to be an operational gun platform under the command of the Russian Black Sea Forces today.

Thanks for your interest. I'll try to get some more photos up this weekend.

[mvm71]

Fantastic photos, looking forward to seeing more!

Is a vacation such as this expensive? Someday I would love to tour famous sites in Europe and Russia but have no idea what a typical vacation would cost?

Thanks for sharing,
Mike