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Sapun Heights (Crimea) fights may 1944

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    Sapun Heights (Crimea) fights may 1944

    I was doing holiday in the area and decided to take a look at the area of Sapun...
    The Sapun heights are hills behind Sevastopol and was always a strategical point in the defense of Sevastopol, blocking the ways to it from the south. The situation in Crimea was almost quiet for more then one year (after the heavy fights for the same area ending with the siege of Sevastopol), but this "paradise" in the hell of the eastern front changed suddenly, after the 4. Ukrainian Front Army started a large scale offensive against Crimea in April 1944. The 17. German Army was in defending Crimea in that time, composed by weak infantry divisions and some Romanian divisions. The divisions was basically very weakly motorized and with a handful tanks. The 17 army was composed by around 20.000 men and was heading a soviet army of 29 (!!!) divisions with around 200 tanks. It is easy to understand that the only way for the Germans was the retreat to decent positions in order to create a kind of decise defense. And here started the fights for Sapun. For days the 73. Infantry division was able to stop the soviet advance fighting in close combat against soviets tanks helped by some PAK guns. On May 5th started a barrage fire from around 400 sovies guns on the positions. The artillery hammered the hills fr 2 days until the 2. soviet Garde Army started its storm...on the 8th of May and after strong close combats was the soviets finally able to gain the hills and have "free" view on Savastopol...that few days later fell. Enjoy the photos....
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    #2
    Katyusha and trench
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      #3
      german PAK positions
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        #4
        gun and some positions
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          #5
          trenches
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            #6
            positions
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              #7
              more
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                #8
                and finally the free view of the hills close to Savastopol
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                  #9
                  Fantastic photos Mate and thanks for the history lesson !!

                  Those trenches are still in remarkable condition considering what happened there.

                  Regards
                  Shaun

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Shaun Winkler View Post
                    Fantastic photos Mate and thanks for the history lesson !!

                    Those trenches are still in remarkable condition considering what happened there.

                    Regards
                    Shaun
                    thanks mate! I was also very impressed

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                      #11
                      thanks for posting; great stuff

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                        #12
                        [QUOTE=Shaun Winkler;4774066Those trenches are still in remarkable condition considering what happened there.[/QUOTE]

                        I visited the Sapun Heights in 2009. I'm fairly certain all these trenches are post-war constructions but laid out on the original German plan. A reenactment of the Soviet assault also takes place regularly (I think every year but I'm not sure).

                        The thing that struck me most was the impressive height of Sapun and the steepness of the slope, yet, the Germans cracked the Soviet defences there in 1942 and the Soviets did the same to the Germans in 1944.

                        Definitely a worthwhile place to visit.

                        Jason

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