The Crimean Front () was one of the Red Army fronts of World War II, which existed from January–May 1942.
Composition
It was commanded throughout its existence by Dmitr Timofeyevich Kozlov, and was made up of 44th Soviet Army (Stepan Chernyak), 47th Soviet Army (Konstantin Kolganov), 51st Soviet Army (Vladimir Lvov). It also had operational control over the North Caucasus Military District, the Black Sea Fleet, the Sevastopol Defence Region (still under siege), the Azov Flotilla, the Kerch Naval Base.Russian Archive: The Great Patriotic War. Vol. 16 (5-2). Headquarters of the Supreme Command, 1942: Documents and Materials. Moscow: Terra, 1996. Pp. 236–239.
Actions
It was formed on 28 January 1942 by splitting the Caucasian front and included the armies then in the Kerch and Taman peninsulas and the region of Krasnodar, along with operational control over other forces.
It was tasked with assisting the troops of Sevastopol Defence Area, striking at Karasubazar and threatening the rear of the Axis forces blockading Sevastopol. Its troops went on the offensive three times from February 27 to April 13, 1942, but made no significant progress, and after minor gains they were forced onto the defensive. On 21 April 1942, the troops in the North Caucasus were added to it.David M. Glantz, Jonathan House: When Titans Clashed. How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 1995. p. 116.
On 8 May 1942, the Germans launched an offensive on the Kerch Peninsula and recaptured it on 16 May, forcing the Soviet troops of the Crimean Front to be evacuated to the Taman Peninsula. Some troops were unable to evacuate and fought the Germans at Adzhimushkay until the end of October of the same year, with no significant stocks of food, water, medicine, arms, or ammunition.Erich von Manstein Lost Victories. Moscow: AST, St. Petersburg: Terra Fantastica, 2002. 896 pages. ISBN 5-17-010652-1>
The Red Army lost over 300,000 men in the Kerch landings, and a large amount of its heavy weaponry. The landings' failure was also a major factor in the Soviet loss of Sevastopol in July 1942, and helped make possible the German summer offensive into the Caucasus.
On 19 May 1942, the Crimean Front was disbanded, and its troops given to the command of the North Caucasian Front.David M. Glantz: Colossus Reborn. The Red Army at War, 1941–1943. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2005. p. 22, 27.
References