Crimean offensive

This article is about the Soviet campaign in World War II. For the earlier Axis offensive, see Crimean campaign. For other uses, see Crimean War (disambiguation).
Crimean offensive
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Soviet map of the Crimean offensive
Date8 April – 12 May 1944
Location
Crimean ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
 Soviet Union  Germany
 Romania
Commanders and leaders
Soviet Union Fyodor Tolbukhin
Soviet Union Filipp Oktyabrskiy		 Nazi Germany Erwin Jaenecke
Horia Macellariu
Units involved

4th Ukrainian Front

Black Sea Fleet
Partisans

Army Group South Ukraine

Strength
462,400 men[1][2]
560 tanks and assault guns
6,000 guns
1,200 aircraft

230,000–255,970 men[3][2]

  • Nazi Germany 165,000
  • Kingdom of Romania 65,000
1,815 guns
Casualties and losses
84,839
17,754 killed or missing
67,065 wounded or sick
171 tanks
521 guns
179 aircraft[1][2]

Losses at sea:
1 submarine
1 motor torpedo boat
12+ aircraft		 96,700[4]
Nazi Germany
31,700 killed or missing
33,400 wounded
Kingdom of Romania
25,800 killed or missing
5,800 wounded[citation needed]

Losses at sea:
Nazi Germany
4 submarine hunters
5 cargo ships
1 tanker
3 tugs
3 lighters
3 motorboats
Kingdom of Romania 3 cargo ships

The Crimean offensive (8 April – 12 May 1944), known in German sources as the Battle of the Crimea, was a series of offensives by the Red Army directed at the German-held Crimea. The Red Army's 4th Ukrainian Front engaged the German 17th Army of Army Group South Ukraine, which consisted of Wehrmacht and Romanian formations.[5] The battles ended with the evacuation of the Crimea by the Germans. German and Romanian forces suffered considerable losses during the evacuation.[6][7]

  1. ^ a b Glantz & House 1995, p. 298
  2. ^ a b c Clodfelter 2017, p. 459.
  3. ^ Frieser et al. 2007, p. 483.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference mue was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "A Look Back at the WWII Crimean Campaign". War on the Rocks. 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
  6. ^ "The Peninsula: The Crimea at War". The National WWII Museum. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 2021-06-22.
  7. ^ Rousselon, Mauricio (2015-07-30). "The Eastern Front: Germany's Futile Battle For Crimea". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 2021-06-28.