(5/10) Battlefield II The Battle of the Crimea Ep8 World War II

Videos Running Time 01:41:00 in 10 Parts

Battlefield II: The Battle of the Crimea"


This episode of "Battlefield" chronicles the German Armys campaign in the Crimea.
The campaign was conducted by the German 11th Army (XI), despite the incorrect map references to the 6th Army (VI).

The Crimea was a thorn in the belly of Army Group Souths advance on Rostov. Hitler also believed the Crimea could act as an alternative invasion route into the Caucasus. The task of conquering the Crimea would fall on Gen. Erich von Manstein. Mansteins 11th Army would consist of 4 Corps. Thirty, 49th Mountain, 54th, and the 3rd Romanian Corps were all assigned to the 11th Army. The Soviet Union would assemble a force of 235,000 men in various units.

The Battle of the Crimea officially began on September 24th, 1941. Gen. Mansteins first objective was to break resistance and breakthrough the Isthmus of Perekop. This invasion route was an obvious choice, and a necessary entrance into the Crimea. Manstein had no choice but to fight a battle of attrition in this area. Manstein achieved a breakthrough on October 28th, 1941.

The defenses of Sevastopol were extensive and well planned out. Three belts of defenses defended the approaches to the city. Manstein chose to center his offensive in the south. The Soviet defensive belt network was weaker in the south. However, the terrain was terrible. The offensive failed.

As Manstein was closing on Sevastopol, the Soviets launched attacks across the Kerch Peninsula. These attacks succeeded in pushing the Germans back. A series of excellent counter offensives succeeded; in clearing the Soviet presence out of the eastern Crimea, and inflicting 175,000 casualties on the Soviets.

After murderous attacks, bombardments and tough Soviet resistance Sevastopol fell on June 29, 1942. Gen. Manstein was promoted to Field Marshall.

In 1944 the Soviets crossed into the Kerch Peninsula once again. As the 17th Army retreated, the Soviets encircled all forces in the Crimea. When all hope seemed lost a botched seaborne extraction began. The German defense of the Crimea in 1944 was another complete Hitler influenced disaster.

Enjoy this episode of Battlefields

Category:

Education

Tags:

• World
• War
• II
• Russia
• Soviet
• Crimea
• Barbarossa
• German
• Wehrmacht
• Panzer
• Field
• Marshall
• Manstein
• 1944
• Sevastopol
• Germans
• Soviets
• Battlefield
• Hitler
• Army
• Group
• South

[signoridinotti]

Sponeck was sentenced to death, but Hitler commuted his sentence to six years and was not executed for his actions in the Kerch Peninsula. This makes it sound like he was.

[HoustonGD]

@signoridinotti Sponeck was executed on July 23, 1944 as a suspected anti-Nazi conspirator.

[hairstyleriioohhh]

the sequence starting at 7:45 must be from a cinema-movie.. the camera-swing is strange and like on a film-set

[2bn442RCT]

would be nice if thy mentioned the 22nd Panzer Division rather a vague reference to 60 tanks

[rbargery]

black

[amaniacwithacar]

4:57 a german is using a PPSH... AWSOME!!!

[signoridinotti]

@HoustonGD Yes, he was, but he was executed in response to the July 44 bomb plot on Hitler's life, not his actions in the Crimea. The two events were well removed from each other. The point being that if this video deliberately misleads the viewer about the facts, for sensationalism or whatever reason they chose to do so, one must wonder how often they do the same thing with other facts and how accurate and credible they are over all?

[skofuzen]

@tjhoenecke Watch that movie and go to the scene I was referring to, it's just ridiculous. That didn't have anything to do with the American soldiers, I'm talking about 5-8 German soldiers not capable of hitting that guy from 30-40 meters distance.

[tjhoenecke]

@skofuzen Well that has more to do with movies being movies than being historically biased against Germans. Also, the Americans in that scene are a mix of veterans and elites, and not "green, fresh soldiers. Plus it's not like the Wehrmacht was invinceable, or they would have won, right?

[skofuzen]

@tjhoenecke One movie that is so biased it makes me puke is the movie Saving Private Ryan. I mean at one point in the movie you could see 5-8 German soldiers clearly standing about 30-40 meters away from the Captain as he is running over the bridge, shooting like a retarded kid with cerebral palsy and like a kid with CP they didn't hit shit. I can't recall a WW2 movie where American summer green fresh soldiers haven't kicked in the teeth of German seasoned veterans...

[tjhoenecke]

@taniste I think you're reading way too much into it. They also jump back and forth between using the terms "Russian" and "Soviet," because A) let's face it, the USSR was dominated by one country in particular (care to guess which one that is), and B) using the same term each and every time gets tedious. You also have to keep in mind that the Red Army didn't really start to get its act together until Stalin appealed to nationalism by calling it the "Great Patriotic War."

[tjhoenecke]

@skofuzen And what bias is that, exactly? And is it really "every single WW2 movie"?