Odessa 1941-44 by Ovcharenko Nikolai;Britton Stuart;

Author:Ovcharenko, Nikolai;Britton, Stuart;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / world War II
Publisher: Helion & Company, Limited
Published: 2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

7

The evacuation of the Odessa defensive area

In September 1941, besieged Odessa was continue to hold out against the massed attacks of a 300,000-man grouping of German and Romanian forces, while periodically conducting well-prepared counterattacks. The city had learned to live under the hard conditions of a siege, and was keeping the forces of the Odessa Defense District supplied with replacements, weapons, ammunition and other necessary means, as well as supporting the living conditions of its citizens as much as possible. In Odessa, transportation, electrical supply and the rest of the city’s infrastructure continued to operate, as well as everyday services, cafes, theaters and movie houses. The people of Odessa were so confident in the solidity of the city’s defense that on 15 September, a new calendar schoolyear began in Odessa’s schools. Here is how the commander of the 25th Rifle Division V.F. Vorob’ev saw Odessa on 5 October 1941: “Upon entering the city, the barricades that obstructed the city’s streets leaped to the eye. In many places, the paved roads were strewn with the rubble from demolished buildings. However, the trolleys were going around, shops were open, school kids were hurrying to classes, and fresh billboards were advertising new films.”1

However, the overall situation that had taken shape on the Soviet-German front by the end of September was much more tragic. The fascist troops were lunging toward Moscow and Leningrad. They had taken Kiev, broken into the Donbas, and were surging into the Crimean peninsula. A direct threat to the capture of the Black Sea Fleet’s main naval base – Sevastopol – was forming. In this situation the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet appealed to the Stavka of the Supreme High Command with a proposal to re-position the combat-capable and experienced troops of the Odessa Defense District in order to strengthen the defense of the Crimea. Despite the alarming situation in the Crimea, at first the Stavka didn’t want to issue an order to abandon Odessa, where bitter yet successful combats were unfolding. Later the People’s Commissar of the Navy Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov wrote:

The thoughts of I.V. Stalin in connection with Odessa’s evacuation were known to me. He asked me to question the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet about the expedience of leaving some of the forces, up to two divisions, in Odessa in order to hold the city and to tie up enemy forces there. I sent such a telegram on 4 October. The chief military headquarters and the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet reported to me that such half-measures were not useful. Subsequent events confirmed that a delay with the evacuation of Odessa or leaving some of forces there might have had a fatal effect on the defense of Sevastopol, and by itself, on the fate of Odessa’s defenders.2

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