page_title: Battle of the Kerch Peninsula
section_title: Operation Bustard Hunt, 8 May – 19 May
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Kerch Peninsula / Battle / Operation Bustard Hunt, 8 May – 19 May
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Krim, Anfang Mai 1942 Aufmarsch zum Angriff auf die Halbinsel Kertsch
context_page_description: The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, which commenced with the Soviet Kerch-Feodosia Landing Operation and ended with the German Operation Bustard Hunt, was a World War II battle between Erich von Manstein's German and Romanian 11th Army and the Soviet Crimean Front forces in the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula. It began on 26 December 1941 with an amphibious landing operation by two Soviet armies intended to break the Siege of Sevastopol. Axis forces first contained the Soviet beachhead throughout the winter and interdicted its naval supply lines through aerial bombing. From January through April, the Crimean Front launched repeated offensives against the 11th Army, all of which failed with heavy losses. The Red Army lost 352,000 men in the attacks, while the Axis suffered 24,120 casualties. Superior German artillery firepower was largely responsible for the Soviet debacle.
  On 8 May 1942, the Axis struck with great force in a major counteroffensive codenamed Trappenjagd which concluded by around 19 May 1942 with the liquidation of the Soviet defending forces.
context_section_description: The Germans launched Operation Trappenjagd on 8 May 1942. ("Trappenjagd" is a German compound noun meaning "bustard hunt".) Prior to the offensive, the Luftwaffe succeeded in applying severe pressure to the Soviet supply lines. By late April food and other resources were virtually exhausted. Everything, including firewood had to be brought in by sea. The Stavka asked Stalin to consider the evacuation of the Kerch region. Stalin refused, and on 21 April ordered preparations for an offensive to retake the Crimea. On 6 May, he changed his mind and issued Order No. 170357, which ordered all forces to assume a defensive posture. He also refused to send more reinforcements. Mixed in with this order, was a limited offensive operation against German lines to improve the defenders' tactical positions. Instead of preparing for a defense against the impending German offensive, the Soviets were preparing for an attack.
  For the defence of the peninsula, the Soviets had three armies; the 51st, protecting the north, had three rifle, two tank brigades and eight rifle divisions, while the 44th Army in the south had five rifle divisions and two tank brigades. The 47th Army, with four rifle and one cavalry division, was kept in reserve. The Air Force of the Crimean Front deployed 404 aircraft. Kozlov did not expect a major attack as he outnumbered the Germans two to one. Moreover, on the southern front, he had swampy terrain, which made it an unfavorable place for offensive operations. Although the Soviets constructed an anti-tank ditch that ran the entire length of the Parpach Narrows and had three lines of defense, the infantry units were deployed in one line at the front, with the tanks and cavalry in reserve. Kozlov failed to deploy his troops into a well-prepared defense-in-depth.
  The German offensive had no option but to break through the Soviet lines in the south head-on and then swing north with armored and motorized units to encircle the 51st Army. To do this, it needed exceptionally strong air support. Fliegerkorps VIII under the command of Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen was sent to support the assault. The unit was the best equipped close air support corps in the Luftwaffe. To bolster its strength, it was given the experienced KG 55 medium bomber wing. Richthofen had 20 Gruppen comprising 740 aircraft and a number of seaplanes. Two Kampfgruppen were also made available by the 4th Air Corps of General Kurt Pflugbeil. The corps operated from newly built airfields as Richthofen had the airfield system expanded to reduce bomber sortie times. He was also fascinated and delighted by the 2 kilogram SD-2 anti-personnel cluster bombs and had more than 6,000 canisters of them delivered by the end of April. By 8 May, he had 800 aircraft under his command in the Crimea and Soviet air superiority in the area had collapsed. The limited Soviet air reconnaissance failed to spot this buildup.
  To maximize surprise, Manstein selected the swampy terrain held by the 44th Army as his main attack sector. Fretter-Pico's XXX Corps would breach the Soviet lines, allowing the 22nd Panzer Division to run riot through the gaps. Improved tactics for breaking through heavily defended enemy lines were utilised, built on the integration of infantry assault groups, assault guns, combat engineers, Panzerjäger and flak units. Fretter-Pico received 57 StuG IIIs, 12 of which had the new 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun, two batteries of 8.8 cm Flak and ample combat engineer support. Only one German infantry division and the Romanians were in the north, while the rest were under Fretter-Pico's command.
  Trappenjagd began at 04:15 on 8 May. Fliegerkorps VIII operating under Luftflotte 4, began operations against lines of communication and against Soviet airfields. Within hours, Ju 87s of StG 77 had knocked out the Soviet 44th Army's critical communications and mortally wounded the 51st Army's commander. The airfields were destroyed and 57 of the 401 Soviet aircraft in the area were shot down in 2,100 German sorties. With the army's Headquarters knocked out, the Soviets could not org
caption: Marder III tank destroyer mounting a captured 76.2mm Russian anti tank gun, deploying for an attack on the Kerch Peninsula in May 1942
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