Very soon, humanity will celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II. This date is especially significant for residents of the countries of the former Soviet Union, whose grandfathers at the front and in the rear did everything possible to bring closer the day of the Great Victory. Not to erase from human memory the truth about the disasters that fascism brought to humanity, about the heroic deeds of heroes who saved the world from the “brown plague”. For example, the defense of Odessa (1941) will never be forgotten. She entered the textbooks of military history as one of the most successful examples of operations of this kind.
Defense of Odessa in the first year of World War II: the beginning
As you know, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly attacked by the countries of the Nazi bloc on June 22, 1941, and only three days later, along with others, the Southern Front was formed by the Headquarters. Romanian troops fought against him on a territory of more than seven hundred kilometers from the city of Lipcani to Odessa. Despite the success of the actions of the Southern Front, in the first two months of the war the need arose for the retreat of its units to the east. The fact is that the situation in the northwest neighbors was not the best, and there was a high probability of being surrounded. On August 5th, battles began to be fought at the approaches to Odessa, and a week later the military units defending the city were completely cut off from the main forces of the Southern Front, as the Romanian-German forces managed to get around the city from the east and take it into the encirclement.
Units participating in hostilities from both warring parties
At the time when the city was surrounded on all sides by units of the Romanian army and the Wehrmacht, there were parts of a separate coastal army commanded by Lieutenant General Georgy Pavlovich Safronov, troops of the Black Sea Fleet and Odessa Naval Base, as well as militia units consisting of themselves the townspeople. In total, the forces of the defenders at the beginning of August 1941 amounted to 34.5 thousand people, and at the end of September - about 86 thousand military personnel and militias. As for the size of the Romanian army, commanded by Nicolae Chuperka, 340,000 soldiers and officers took part in the siege of Odessa.
Odessa under siege
On August 9th, the Headquarters decided to organize a defensive area (OOR) under the command of Rear Admiral Gavriil Vasilyevich Zhukov, which consisted of the following areas:
- Fontanka.
- Kubanka.
- Kovalenki.
- Pleasure.
- May Day.
- Belyaevka.
- Mayakov.
- Carolino-Bugaz.
Immediately after that, work began on the construction of defensive structures, as well as the formation of militia from among the inhabitants of Odessa, who were given military weapons. In addition, by the end of August, the command of the Black Sea Fleet allocated 2.4 thousand people to help the defenders of Odessa, and on September 15 the 157th Infantry Division was transferred to the city from Novorossiysk. Thanks to such powerful support by manpower, the territorial defense of Odessa was never broken.
Defenders of the city not only restrained the onslaught of the enemy, but also carried out a series of successful offensive operations. In particular, in the eastern defense sector, in mid-September, air and sea Grigorievsky landing were thrown out and landed and the villages of Chabanka, Staraya and Novaya Dofinovki were liberated. The shelling of the Odessa port and its waters was stopped, and the condition along the entire front line was significantly stabilized.
Retreat
The defense of Odessa was removed on October 16, 1941, and the city was surrendered to the Romanian troops. The reason was the strategic considerations of the Headquarters, which considered that in the situation prevailing at that time in the Crimean direction, it would be more expedient to transfer troops locked in the city by sea to Sevastopol.
In general, in the history of wars there are few examples of the successful completion of operations to withdraw troops from the line of contact with the enemy with minimal losses and maintaining their combat effectiveness. One of these is the evacuation of units that defended Odessa, which, as the Soviet press wrote at that time, "left the city without tarnishing their honor."
Occupation and sacrifice
The defense of Odessa and Sevastopol cost the Soviet army, in which during the years of World War II representatives of all the peoples inhabiting the Soviet Union, including Ukrainians, served thousands of lives. There were many casualties among the civilian population. In particular, immediately after the defense of Odessa (1941) was withdrawn, mass executions were carried out there. Especially serious were the losses among the Jewish minority, in relation to which the Romanian occupation forces pursued a policy of total annihilation. Moreover, prisoners of war were brought into the city, who, together with Soviet workers and those who could not prove their involvement in the “lower race,” were first imprisoned in former powder stores, and then shot or burned alive, pouring gasoline over the buildings.
Exemption
The expulsion of the invaders from Odessa began on April 9, 1944 as part of a military operation conducted by the troops of the Third Ukrainian Front, commanded by Army General Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky. The next day, in the morning, the city completely came under the control of the Red Army, which continued its successful offensive towards the Dniester.
Medal "For the Defense of Odessa": to whom is assigned
This award was established in December 1942. It was intended to reward military personnel and civilians who took a direct part in the defense of Odessa from August 5 to October 16, 1941. It is customary to wear it on the left side of the chest, to the right of the medal "For the Defense of Moscow", if any.
What does the medal look like
This award is made of stainless steel or brass in the form of a circle with a diameter of 3.2 centimeters. The obverse depicts the figures of a Red Navy and a Red Army soldier with weapons in their hands on the background of the sea, on which stands the lighthouse tower. Directly above them is the inscription "USSR", and even higher along the edge of the circle, the phrase "For the Defense of Odessa", enclosed between two miniature stars, is written in convex letters. The lower part of the obverse is decorated with a laurel wreath intertwined with ribbon. As for the reverse, it is made on it the traditional inscription for Soviet awards during the Great Patriotic War - "FOR OUR SOVIET MOTHERLAND", and a sickle and hammer are engraved above it. The medal "For the Defense of Odessa" with the help of a ring and an eyelet is attached to the block in the form of an elongated pentagon, covered with a silk two-color striped ribbon (three blue and two green stripes of the same width). According to 1985, this award was presented to thirty thousand Red Army fighters, members of the Navy and NKVD troops, as well as civilians.
Memorial
The heroic defense of Odessa went down in history as one of the brightest examples of the patriotism of the Soviet people. In memory of those who sacrificed their lives while protecting this city by the blue sea, in 1975, a memorial was opened at the place where at the beginning of World War II the positions of the 411th coastal battery were located. The complex is an exhibition of military equipment, a sculptural composition in the form of figures of women mourning over the body of the deceased, as well as the Katyusha stela. In addition, the Church of St. George the Victorious was built on the territory of the memorial .
Another large-scale building, designed to serve as an eternal reminder of the heroic deed that carried out the heroic defense of Odessa in the first year of World War II, is the "Belt of Glory", which consists of 11 monuments. They were built in places where there were the most fierce battles. Every year in April in Odessa, a walking marathon and a bicycle marathon are held along the Belt of Glory, dedicated to the next anniversary of the liberation of the city from fascist invaders.
Now you know how long the defense of Odessa lasted, what units took part in it and what were its results.