German wounded murdered in Crimea

[alan newark]

29 December 1941 (MONDAY)

U.S.S.R.: The seaport town of Feodosia, on the shores of the Black Sea on the eastern Crimea, is the scene of new Soviet landings with troops of the 51st and 44th Armies. These forces along with those of the 26th Army at Kerch will pose a serious threat to the German Eleventh Army. The Germans will halt their advance on Sevastopol to eliminate this threat.

Feodosia was captured by the German 46th and 170th Infantry Divisions on 3 November. As the attack on Sevastopol was about to take place, most of the German forces were withdrawn to concentrate on the forthcoming battle. Left behind in the city were a small detachment of troops and all the wounded soldiers convalescing in the city's hospitals.

On 18 January 1942, after their failure to capture Sevastopol, the Germans are able to return and recapture Feodosia. They find that most of the German military personnel had been murdered. Wounded soldiers had been thrown out of the windows of the hospital to make room for Russian wounded. Water was then poured on the near - dead bodies and then left to freeze.

On the beach, piles of bodies are found where they were thrown from a wall several meters high after being beaten and mutilated, their bodies left in the surf so that the sea water froze and covered them with a sheet of ice.

There are about 12 survivors who had hidden in cellars when the Russian troops arrived. Their testimony before a German court of inquiry confirmed that some 160 wounded soldiers are liquidated this way. (Jack McKillop)

The Soviets defeat a German relief army at Kotelnikovo, isolating the Axis forces in Stalingrad. In the eastern Crimea, German troops of Army Group B evacuate Kerch and Theodosia. (Jack McKillop)