The invasion of Crimea: Beyond Barbarossa, episode 14

The battle for Crimea is almost a microcosm of the entire war on the Eastern Front of World War II. 

Satellite photo of southern Crimea: Severnaya Bay is the long, narrow bay curving upward into the land. Sevastopol is located on the smaller bay at right angles. 

 

This image was taken by the Nasa Expedition 20 crew. - NASA Earth Observatory. Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

 

Map source: Nations Online Project. https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/Crimea-map.htm 

Other sources:

Clayton Donnell, The Defence of Sevastopol, 1941–1942: The Soviet Perspective. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2016.

David Glantz, Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2011.

 

David Stahel, Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.