Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry in 1942
Now I know what the toys in my inital post mean.....
http://www.pulverpages.com/virginia/May%202006.htm
http://www.pulverpages.com/virginia/May%202006.htm
· Thursday, 25 May 2006
We are off to an early start.
Lyudmila kindly arranged for a tour guide (the director of local museums!) and a translator (Masha, from English Club) to take us all to see some of the special sites around Kerch.
The 1st stop: Adzhimushkai Stone Quarry-a Monument to Heroes
This is a chilling monument to those who suffered and died and those who survived this hideous event.
On May 20th 1942, Hitler’s troops occupied the Kerch Peninsula. 10,000 Soviet troops were ferried to the Taman Peninsula and did not have time to cross before they were attacked. They hid in the damp, dark, underground labyrinths under the quarries. About 5,000 civilians also hid there.
The defenders held out for 170 days. They received approx 100 grams of sugar each day and many died, picked off by Nazi gunners as they tried to collect water for those underground.
The Nazis also used gas to kill people in the dank, subterranean hiding place. There are mass graves and monuments underground. One area contains thousands of colorful toys marking the site where children are buried.
At the end of October 1942 the Nazis made a final attack.
Our tour guide, armed with a flashlight and a spare lead us through this sobering underground museum where we observed the conditions people lived under during those six months. Many of the survivors actually ended up in concentration camps.
The events here lead to Kerch being honored as one of the Hero Cities of the Soviet Union.
Coming out into the sunshine of a warm spring day following our hours below was quite a shock. It is hard to imagine what it would be like to emerge after six months of darkness, starvation, thirst and fear.
12-meter high pylons depicting the heroes emerging from underground flank the entrance to the underground museum. It is a massive monument to these heroes.
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Long-awaited Wikipedia article has been added at last.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of ... kay_quarry
Death of Colonel Yagunov
Use of poison gas and the Survivors from 170 day siege
On the Use of Poison Gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Defen ... kay_quarry
I'd like to buy this book to clarify poison gas claim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of ... kay_quarry
Death of Colonel Yagunov
Does anybody know if Colonel Yagunov was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union?The catacombs were ill-suited for defense, as there were no supplies prepared and all wells were located outside. Any supply of water had to be taken by force since a sortie was needed to reach a well. Later on, the defenders dug their own wells in the catacombs, as deep as 14 m, in order to reach the phreatic layer. Despite these conditions, the Red Army attempted several sorties, including one that led to the defeat of the Wehrmacht's garrison in Adzhimushkay on the night of 8 to 9 July 1942. In this assault, Colonel Yagunov was killed.
Use of poison gas and the Survivors from 170 day siege
However, the situation of the defenders was becoming critical, as they were running out of ammunition, food and water. Moreover, the German forces started to use explosives and toxic gases[1] to end the resistance. On October 30, 1942, German forces finally entered the catacombs and captured the remaining defenders. Of the 13,000 or so people who took refuge in the catacombs, only 48 were alive at the end of the 170 day siege.
On the Use of Poison Gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Defen ... kay_quarry
I'd like to buy this book to clarify poison gas claim.
Halder, F., Kriegstagebuch. Tägliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes des Heeres 1939–1942. — Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1962–1964
Recently there in Russia was published a new book "Kerch catastrophe 1942" by Vsevolod Abramov ( http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/2631978/ ). The book is based on his dissertation that he defended in 1974. At that time it was classified and cannot be published. Although the book is titled "Kerch catastrophe" in fact it mainly devoted to the Battle of Adzhimushkay.
Yes, I know that book. In that book the author wrote that poison gas can be formed in natural conditions. So he is not sure that poison gas was used in the Battle of Adzhimushkay.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 185#897185
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 185#897185
Why was it classified? Was there anything that the Soviet authorities wanted to conceal? Maybe the responsibility of the Crimean Disaster that led to the tragedy of the Adzhimushkay Quarry?Dmitry wrote:The book is based on his dissertation that he defended in 1974. At that time it was classified and cannot be published.
Oh.. I'm sorry.Kim Sung wrote:Yes, I know that book.
Probably because he used then classified archive documents which are declassified today.Kim Sung wrote:Why was it classified? Was there anything that the Soviet authorities wanted to conceal? Maybe the responsibility of the Crimean Disaster that led to the tragedy of the Adzhimushkay Quarry?
I think it isn't necessarily so. At that time there were classified a broad range of documents and nevertheless historians that had special access permit studied them and made works "for restricted usage". He, for example, could use documents from a secret archive fund that was classified only because it had a map with too large scale.Kim Sung wrote:Does that mean the Soviet authorities did some investigation on the Battle of Adzhimushkay, possibly including the use of poison gas?Dmitry wrote:Probably because he used then classified archive documents which are declassified today.
A touching story on the Defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarry
Послесловие к "Письму матери"
http://militera.lib.ru/prose/russian/kolibukov/04.html (in Russian)
According to the above link, the Battle of the Adzhimushkay Quarry lasted more than 170 days.
Послесловие к "Письму матери"
http://militera.lib.ru/prose/russian/kolibukov/04.html (in Russian)
According to the above link, the Battle of the Adzhimushkay Quarry lasted more than 170 days.
Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry in 1942
Archive on the Underground Garrison (A Russian footage on the Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry)
http://rutube.ru/tracks/933637.html
http://rutube.ru/tracks/933637.html