Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry in 1942

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Victor
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#121

Post by Victor » 04 Nov 2006, 15:56

Kim Sung, let's try to stay on topic and leave the ideology out of it.

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Kim Sung
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#122

Post by Kim Sung » 30 Nov 2006, 06:28

Now I know what the toys in my inital post mean.....

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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#123

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 30 Nov 2006, 10:05

The Nazis also used gas to kill people in the dank, subterranean hiding place
Which still remains an unsourced claim :wink:

Jan-Hendrik

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Kim Sung
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#124

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Jan 2007, 15:25

Long-awaited Wikipedia article has been added at last.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of ... kay_quarry


Death of Colonel Yagunov
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.
Does anybody know if Colonel Yagunov was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union?


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

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Dmitry
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#125

Post by Dmitry » 19 Jan 2007, 16:38

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.

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#126

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Jan 2007, 16:57

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

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#127

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Jan 2007, 17:02

Dmitry wrote:The book is based on his dissertation that he defended in 1974. At that time it was classified and cannot be published.
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?

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#128

Post by Dmitry » 19 Jan 2007, 18:29

Kim Sung wrote:Yes, I know that book.
Oh.. I'm sorry.
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?
Probably because he used then classified archive documents which are declassified today.

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#129

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Jan 2007, 18:38

Dmitry wrote:Probably because he used then classified archive documents which are declassified today.
Does that mean the Soviet authorities did some investigation on the Battle of Adzhimushkay, possibly including the use of poison gas?

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#130

Post by Dmitry » 19 Jan 2007, 18:58

Kim Sung wrote:
Dmitry wrote:Probably because he used then classified archive documents which are declassified today.
Does that mean the Soviet authorities did some investigation on the Battle of Adzhimushkay, possibly including the use of poison gas?
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.

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#131

Post by Kim Sung » 20 Jan 2007, 12:55

Again, does anybody know if Colonel Yagunov was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union? And political commissar Parakhin who was killed by misuse of a German grenade?

How many soldiers were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for the defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarry?

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#132

Post by Kim Sung » 20 Jan 2007, 18:15

One more question: Can anybody provide details on the night raid led by Colonel Yagunov on the German garrison on 8 to 9 July 1942?

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#133

Post by Kim Sung » 21 Jan 2007, 07:42

Nobody answers my questions. It is also a mystery that there are so few informations on the most heroic last stand in human history.

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#134

Post by Kim Sung » 04 Sep 2007, 15:48

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.

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Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry in 1942

#135

Post by Kim Sung » 29 Jan 2009, 11:51

Archive on the Underground Garrison (A Russian footage on the Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry)

http://rutube.ru/tracks/933637.html

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