Siege of Odessa (1941)

For the naval battle at Odessa in 1914, see Battle of 54th Rie Regiment and an NKVD Regiment. Overall,
Odessa (1914).
the Red Army had some 34,500 men and 240 artillery
pieces in the area. Air support was provided by the 69
The Siege of Odessa was part of the Eastern Front area IAP, two seaplane squadrons and one bomber squadron.
Later, other ghters joined the defenders, as did an Il-2
of operations in 1941. It was primarily conducted by the
Romanian 4th Army (Armata a 4-a) and elements of the squadron. Bombers from Crimea and Nikolaev also parGerman 11th Army (11. Armee). Due to the heavy re- ticipated in the battle.
sistance of the Soviet 9th Independent Army (initially)
and the rapidly formed Separate Coastal Army, which
was formed from the Coastal Group of the 9th Army,[5]
and the Black Sea Fleet forces in Odessa, it took the
Axis forces 73 days of siege and four attempts to take the
city, during which they suered 93,000 casualties, while
the Red Army suered an estimated 41,000 to 60,000
casualties.[4]

The 4th Army planned a combined maneuver: the 3rd

Corps (3rd, 7th Infantry and 1st Guard Divisions and the
2nd Tank Regiment) had to undertake a frontal attack on
the Razdelnaya Odessa direction, while the 5th Corps
(15th Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions and 1st Cavalry Brigade) executed a turning maneuver to the north,
towards Katargy and Bolschaya Buzhalyk, and then turn
southwards. The 3rd Reconnaissance Group of the 3rd
Infantry Division advanced towards Razdelnaya and reported that the village was burning and the railway station
was occupied by Soviets troops. In the evening, the 1st
Armored Division and the 1st Cavalry Brigade encircled
Katargy and took 200 Soviet POWs.

Prelude

On 27 July 1941, Hitler sent a letter to General Antonescu

in which he requested further cooperation of the Romanian troops beyond the Dniester River, and granted
the Romanians administration of the territory between 2 Battle
the Dniester and the Bug rivers. Antonescu accepted on
31 July. In fact the Romanian Third Army had already On 9 August, the 4th Dorobanti Regiment defeated
crossed the Dniester on 17 July.
the Soviet forces in the Bakalovy area, while the
30th Dorobani Regiment took hold of the village of
Lieutenant-general Nicolae Ciuperc's Fourth Army
commenced the advance over the river on 3 August. The Ponyatovka. The 7th Infantry Division occupied the
5th Corps, comprising the 15th Infantry Division and 1st Razdelnaya railroad station and a plateau south of the staCavalry Brigade, forced the crossing between Tighina and tion, despite heavy Soviet resistance. The following day,
Dubsari. During the night of 5 August, the 1st Armored in the sector of the 3rd Corps, the bulk of the 7th Infantry
Division also joined the 5th Corps. On 8 August, the Ro- Division reached Elssas, while the 1st Guard Division armanian General Sta issued the Operative Directive No. rived on the alignment Strassburg Petra Evdokievka. In
31 stipulating that the 4th Army was to defeat the enemy the sector of the 5th Corps, the 1st Armored Division
between the Dniester River and the Tiligulskiy Bank and advanced fast and defeated the Soviet forces at Bolschaya
to occupy Odessa from the move. It was thought that the Buzhalyk, breaking through Odessas rst line of defense.
city garrison, which was heavily outnumbered, would sur- Until the evening, the Romanian division reached the secrender quickly. However, Odessa was a heavily fortied ond line of defense, on the alignment Blagodatnaya Mal.
position, which, thanks to the superiority of the Soviet Adzhalyk. The 1st Cavalry Brigade took Severinovka
Black Sea Fleet, could not actually be completely sur- and joined the 1st Armored Division. At the same time,
rounded. The defense was organized on three lines with the 10th Dorobani Regiment overran the Soviet forces
trenches, anti-tank ditches, pillboxes and others. The rst at Lozovaya. The 4th Army gradually closed the circle
line was 80 km long and situated some 2530 km from around Odessa, but the oensive was temporarily stopped
the city. The second and main line of defense was sit- by Antonescu on 13 August to strengthen the line west of
uated 68 km from the city and was about 30 km long. the Hadjibey bank.
The oensive resumed on 16 August, as Romanian troops
attacked along the entire line, capturing Odessas water
reservoirs on 17 August. The Soviet forces put up a stubborn resistance, launching repeated counter-attacks, in-

The third and last line of defense was organized inside the
city itself. The forces that initially manned the fortications were made up of the 25th and 95th Rie Divisions,
the 2nd Cavalry Division, the 421st Rie Division, the
1

2
icting and taking heavy casualties. The Royal Romanian
Air Force actively supported the ground troops, disrupting Soviet naval trac to and from Odessa, and also destroying an armored train on 20 August. During the night
of 18 August, two Romanian torpedo boats (NMS Viscolul and NMS Vijelia) attacked and damaged a Soviet
destroyer south of Odessa. It was one of the few actions
the Romanian Navy undertook to support the siege.
By 24 August, despite constant attacks, the Romanians
were bogged down in front of the Soviets main line of
defense. The 4th Army had already suered 27,307 casualties, including 5,329 killed in action. Nevertheless, the
Soviets were also weakened, and thanks to the capture of
Kubanka, Romanian heavy artillery now threatened the
port of Odessa. Over the next three days, there was a lull
in the ghting.

A Soviet gun crew during the siege.

3 AFTERMATH
respectively. Ioaniiu forwarded a note to Major-General
Arthur Haue, the chief of the German military mission
to Romania, informing him of the situation at Odessa and
requesting assistance in the form of aircraft and several
pioneer battalions. Although the Royal Romanian Air
Force enjoyed some success against the Soviets ground
and air forces, it was ill-equipped for anti-shipping raids,
and the Soviets were being steadily reinforced and resupplied via the Navy.
Meanwhile, the Romanian oensive was halted to wait
for reinforcements. A German detachment led by
Lieutenant-General Ren von Courbier and comprising
one infantry regiment, one assault pioneer regiment and
two artillery regiments arrived. Concurrently, the Soviets
also received 15,000 men and ammunition. On 9 September, Ciuperc was replaced by Lieutenant-General Iosif
Iacobici, who was expressly ordered to follow the General Stas directives without question. The oensive resumed on 12 September, but was again stopped temporarily on September 14 as Romanian and German artillery
units were running low on ammunition. Two Vanatori
battalions were encircled by Red Army troops near the
Hadjibey bank, but were eventually relieved despite Soviet eorts to annihilate them.
On the night of 15 September, Soviet troops broke contact with the Romanian 1st Corps and retreated toward
the southeast. On 16 September, the 1st Corps took the
heights northwest of Gross-Liebenthal. Romanian troops
also occupied the area south of the Sukhoy bank. Over
3,000 Soviet soldiers were captured, but these losses were
replaced by the 157th Rie Division, with a strength of
12,600 troops. Also, 18 Soviet companies were brought
in from Novorossiysk.

On 28 August, the Romanians resumed their oensive,

reinforced by a German assault battalion and ten heavy
artillery battalions. The 4th, 11th and 1st Army Corps
advanced towards Gnileakovo and Vakarzhany, only to
be pushed back in some areas by a strong Soviet counterattack the following day. On 30 August the Romanians
retook the initiative, but gained very little ground. The
3 Aftermath
Soviets temporarily retook Kubanka but were driven back
by nightfall. Soviet troops in Vakarzhany were encircled
and continued to ght until 3 September, when combined With the advance of Axis forces into the Soviet Union,
German and Romanian infantry successfully stormed the STAVKA decided to evacuate the defenders of Odessa.
On the night of 1415 October 1941, the Black Sea Fleet
village.
evacuated the garrison to Sevastopol where most of the
On 3 September, General Ciuperc submitted a memoir
units were later destroyed in the bitter ghting that took
to by-now Marshal Antonescu, highlighting the poor conplace there. The Black Sea Fleet also managed to evacudition of the front-line divisions, which were exhausted
ate 350,000 soldiers and civilians.[3]
after nearly a month of continuous ghting. He proposed a reorganization of six divisions (the 3rd, 6th, 7th, The operations at Odessa highlighted signicant weak14th, 21st Infantry and Guard Divisions), which would nesses in the Romanian Army, leading both military and
be split into 2 corps and supported by 8 heavy artillery political leaders in the country to call for a discontinubattalions. These units would then attack in a single area ation of military operations against the Soviet Union.[6]
to break through the Soviet line. The memoir however, Antonescu ignored such objections, regarding continued
was rejected by both Antonescu and Bridagier-General participation and eventual victory on the Eastern Front
Alexandru Ioaniiu, the chief of the Romanian General as necessary for the restoration of Romanias territorial
Sta, who argued that an attack in a single direction integrity.[7]
would leave the rest of the Romanian line too exposed. Casualties suered during the Siege of Odessa were:
Marshal Antonescu subsequently issued a new directive
calling for attacks between Tatarka and Dalnik, and Gnil Romanian
iavko and Dalnik, to be made by the 11th and 3rd Corps,

3
whom it had no direct conict of interests, but who would
later conduct major bombing campaigns against her.[8]

4 See also
Odessa Massacre
Transnistria Governorate

5 Notes
[1] Axworthy (1995), p. 50.
[2] Glantz (1995), p. 293
[3] http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/?article=7
[4] Axworthy,Mark. Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian
Armed Forces in the European War, 19411945. p. 58.
[5] See also Axis History Forum thread
[6] Axworthy, page 59
[7] Axworthy, page 49
[8] Axworthy, page 73

6 References
About 38,000 Soviet personnel were awarded the Medal For the
Defence of Odessa from 22 December 1942.

17,729 dead, 63,345 wounded, and 11,471

missing
Soviet
16,578 dead or missing, and 24,690 wounded
(Glantz)
60,000 dead,
(Axworthy)[4]

wounded

or

missing

The recapture of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in

Operation Munchen and the subsequent victory at Odessa
led to a partial demobilization of the Romanian army,
which was reduced in size from nearly 900,000 personnel
on 1 October to 465,000 on 1 January 1942. Politically,
the presence of Romanian troops in Odessa and the establishment of the Transnistria Governorate led to a deterioration of Romanias international situation, with the
British declaring war on Romania on 6 December, and
on 12 December Romania declared war on the United
States in solidarity with Germany and Japan. Thus, Romania found itself at war against two major powers with

Axworthy, Mark; Scafes, Cornel; Craciunoiu, Cristian (1995). Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian
Armed Forces in the European War, 19411945.
London: Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409267-7.
Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), When
Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler,
Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas,
ISBN 0-7006-0899-0

7 External links
Dallin, Alexander (1998). Odessa, 19411944: A
Case Study of Soviet Territory Under Foreign Rule.
Iasi-Oxford-Portland: Center for Romanian Studies. ISBN 973-98391-1-8. Complete book available
online.
History of Odessa, 19411944. 2odessa.com. Retrieved 2006-07-30.
The Separate Coastal Army at Odessa

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