OFFENSIVE IN CRIMEA – Operation "Trappenjagd" 8–19 May 1942

Operation "Trappenjagd" 8 to 19 May 1942

The whole story began with a tunic found in France in 2017 — a tunic that should never have been there! …and yet! More than 300 hours of research were needed to understand its presence in that country, identify its owner, his unit, and the circumstances of his death on 8 May 1942 in Crimea.

The author studied more than 6,000 pages of war diaries, which supplemented his information. A book was born… it could not have been otherwise!

Didier Lodieu's account plunges us alongside Herbert KLOSE, into the heart of the offensive to seize the Kerch Peninsula. This operation "Trappenjagd" — also known as Operation "Buzzard" — was the only successful offensive mounted by the German army engaged in Russia in 1942.

"Victory is now ours!" cried Feldmarschall von Manstein. "You, the German and Romanian soldiers of the Kerch Front, will repel all attacks by the numerically superior Red Army." In 12 days, three Russian armies comprising 17 infantry and mountain divisions, three infantry brigades, two cavalry divisions and four armoured brigades were annihilated by a mere three infantry divisions. The last Russian combatants could only save the remnants of their defeated armies by escaping across the sea.

One of the greatest battles of the Eastern Front, narrated here for the first time.