Historical photograph by Evgeny Khaldei from spring 1944 capturing German coastal artillery prisoners from the Kerch sector guarded by a Soviet sailor.
Captured Kriegsmarine Sailors on the Kerch Peninsula (Spring 1944)
This evocative archival photograph, captured by legendary war correspondent Evgeny Khaldei in spring 1944, portrays a group of German naval personnel from coastal artillery units captured during the Red Army's strategic offensive to liberate the Crimea.
Guarded by a Soviet sailor armed with a PPSh submachine gun, the captured troops are identified as personnel belonging to the stationary coastal defense forces—specifically elements of the Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 613, which had been stationed across the Kerch Peninsula since 1943.
The Fate of Kriegsmarine Coastal Units in Crimea
When Soviet forces launched the Crimean Offensive in April 1944, static German naval artillery battalions found themselves cut off and overwhelmed following the rapid collapse of the Axis defense lines:
- From Coastal Batteries to Infantry Pockets: Originally deployed to guard against amphibious landings, marine artillerymen were forced to fight as makeshift infantry units as Red Army forces advanced from the Kerch bridgehead.
- Captured Away from the Harbors: Rather than being taken prisoner in major naval ports amid burning shipwrecks, many of these sailors were rounded up in rural pockets, gullies, and villages across the Kerch Peninsula as the frontline dissolved.
- Distinctive Uniforms: The prisoners wear the characteristic dark wool jumpers and jackets of the German Kriegsmarine, standing in stark contrast to the quilted padded jackets (telogreika) and naval uniforms of their Soviet captors.
Archival Value
Evgeny Khaldei's ability to capture intimate, unposed moments of frontline reality provides historians with an irreplaceable visual record of the human dimensions behind the tactical collapse of Army Group South's positions in the Crimea.
📍 Location: Kerch Peninsula, Crimea, USSR
📅 Date: Spring 1944
📷 Photographer: Evgeny Khaldei (TASS Press Corps)
📰 Primary Source: Soviet Frontline Photo Archives
Recommended reading:
- The Crimean Offensive (April–May 1944): Destruction of the 17th German Army
- German Naval Artillery in the Black Sea: Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung units in 1943–1944
- Evgeny Khaldei's War: Documenting the liberation of Soviet territory
- The Kerch-Eltigen Operation: The prelude to the liberation of Crimea