Romanian operations at Novorossisk

In the mid 1980s I have been in the Black Sea town of Novorossisk, the place of fierce battles in 1942-1943. I remember being told by the local guide that one of the Russian officers that participated then to combat was col. Leonid Brezhnev that later became the Soviet head of state. In the late 1970s or the early 1980s he wrote a book about his participation to combat at Novorossisk (with the obvious exaggeration of his role that could be expected at that time). Anyhow, the guide also told us that Ceausescu protested against the publication of the book in Romania (or maybe anywhere?). Unfortunately my memories are somewhat vague and I cannot remember what the reason for the Romanian protest was. Could you please shed some light onto this matter? I think the book is named "Little land" or something similar after the name of the place where the battle took place.

What was the extent of the Romanian participation to combat in Novorossisk? On Dragos and Victor’s site the participation of the Romanians to the capture of the town and to the defence of the coast around it is mentioned but without further details.

What is it (or is not) said in Brezhnev’s book about the Romanians in relation to the 1942-1943 battles?

What was the reason for the Romanian protest in the 1980s?

Was the whole story about the protest only some sort of a hoax for tourists?

Sorry for the very much delayed response, Carol, but I only just joined the list. Novorossisk has been a particular interest of mine ever since I bought an old wargame published by People's Wargames in the 1980's called "Black Sea Black Death", now sadly out of print, although you may find a copy on e-bay.

(Jack Radey, the owner of People's Wargames had been the body-guard for Gus Hall, who used to regularly run for President of the U.S. on the Communist Party ticket - yes, the U.S. has a Communist Party, it's just not very big.)

At any rate, whatever you may think of his politics, Jack is a first-rate game designer, and his games are very well researched. Black Sea Black Death is a small unit action covering the attempted Soviet naval landing behind the Axis lines just south of Novorossisk. Each unit is a platoon or company and each hex represents 600 meters, as I recall.

The game does include Romanian units (I'll post the exact ones after I look at the game again), which were on coast-watching duties. As such, they bore the brunt of the initial Soviet landings, which were supported by gunfire from 3 Soviet cruisers and 4 destroyers, as well as Soviet shore batteries on the other side of the bay. The Soviet assault was also supported by a few tank companies, which were equiped with U.S.-built M-3 Stewarts, although few of these got to shore. According to the designer's notes in the game, the Romanian pioneer unit put up a particularly strong resistance.

I haven't read Brezhnev's memoirs, so I can't tell you why Ceaucescu objected to them.

If you took any photos of Novorossisk that you can share, I'd love to have an idea what that area looks like, as I have been tempted to set up a wargame based on that engagement.

Cheers,

Rob

By the way, this thread and the one labled

Should be merged. See the link to the www.battlefield.ru site posted there.

Jack Radey gives the following Romanian units present at the time of the Soviet amphibious assalt on Feb. 3, 1943:

I and II battalions, 38th Inf. Rgt, 10th Inf. Division
58th Engineer (pioneer?) Btn.
10th Motorcycle Btn, 10th Inf. Division (divisional reconnaissance unit?)
A "march" (i.e. ad hoc) battalion from 10th Inf. Division
an artillery battery from 10th Inf. Division equiped with 75mm field guns
an anti-aircraft battery from 10th Inf. Divsion equiped with 25mm AA guns.

You gave the wrong link:
http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/index.php...e=en&article=10

Robert, about this game - it is a PC one? Or a 8086? Maybe - if he is so old, is now an abandonware, and, we may play free, downloading him. Any chances?

Iama

It's probably a board game, not a computer game.

It's a board game. It was published in 1982, however you can still find copies on e-bay or for sale by collectors of old board games. It probably won't be cheap (perhaps $100 U.S.).

I have a copy and, having read the rules, the game seems very playable, so I can, at least, give it a good review before you plunk down that kind of money.

If anyone is interested, I can, however, publish the complete order of battle for both sides, as given in the game, and we can all discuss it.

BTW, the units that I forgot to mention are:

10th Motorcycle Btn. (which I assume is the divisional recon. unit for the 10th division); 28th Anti-aircraft Btn; 1st Btn, 20th Artillery Rgt (from 10th division).

If anyone else has any info. on the Romanian OB at this battle, I'd be delighted to hear about it.

I saw it go on eBay several times for 50-80 $. Still too pricy for me, I will wait for a reprint.

This post has been edited by Chandernagore on October 09, 2004 01:43 pm

Thank you Robert for your posts.

Unfortunately I have no photos from Novorossisk. Was there anything in particular you were interested in? I guess you can find some general photos if you do a search for "Novorossisk" or "Novorossiysk".

From http://www.postcardman.net

Thank you Dragos and Carol. Like I said, the battle there in Feb. of 1943 is interesting tactically (Soviet amphibious assaults were rare), and in terms of the types of troops involved, everything from Soviet Naval Infantry to Cossacks in German service, Ostruppen, punishment battalions, coastal artillery and, of course, Romanians. I have been interested in running a miniatures game based on this battle for some time. Since I would be building terraine for it, I would want to know how lush the vegetation is (I would suspect either grasslands or, perhaps dryer), and what the local architecture looks like.

I could either do this on a fairly large scale, using "Command Decision" or "Ain't Been Shot, Mum" or as a skirmish - i.e. a Soviet Naval Infantry assault on one of the trenches.

Your organization charts on the main page are very useful. You wouldn't happen to have the organization of some of the divisional assets, such as the divisional recon company, would you?

If I do get my act together and do this, I'll forward some photos.

Cheers,

Rob

Quite interesting to see that a "small-size" amphibious landing was considered good enough for a popular game.

Cpt. Nicolae Dabija (future leader of an anti-communist group fighting in the Apuseni Mts.), commander of 5th Company (38th Infantry Regiment) took the brunt when Russian troops landed in the night of 3/4 Feb. 1943 in Novorossiisk area, sector Ozereica. He resisted there 3 days and 4 nights, against superior enemy forces, being practically encircled. Finally, he destroys the enemy forces who lost there 800 dead, wounded or prisoners, 31 AMERICAN tanks destroyed, 1 fuel barge destroyed, 40 BRITISH landing crafts captured. For his exploits in Southern Caucasus, he was awarded "Michael the Brave" order, Class III. Later, for exploits in Crimeea, Marshall Antonescu took from his own chest the order "Crown of Romania", 1st. class, and personally hooked it on the chest of the recently promoted Major Dabija.


Source: Adrian Brisca, Puica Buhoci - "Resistenta armata din Muntii Apuseni. Gruparea maiorului Nicolae Dabija. 1948-1949" (2007) - page 23

This post has been edited by mateias on February 05, 2008 12:32 pm