1418
Illustration: Sevastopol’s 250 days
CourageBitter

· Day 131 of 1418

Sevastopol’s 250 days

Sevastopol

days of defence
250
days of defence
the weight of the “Dora” gun
1,350 t
the weight of the “Dora” gun

On 30 October 1941 the defence of Sevastopol, main base of the Black Sea Fleet, began. Sailors, soldiers and residents held out for 250 days. Underground, in tunnels, there were workshops, schools and hospitals.

The city was shelled from land, sea and air. Day and night ships broke through to Sevastopol, bringing ammunition and taking away the wounded. In the Inkerman tunnels underground factories made uniforms, mines and grenades, and children studied in an underground school.

The enemy brought up a giant gun called “Dora”: it weighed over a thousand tonnes and fired shells heavier than a car. But Sevastopol held.

See it on the map

Chapter 5 · October 1941

Moscow in danger

Near Vyazma and Bryansk the enemy encircled several Soviet armies. In mid-October Moscow lived through its most anxious days, but it held: Muscovites built defences while trains carried whole factories to the Urals and Siberia. On 30 October the defence of Sevastopol began.