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Illustration: Sevastopol is lost
RemembranceBitter

· Day 378 of 1418

Sevastopol is lost

Sevastopol

After 250 days of defence, in early July 1942, Sevastopol’s defenders were ordered to leave the city. Many fought to the last on Cape Chersonesus. Sevastopol would be named a Hero City, and two years later it would be liberated.

In June the enemy began its final assault. Hundreds of guns pounded the city and bombers hung constantly in the sky. The defenders beat off attack after attack until they ran out of shells and water.

Only some of the defenders could be evacuated; the rest fought to the end at Cape Chersonesus, and many were captured. But the 250-day defence had tied down a whole enemy army in the south for months.

See it on the map

Chapter 14 · July 1942

“Not one step back!”

The enemy was driving towards the Volga and the Caucasus. Sevastopol fell on 4 July, Rostov-on-Don on 24 July. On 17 July the Battle of Stalingrad began, and on 28 July Order No. 227 was issued: “Not one step back!”