Chapter 596: Bombing Sevastopol

On the coast of the Black Sea, the Crimean Peninsula can be said to be the old nest of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. The core of the entire fleet was composed of one new Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleship and three cruisers. Although this fleet was blockaded in the Black Sea by Turkey, it was not as honest as one might imagine.

A few days ago, this fleet had even charged into the harbor of the important Ukrainian port city of Odessa, which was occupied by the German army, and had shelled the buildings and civilians there. With the support of land-based aircraft from the Crimean region, this fleet had, after a ten-minute bombardment, safely retreated to Sevastopol.

This was an absolute provocation to the German commanders’ bottom line. Although the German army was preparing for the Balkan campaign, it could not allow the Soviet Navy to rampage along the coasts of Romania and Ukraine. Since a ground offensive could not be launched for the time being, a retaliatory action was put on the agenda. The navy was clearly willing but unable, so this mission was handed over to Kesselring’s air force.

And so this time, Dick was ordered to carry out the attack mission. The unit that carried it out was the “Butcher” bomber force, which had not been seen for a long time. After two months of accumulation, the scale of the Butcher bomber force had grown even larger. The German army now had a total of 600 of these long-range strategic bombers, which could be said to be a very large strategic bomber group.

“This bombing mission seems a bit unusual,” a ground crewman said with emotion to the person next to him, as he used a bomb-loading machine to hang one 500-kilogram aerial bomb after another in the plane’s bomb bay.

“Isn’t that the truth? I hear all 40 Butcher bombers at the base are going to take off. Apart from the bombing of Leningrad a few days ago, it’s been a long time since so many bombers have been dispatched,” an apprentice ground crewman agreed with a nod. “I wonder where is going to be unlucky now. A full load of 500-kilogram aerial bombs.”

The ground crew commander nearby was identifying his bombing targets from the photos brought back by a long-range reconnaissance plane. There were ship repair factories, various fortresses and gun batteries, airfields and anti-aircraft gun positions, and even targets like the waterworks and power plants of several nearby areas. The Butcher reconnaissance plane could bring back reconnaissance photos from an altitude of 15,000 meters, but these photos were not easy to identify and could only provide a rough analysis of the terrain. The German pilots would, when they felt it was safe, fly low to below 8,000 meters to take photos. The photos at this time were much clearer, but they were more vulnerable to attack from the enemy’s anti-aircraft fire.

“Bombing from an altitude of 9,000 meters, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Our bombs might miss the target by several hundred meters and pose no threat at all,” a bomber’s bombardier said, discussing the attack procedure with his commander. “After aiming at the target, it would be best to drop the bombs at an altitude of around 7,000 meters. This way, we can ensure that more than half of the bombs hit the target.”

“No need, Viktor. The scale of the bombing is much larger than you think. You just need to attack the target with the most accurate bombing you can. As long as you destroy about half of the targets, the follow-up bombing missions can take care of the enemies who escaped your attack,” the commander said with a wave of his hand. “The bombing will be carried out in a dense formation. Just do your best to ensure the accuracy of the attack. Understood?”

“Sir, exactly how many planes are we using to bomb the Soviet targets on the Crimean Peninsula this time? It feels so mysterious, and the scale sounds even larger than the time we bombed Leningrad,” several of the aircraft captains asked their ground control tower commander with a questioning look.

“Only General Dick knows the specific scale. I only know that the Butcher bombers from the four nearby airfields are all to take off for the mission. By that count, there should be at least 150, right?” the commander said. He also did not know the specific scale, but when he had gone to attend the operational deployment meeting, he had seen the commanders of several nearby airfields, so he knew that the scale of the air force being deployed by the German army this time was quite large.

“That’s quite a lot,” the several captains said. They each walked to their own planes. Some of the bombers had already started the four huge engines on their wings. For a time, the entire airfield was filled with the roar of machinery. The pilots were reporting their fuel levels, checking the fuel tank pressure, and confirming that the communications were clear.

“Tower! This is 141, all normal! Can you hear me?” the captain asked, pressing his throat microphone to confirm with his ground commander that his radio equipment was working properly.

“Aircraft 141, I can hear you very clearly. All normal. Your takeoff sequence is number one. Please taxi to the standby runway,” the commander in the ground control tower said, giving various orders loudly through his communicator. One after another, the planes began to taxi. Soon, the first plane had taken off from the long runway, followed by the second, and the third. In the end, all 40 bombers from this airfield had successfully taken off and had formed a rather spectacular formation in the sky.

Subsequently, German fighters that had taken off from the surrounding field airfields joined this Butcher bomber formation and, not far away, formed their own escort formation, beginning to fly towards the target with this bomber force. Before long, the German pilots saw another group of Butcher bombers that had taken off from a nearby airfield, also with a large fighter escort.

This was followed by more and more planes converging. The strategic bomber force of the German Air Force, after the long baptism of the Battle of Britain, the cruel training of the air war over England, and the accumulation of experience from bombing Leningrad and other areas, was now capable of long-range, large-formation bombing. This time, they had gathered over 400 Butcher bombers, and the escorting fighters numbered a full 350.

The planes gathered in the sky, more and more, exceeding everyone’s imagination. The pilot on the far left could not even see clearly how many planes were flying to his right, and the pilots in the middle found that they could not see the edge of the formation in their field of vision. The fighter pilots were stunned by the dense formation of bombers. Some even found that their palms were sweating.

Hartmann, who was flying on an escort mission for the first time, couldn’t help but swallow. Until now, he had only known that flying could feel agile and free. But now he knew that it could also feel solemn and heavy—it had nothing to do with agility or elegance, but could only be described with words that seemed to have nothing to do with flying, like “hard” and “heavy.” The massive flight formation that was now before his eyes made him think of the words “steel” and “invincible.”

The shrill sound of the air raid siren blared over the Crimean Peninsula. When the soldiers of the Crimea came out of their barracks and looked up at the sky, they were completely stunned by the scene before them. This was the first time the Soviet Red Army had seen an air raid of this scale, the first time they had seen planes flying in two dense layers, and it seemed that they could not even see the end of the aircraft formation.

Unfortunately, these planes were here for them. Right above their heads, countless bombers had already begun to give the order, opening their bomb bay doors, which were lined with bombs. One after another, the bombs were bathed in the cold air of the high altitude, and the fuzes on them had already begun to emit a faint, sharp whistling sound.

“I’ve found the target area! I can see it very clearly. Let’s begin the bombing run!” the lead observer shouted a reminder to his comrades, and then one after another, the bombardiers’ confirmation orders came through the headset.

“144 beginning bomb run!” “142 beginning bomb run!” “First bomb dropped!” “Second bomb dropped successfully!” With the slight “clack” of the bomb release mechanism rubbing against the bomb casing, the aerial bombs left the bomber’s bomb bay like rain, beginning to rush towards the Soviet targets on the ground with the force of gravity.

Boom! Compared to the German’s sky-covering bombers, the return fire from the anti-aircraft gun positions near the Sevastopol fortress was no different from a mournful cry or a groan. The number of shells they fired was negligible. In the face of the bombs that were raining down from the sky, they were as helpless as a single rifle against dozens of machine guns.

The Butcher bombers that the Germans had assigned to bomb the airfields, the anti-aircraft gun positions, and the urban civilian facilities were loaded with 125-kilogram aerial bombs, but they carried a larger number of them for a better carpet-bombing effect. Among them were also mixed a number of napalm bombs to enhance the bombing effect.

And the bombers that the Germans were using to attack the ports, the military facilities, and the fortresses were basically all loaded with 500-kilogram aerial bombs, sufficient to destroy target areas with strong protection, mainly to destroy the military targets near Sevastopol and Kerch. There were also two formations of Butcher bombers that were specially loaded with a large number of napalm bombs to carpet-bomb several of the Soviet army’s large fortresses.

For a time, the entire Crimean Peninsula seemed to have turned into a living hell. Buildings were destroyed and collapsed by the bombs, barracks burst into flames, and the streets were pockmarked with one huge crater after another. The anti-aircraft gun positions were hit by a covering barrage. After the Butcher bombers had passed, a formation of 110 Stuka Type 2 attack aircraft visited these air defense facilities once again, completely turning one Soviet anti-aircraft gun after another into piles of scrap metal.

A huge crane in the port was hit by a bomb, caught fire, and collapsed, smashing a destroyer that was moored in the port. In an instant, the destroyer broke in two and sank to the bottom of the sea. And the oil depot on the shore was also detonated by a bomb, bursting into a sky-blotting fire and spewing thick black smoke.

The Black Sea Fleet, because it was near Kerch, had escaped this unprecedentedly large-scale bombing. However, the Soviet Navy’s bases near the Black Sea had basically all met with disaster. The Sevastopol naval port was almost a pile of ruins and had, for a short time, lost its ability to function as a port.

The power of the strategic bomber was once again demonstrated. In just this one dense attack, the German army had basically destroyed the air defense system of the Crimea, had forced back the arrogant Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and had laid an incomparably solid foundation for the German army to control the airspace of the Crimean Peninsula.

Published: 2025-09-09T03:31:41.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-13T16:21:25.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c596-bombing-138475465

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