On July 4, 1942, the men of newly promoted Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Eleventh Army celebrated the capture of the last Soviet bastion in the Crimea.
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Sevastopol: Hard-Won German Victory In The East
Since September 24 of the previous year, von Manstein's German and Romanian battalions had fought a stubborn Russian opponent for control of the peninsula. The forts surrounding the port of Sevastopol had withstood the fire of 14-inch howitzers and 17-, 24-, and 31.5-inch siege guns and had fallen only after costly frontal attacks by German assault troops.
Von Manstein had little time to celebrate with his men. His headquarters was soon moved north to an area near Leningrad, where Hitler hoped that the victor of Sevastopol could repeat his Crimean performance. After a few months, however, the headquarters was disbanded and von Manstein was assigned to the Stalingrad sector, where he was charged with stopping the Soviet attack that threatened to shatter the German front in southern Russia.
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