This movie, entitled “The Capture of Kertch” was produced for the home market by the Degeto film studio in 1942. This is a fascist German propaganda film about Operation Trappenjagd (“Trapper hunt”), conducted in May 1942 on the Parpatch isthmus and Kerch (aka Kertch) peninsula, during the last stages of the Wehrmacht’s Crimean campaign of 1941-1942. The operation was led by generals Wolfram von Richtofen and Erich von Manstein, and resulted in more than 110,000 Soviets captured. The total number of manpower losses for Operation Trappenjagd were 160,000 Soviets against approximately 9000 German soldiers lost.
Film starts with shots of a map, showing main roads and cities of Crimea. (Strangely enough, despite the predilection of Germans for classical civilization, the map is in a German transliteration of Russian names, not in a German transliteration of the Greek names). Title card: In the morning gray of 8th may 1942 began the assault on Kerch
0:17 Germans using a binocular rangefinder, for aiming of the self-propelled artillery
0:22 Before all others go the sappers/engineers
0:36 German infantry, crossing an anti-tank ditch, presumably in the days leading to the attack on Parpatch isthmus. The first target are anti-tank defenses of the Parpatch.
0:51 Summer landscape with a poppies. A soldier anxiously looking at the smoke in the distance
0:52 Army commanders: Generals Erich von Manstein and Wolfram von Richtofen. Shown here as to create a “victorious echo” to the von Manstein and von Richtofen of the First World War, it’s an interesting propaganda device.
0:58 Airplane dropping a flare
1:07 German Stuka dive bomber
1:13 Soviet Il-2 ground attack plane Card: The fighter planes attack the Soviet planes in flight
1:22-1:34 German Pz-II light tank column, followed by more German mechanized infantry, either in personnel carriers or on motorbikes. Card: Assault of the Tatar trench
1:40-1:50 German medic, carrying a wounded soldier
2:00 Truck delivering supplies to an entrenched German position, driving past scores of abandoned Soviet trucks and heaps of materiel by the roadside.
2:22 Refugees running away on their horse-drawn carts
2:30-2:53 A city, urban warfare. Card: On 15th of May 1942 the Army and the Waffen SS breached the defenses and stormed the city
2:48 German troops kicking down doors
2:53 A Soviet soldier emerging from a hole in a house’s roof
2:57 German mortar firing
3:07 A German assault team cautiously firing weapons. Card: The Bolsheviks engaged in a house-by-house defense
3:14 A panoramic view of the Kertch port city’s industry
3:31-3:40 German troops carefully moving in and investigating the ruins of the houses in Kerch
3:38-3:48 Cargo ships visible in the distance, and German artillery firing upon them. Fleeing enemy transports caught in the crossfire
3:47 Cargo ship hit by a shell
3:48-end. Lots of sunken ships in the port of Kerch. Soviet POWs. Card: More than 170000 prisoners of the 3 enemy armies were captured.
During WWII, Kerch was the site of heavy fighting between Red Army and Axis forces. The city was taken by the Germans in November 1941. On 31 December 1941 the 302nd Mountain Rifle Division recaptured the city following a naval landing operation at Kamysh Burun, five days earlier. In 1942 — events shown in the film — the Germans occupied the city again. The Red Army lost over 160,000 men, either killed or taken POW at the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula. Kerch returned to Soviet control on 11 April 1944.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
