Russian sailors watching the enemy north-east of Novorossiysk, 1943

Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1943.

The Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was captured by the Germans in September 1942. However, a section of the city's bay was retained by Soviet sailors whose presence there prevented the Germans from using the port.

Following the Soviet victory at Stalingrad in February 1943 the German Army Group A withdrew from the Caucasus back towards the Kuban region around Novorossiysk. A defensive bridgehead was formed that allowed their units to withdraw to the Crimea. Soviet attacks were repeatedly launched during the spring and summer of 1943 and eventually the port, and the small pocket of Soviet sailors who had held out for 225 days, were liberated.