Strait of Kerch - History

History

The straits are about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) broad at the narrowest, and are formed by an eastern extension of Crimea (Taurica, in ancient times) and the peninsula of Taman, a kind of continuation of the Caucasus. This in ancient times seems to have formed a group of islands intersected by arms of the Kuban River (Hypanis) and various sounds now silted up. The straits were called the Cimmerian Bosporus because of the similarity to the Bosporus strait between Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara (thence to the Dardanelles and Aegean Sea), and after the Cimmerians the equestrian nomads on the steppes north of the Black Sea.

During the Second World War, the Kerch Peninsula was the scene of much desperate combat between forces of the Soviet Red Army and Germany. Fighting frequency intensified in the coldest months of year when the strait froze over, allowing the movement of troops over the ice.

Hitler demanded that a 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) road and rail bridge be built across the Strait of Kerch in the spring of 1943 to support a push through the Caucasus to Persia, although the cable railway (aerial tramway) which went into operation on 14 July with a daily capacity of one thousand tons was adequate for the defensive needs of the Seventeenth Army in the Kuban bridgehead. Because of frequent earth tremors, vast quantities of extra-strength girders of precious steel would be required, and their transport would curtail shipments of military material to the Crimea. Hitler's bridgehead on the continent of Asia was evacuated in September.

In 1944, the Soviets built a "provisional" railway bridge across the strait. Construction made use of supplies captured from the Germans. The bridge was completed in November 1944, but was destroyed by moving ice floes in February 1945; reconstruction was not attempted.