Black Sea Campaigns (1941-1944)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Black Sea Campaigns are the operations of the Axis and Soviet naval forces in the Black Sea and its coastal regions during World War II between 1941 and 1944, including in support of the land forces, and non-combat operations.The Black Sea Fleet was as surprised by Operation Barbarossa as the rest of the Soviet Military. The Axis forces in the Black sea consisted of the Romanian and Bulgarian Navies together with German and Italian units transported to the area via rail and Canal. Although the Soviets enjoyed an overwhelming superiority in surface ships over the Axis, this was effectively negated by German air superiority and most of the Soviet ships sunk were destroyed by bombing. For the majority of the war, the Black Sea Fleet was commanded by Filipp Oktyabrskiy, its other commander being Lev Vladimirsky.