Defense of the Adzhimushkay quarry

Defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarry
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Date May 16 – October 30, 1942 Location Adzhimushkay (now within Kerch), Crimea, USSR 45°22′52″N 36°31′25″E / 45.3812°N 36.5235°E / 45.3812; 36.5235 Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Strength
Several regiments	10,000 - 15,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	10,000+

The Defense of the Adzhimushkay Quarry (Russian: Оборона Аджимушкайских каменоломен) took part during World War II, between May and October 1942 of in the Adzhimushkay quarry () named after the Adzhimushkay () suburb of Kerch during the Nazi Germany's occupation of the Crimea.

By the time of war, Adzhimushkay was a small mining suburb located five kilometers away from the city of Kerch, where a complex network of catacombs is located. Limestone was extracted there from 1830, using both the surface quarry and the underground mines. The latter resulted in the network of tunnels (catacombs), known as the Great and Small Adzhimushkay catacombs. They were first used for military purposes by the pro-Bolshevik armed groups during the Russian Civil War.

When Kerch was occupied by the Wehrmacht in November 1941, a squad of partisans already operated in the catacombs. By May 1942, a counteroffensive was staged by the Wehrmacht in order to expel the Red Army both from the Kerch Peninsula and the city of Sevastopol. The Red Army was overrun and had to evacuate the bridgehead, sustaining heavy casualties. By May 19, 1942 the regular fighting in the area was over, and, to ensure the evacuation of the Soviet troops across the Strait of Kerch, a defense group was left in Adzhimushkay, led by Colonel Pavel Yagunov (). The group absorbed retreating soldiers, along with numerous civilians fleeing the city, and eventually grew to several thousand strong. When it became obvious that the bridgehead over the strait could not be held, the Adzhimushkay group found refuge in the catacombs. It is estimated that more than 10,000 fled to the Great Adzhimushkay catacombs system, and 3,000 to the Small catacombs system. The larger garrison was led by Yagunov, Parakhin and Burmin and the smaller one by Yermakov, Povazhny, and Karpekin.

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