The fortress becomes the surviving Soviet position in western Crimea
As Eleventh Army broke through the northern approaches to Crimea, the Independent Coastal Army withdrew toward Sevastopol and joined the naval garrison. The date became the conventional opening of the 250-day defence. The Black Sea Fleet gave the fortress a connection that a purely landlocked pocket would have lacked. Reinforcements, ammunition and food could still arrive from Caucasus ports while wounded personnel left by sea.
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