The Ajimushkai quarries are one of the most famous memorials of the WWII in Russia. It is dedicated to the events of the defense of Crimea in 1942. The memorial is located in the labyrinths of underground quarries, where limestone has been mined for several centuries.
The siege of the Ajimushkai quarries lasted 170 days. The Germans blew up the ceilings with aerial bombs, poisoned all the wells in the area, made gas attacks. As a result, out of 13 thousand people who took refuge in the quarries initially, the Germans captured only 48 emaciated people. None of them surrendered voluntarily. Visiting the soot-blackened quarries is difficult for many people to withstand psychologically.
The defense of Crimea in 1941 was one of the most important strategic operations of the WWII. Sevastopol was the main base of the Russian fleet, and from the airfields of Crimea, planes could reach the oil plants in Ploieste, in Hungary. Hitler set his army the task of capturing Crimea at any cost, however, the defense of Sevastopol dragged on for 250 long days.
In 1941, the Germans captured the entire Crimean Peninsula except Sevastopol, but in January 1942, Soviet troops were able to recapture the Kerch Peninsula from the Germans up to Feodosia. In April 1942, Marshal Manstein planned and conducted a successful Bustard Hunting operation. As a result, Soviet troops were ousted from the Kerch Peninsula, and the city of Kerch was re-captured on May 16, 1942.
Soviet troops evacuated through the Kerch Strait, but more than 10 thousand soldiers and officers from the cover companies remained in Kerch and they had nowhere to retreat. They decided to hide in the Ajimushkai quarries and continue their resistance.
Ajimushkai is a village 10 kilometers from the center of Kerch. Translated from Turkic, its name means Gray Stone. Limestone mining for construction in underground tunnels in this place has been carried out for several hundred years. There is a version that its development began in the era of Byzantium, and maybe the Bosporan Kingdom. For hundreds of years, giant labyrinths of quarries have formed in Ajimushkai.
Initially, up to 13 thousand people descended into the quarries, but later civilians decided to go outside. The soldiers had large supplies of food. The first sorties of the detachment from the quarries came as a complete surprise to the Germans, who did not expect that such large military formations remained in the vicinity of Kerch. Later they found out the place where they were hiding and months of siege began.
The Germans found and blew up numerous exits from the Ajimushkai quarries. First they took under guard, and then poisoned all the wells in the area. At the first stage, the main problem for Soviet soldiers was the lack of water. A detachment was created in the quarries. Soldiers collected condensation from the walls with their mouths through telephone cables into flasks. Later, the Germans made several gas attacks in the quarries. Hundreds of people died because of them.
A few months later, soldiers in the quarries found a place where there is water. A well was dug there, and the water problem was solved. They also learned how to deal with gas attacks by creating special enclosed spaces. But gradually the products began to run out and small rations decreased to a scanty level. In July 1942 Sevastopol fell. The hope of reunification with the Soviet troops in Crimea disappeared, but even at that time the soldiers in the Ajimushkai quarries did not surrender.
The last assault on the quarries took place on October 30, 1942. All exits and many overlaps in Ajimushkai were blown up, people could no longer resist, but only 48 people were captured. Nowadays, a memorial has been created in the halls where Soviet soldiers defended themselves, where you can see the conditions how soldiers lived and fought.
