In late July 1941, Hitler order army Group South to seize the Crimea in order to prevent Soviet air attacks on the Ploesti oilfields in Romania. This vital mission was assigned to weak Eleventh Army under Generaloberst von Manstein. In late September 1941, von Manstein began his initial attacks upon the strong Soviet defences at the Perekop isthmus, and then cleared the heavily fortified Kerch …