Impact of Crimea evacuated in time in 1944

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

Its seems beyond comprehension why Hitler refused to evacuate 235k men from Crimea in 1944 with all for their heavy equipment, leading the vast majority being killed and captured for no reasonable gain and only 60k being successfully evacuated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Offensive
What if the Axis forces had been ordered to evacuate in late 1943 before being cut off and contributed to the defense of the Dniepr instead? Clearly not going to change the outcome of the war, but with a bit more rationality in the conduct of withdrawals in the 1943-44 period what impact would it have made on operations in that period? Might it delay the flipping of Romania?
 
As with other encirclements, the less German troops that are sent to rot in Siberian gulags, the more Germans there are to delay the final fall of Berlin. They could be used to hold the Soviets longer, and any spares could be sent west to defend against the WAllies. Destroying the infrastructure in Crimea would help somewhat, but the Black Sea port facilities aren't that important in the overall front for the Soviets anyway.
 
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