The Unknown War

The Battle of the Seas (1x11)

: 01, 1979

The Russians fought Hitler at sea -- in the Baltic, in the Gulf of Finland, in the Black Sea, the Arctic and even on inland lakes and rivers. Soviet marines attacked so savagely, they were nicknamed "the Black Death" by the Nazis. Russia's Baltic fleet rescued Soviet forces from Tallinn, under a rain of Nazi bombs and a barrage of torpedo fire. The Soviet survivors returned the great naval base of Kronstadt after an evacuation at rival Dunkirk. When their ships were sunk, Russian sailors fought on the land. They battled the Germans in Odessa, in Novorossiysk, Murmansk, and they fought a 250-day defense of the fortress at Sebastapol. Each battle was a vivid chapter in the Unknown War.