Crimea III: Sapun Gor

After Balaklava we drove up to Sapun Gor (Sapun Hill), where there's a big ass WW2 memorial, with memorabilia of the Battle of Sevastopol, which the Germans won in 1942 and a Diorama of the later liberation of the city (with historical characters in it) on May 9, 1944. Sevastopol was among the first Soviet cities awarded the title of Hero City because of its resistance against the Nazis.

At Sapun Gor, there's a museum containing the Diorama and there's tons of military hardware scattered around the area. There's also a churchlike memorial and a big obelisk with an eternal flame burning. There's no English text inside the museum, but there is an option for English language for the spoken narration inside the Diorama. The place is highly recommended if you're into history, it is quite moving even if you don't speak any Russian.

In addition to the WW2 history, Sapun Gor also looks out over the area where the famous Charge of the Light Brigade took place. The story is immortalized in Tennyson's poem, but in reality it was a military fuck-up of epic proportions. A French general who watched it is famously quoted as having said "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre" - "It's magnificent, but it's not war".

On the same date, there was another battle a bit closer to Balaklava, where a small group of Scotsmen (the 93rd Highlanders) stood against the Russian cavalery in an event later known as The Thin Red Line. The battle was later immortalized in a famous painting by Robert Gibb, and I've seen a copy of it at the small regimental museum for the 93rd which is in a building at Stirling Castle.

All pics from Sapun Gor here.

The obelisk.


The Eternal Flame.


Tanks outside the museum.


You pay an extra 15 Hryvna (less than $2) to take pictures of the diorama. Well invested money. Some of the people pictured here are actual persons who fought in the liberation of Sevastopol.







The Valley of Death.