"Terrain resources for Sevastopol and Odessa, 1917-1941?" Topic

Hello folks!

I've got some Soviet Naval Infantry who'd like a battlefield to fight over. Does anyone know of any good resources for photographs of (intact) buildings in and around Sevastopol and Odessa for the WWI-WWII period?

Ideally, I'd like to make urban harbor terrain that can pass as any of the Black Sea or Balkan ports (maybe even Italy?) for historical and pulp games.

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somewhere on the great internets theres a series of about 40 good color photos. I had it bookmarked on my old comp and cant find it sorry

wood houses with white or green trim were common

The architecture of the cities is close to the Mediterranean.
Here are some photos:

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The Crimean terrain is rocky, mostly treeless. Buildings in rural areas are close in architecture to Mediterranean.
Near Odessa, the terrain is mostly flat. Most of the buildings in the countryside are of Ukrainian type (white clay houses under thatched roofs), plus elements of the Russian type – wooden houses.

Photos:

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Some photos of the war period:

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Wow, talk about a wealth of information! Thank you Cuprum2.

Wow, Cuprum, those are some great photos!

Most of my wargaming is in smaller scales, so I'd been looking to pick a setting that would work for several periods and conflicts. I'm glad I'll be able to include the Black Sea basin in that.

Wow, talk about a wealth of information! Thank you Cuprum2.

I add my voice to the thanks.

Not only a wealth of information about terrain (as requested in the OP), but also a great set of reference images for the combat forces too!

I spy among the images a great variety of interesting stuff, including:
- Soviet Naval Infantry in Red Army uniforms (not just black naval uniforms) with Naval Infantry caps, equipped with PPSh SMGs and PTRS AT rifles.
- Soviet Naval Infantry with SVT semi-auto rifles (in the pic I can't tell whether they are SVT-38 or -40, or maybe both)
- A Carrier (looks like a Universal Carrier to me) in Russian service already in 1941/42.
- Romanian troops with M39 helmets (Dutch style), Adrian helmet (French style) side caps and beret (mountain troop?) all in one image, manning a Bofors 37mm AT gun
- Romanian troops with a Pak 97/38 75mm AT gun

And for the naval miniatures fans among us:
- Soviet cruiser Krasny Krym (Red Crimea)
- Another cruiser, not named in the captions, but to my eye appearing to be Kirov
- Soviet battleship Sevastopol or Parizhskaya Kommuna (Paris Commune), the proper name depending on the date of the photo, which was not obvious to me
- Several different Soviet destroyer types
- Soviet G-5 class torpedo boats, a fascinating approach to very low profile MTBs that might be of interest given the current popularity of Cruel Seas

Oh so much to see!

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

It must be borne in mind that some photos do not correspond to the requested period and relate to the time of the liberation of these cities (there is no way to sort this out). In particular, photos of marines in regular army uniforms most likely date back to 1944.

Automatic SVT rifles are precisely the most characteristic of the Soviet marines throughout the war. It was a rather complicated weapon to maintain, and in ordinary rifle units (except for personnel pre-war units) this rifle was not liked and was considered too complicated. Most of the regular infantry recruits were peasants who had rather low technical knowledge and experience, and therefore preferred a relatively simple Mosin rifle. For the sailors, the SVT did not cause any problems, and its advantages in battle were obvious.

For the first time, military equipment delivered from the UK was used at the Battle of Moscow in late 1941.

I see the turret at Maxim Gorky.

The cruiser "Maxim Gorky" fought in the Baltic Fleet. In the Black Sea operated the same type cruiser "Molotov".

It must of run aground then.
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Oh, I did not understand that we are talking about a coastal artillery battery)))
These are German designations. On the Russian side, these artillery batteries simply had a number. In this case, No. 35