Battle for Sevastopol — Ukraine
Pavlichenko first sees combat during the Defence of Odessa — a 73-day siege where Soviet and Romanian forces fought street by street before an orderly evacuation to Sevastopol.
The Defence of Odessa ran from 5 August to 16 October 1941. The city was encircled by Romanian forces under German command. Soviet forces evacuated by sea to Crimea after the Kerch area required reinforcement. Odessa was awarded Hero City status in 1945. The evacuation of 86,000 troops across the Black Sea was one of the war's most successful naval withdrawals.