sevastopol was still a formidable obstacle. its airfields provided a base for the red air force to attack the axis-held soviet coastline and romania proper. it was also home to the black sea fleet. its main fortifications were pointed seaward, while the land defences encircled the city at a distance of 15–20 km, with an inner defense belt at a range of 5 km. enhancing the manmade defences was the forested, rugged terrain. to the north of severnaya bay there were 11 batteries and strongpoints. they were given morale-boosting names such as "stalin", "maxim gorky i", "molotov", and "lenin". they were defended by the first coastal army. elsewhere, the red army had constructed hundreds of timber bunkers with machinegun nests and 45 mm anti-tank artillery. along the outer belt, concrete bunkers were less common, 19 being stretched across its 37 km. soviet engineers laid thousands of mines, including pmd-6 wooden anti-personnel mines, tmd-40 wooden anti-tank mines, and barbed-wire obstacle belts.