Myskhako

a cape south of Novorossiisk. On the night of Feb. 3, 1943, during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, ships of the Black Sea Fleet landed on Myskhako in the Stanichka region a naval infantry detachment of 800 men under the command of Major Ts. L. Kunikov. The detachment captured a beachhead, subsequently named Malaia Zemlia, which, despite furious attacks of fascist German forces by land and air, remained in the hands of Soviet forces. On February 6 the detachment received reinforcements and managed not only to hold the beachhead but to widen it as well. The Myskhako beachhead played an important role in the Novorossiisk-Taman’ operation of 1943.