Where is the Ortasli-See?

[Petrusja]

Hi all,

In the Crimea Luftwaffe seaplanes used a lake near Kerch which they called the Ortasli-See (Lake Ortasli). It was within artillery range from Taman, across the Kerch Strait, and thus it is probably the coastal lake referred to as Tobechiskoye on modern maps. I would like to have confirmation of this, however.

Some funny names there, it took my Times Atlas of the Second World War to find out that the port of Ak-Meschet is Chonomorske.

Thanks

Peter

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

Hi Peter,
it is indeed near Kerch.

Norbert

[Petrusja]

Thanks for the confirmation, Norbert.

Do you have any details? Another German source says Ortali without the s, and also mentions a place (village?) called Ortalic (which seems to be a strange spelling.)

[Larry deZeng]

Ortaeli or Ortasli (UKR/Crimea) (e. same?) (c. 45 10 N – 36 23 E)
General: seaplane base in E Crimea 22 km SSW of Kerch on a salt water lagoon just inland from the Kerch Strait.
Operational Units: part of 8. Seenotstaffel (Sep 42 – Oct 43); 2. Seetransportstaffel (Mar – Oct 43).
Station Commands: Fl.H.Kdtr. E See 126/XI (Jul 42 – Oct 43).
Station Units (on various dates – not complete): Seenotkdo. 18 (Sep 42 – Oct 43); 101. Flugh.Betr.Kp. (Qu) ( ? – Mar 43).

If you look at these coordinates on Google Earth, it appears that this salt lake has disappeared - evaporated into thin air. But at least you can see where it was.

L.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

[quote=Larry deZeng;178098]Ortaeli or Ortasli

Hello, Larry!

Ortaeli (Ogon'ki today) is the village on the NW bank of the Tobechikskoye lake. Luftwaffe for unknown reasons named the lake "Ortaeli" and in many cases erroneously "Ortasli".

On the German Army (Heeres) maps all these names were correct.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks for the explanation, Andrey! Knowing the present day name - Ogon'ki - makes it much easier to find on maps.

L.

[Petrusja]

[quote=Andrey Kuznetsov;178121]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Ortaeli or Ortasli

Hello, Larry!

Ortaeli (Ogon'ki today) is the village on the NW bank of the Tobechikskoye lake. Luftwaffe for unknown reasons named the lake "Ortaeli" and in many cases erroneously "Ortasli".

On the German Army (Heeres) maps all these names were correct.

Best regards,
Andrey

Hello Andrey.

So the name of the village used to be Ortaeli? Sounding like Ortayeli?

Thanks,

Peter

[Petrusja]

Thanks a million, Larry.

It's the location I thought it was - maybe there's a lake at times.

By the way, also thanks for your Seenotdienst in Tunisia tips in another topic - it seems the system won't let me post in that topic.