About the book: 2011 / One of the most notable and most successful defensive battles of the beginning of the war was the defense of Odessa. This was not only a collective feat of many thousands of people, but also a unique defensive operation. It has no analogues in world history, including in the defense of naval bases. The book talks about these unique features. Odessa could well have become both the second Tobruk and the first Stalingrad. The book tells about many disasters and victories unknown to the reader. The reader will find out why Soviet fighter aircraft, when relocating from Odessa to Crimea, lost more aircraft than during the entire period of participation in hostilities and why for the Romanians the introduction of units of the 1st Tank Division into battle on August 18 turned into a “disaster at Karpovo.” He also learns about the last, October offensive of the Romanians on Odessa, which was never mentioned in Soviet and post-Soviet literature. When describing the hostilities, maximum use was made of surviving reports, orders, records of negotiations and other archival documents of that time, helping the reader to better feel the drama of the events taking place. The book tells for the first time the history of the creation, adoption and implementation of the three-times changed plan for the evacuation of the Primorsky Army. Much attention is also paid to the reasons for Stalin’s change of leadership of the city’s defense, which two weeks after the start of the defensive operation was transferred from the army command to the navy.