By January, the situation in the Crimea found the Russians standing tough at opposite ends of the peninsula, at Parpach and Sevastopol. With Sevastopol besieged by infantry, Manstein directed his mobile units to clear the rest of the peninsula. On the morning of 15 January, the veteran tanks of S.A. 190 were ordered to support the infantry in a large-scale assault on the Parpach line.