Most survivors of the Mobile Division turned in their weapons in early 1944 and the unit was assigned construction work well behind the front lines. A handful of the most determined soldiers remained under arms in the Tartarko Combat Group, assigned to help defend the Perekop Isthmus leading from Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula. The small unit was well-supplied with light anti-aircraft guns, but almost nothing else.

The ill-prepared Slovaks put up some resistance, but the Soviets soon breached the earthen embankment and rolled up both Slovak flanks. No survivors made it back to German lines, and about 300 of the combat group’s 775 men defected and joined the Red Army on the spot. The remainder were killed or taken prisoner.