The Kholm Pocket (german: Kessel von Cholm; russian: Холмский котёл) was the name given for the

encirclement Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces. The situation is highly dangerous for the encircled force. At the strategic level, it cannot receive supplies or reinforceme ...

of German troops by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

around Kholm, south of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

's the Eastern Front, from 23 January 1942 to 5 May 1942. A much larger pocket was meanwhile surrounded in

Demyansk Demyansk (russian: Демя́нск) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Demyansky District of Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located along the Yavon River. Municipally, it is incorporated as Demyanskoye Urban Se ...

, about to the northeast. Both were the results of the German retreat following the defeat during the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...

.Zabecki, p. 695–696 The air supply of Kholm and Demyansk was successful but led to an overconfidence in the German High Command on the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

's ability to supply encircled forces by air, which would lead to disastrous consequences at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

in late 1942 and early 1943.

Overview

At the Kholm pocket, 5,500 German soldiers held out for 105 days. The pocket was supplied by air but since it was too small for planes to land, supplies had to be dropped in and recovered by the German defenders. Among the airdropped supplies were 35 of the first 50 prototype

MKb 42(H) The Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) or MKb 42(H) (machine carbine Model 1942 (Haenel)) was an early German assault rifle firing an intermediate round of World War II. Designed in 1940-41 by Hugo Schmeisser working for ''C. G. Haenel Waffen und Fahrr ...

rifles. Most of the German units in the pocket were part of the following: * 218th Infantry Division * Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 65 * Infanterie-Regiment 553 (of the 329th Infantry Division) * Parts of the 123rd Infantry Division * Jagdkommando 8 * III. Bataillon of the Luftwaffenfeldregiment 1 German forces made attempts to relieve the pocket in January, March and May 1942. The first two failed, but the third was successful; the German forces in the pocket had been reduced to 1,200. In July 1942, the

Cholm Shield The Cholm Shield () was a World War II German military decoration awarded to those who fought in the Cholm Pocket on the Eastern Front between 21 January and 5 May 1942. It was instituted on 1 July 1942 and is the rarest of the German combat shi ...

was awarded to the German defenders of the pocket upon the suggestion of Generalmajor

Theodor Scherer Theodor Scherer (17 September 1889 – 17 May 1951) was a German lieutenant general and divisional commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II. Biography Early life and career Scherer was born at Höchstädt an der Donau on 17 September 1 ...

, similar to the

Demyansk Shield Demyansk Shield (german: Ärmelschild Demjansk) was a World War II German military decoration awarded to Wehrmacht personnel who fought in the Demyansk pocket on the Eastern Front in the early months of 1942. The pocket of German troops had be ...

.Kholm Shield
www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, accessed: 16 December 2011 Scherer was personally awarded the

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight' ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

for the command of the defence of Kholm. Kholm would be occupied by the Red Army on 21 February 1944.

War crimes

Members of the Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 65, a police unit from

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

, were questioned after the war by the state prosecutor in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

for their involvement in

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. The unit was found to have taken part in a minimum of 5,000 executions and many deportations to

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. Among them was also the hanging of a young girl in Kholm during the siege.Reserve-Polizeibataillon 65 (mot)
www.gelsenzentrum.de, accessed: 16 December 2011

Gallery

File:Demjansk Einkesselung.png, Offensive of the Red Army south of Lake Ilmen
7 January–21 February 1942 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B21250, Russland, Cholm, Soldaten vor Hausruinen.jpg, Soldiers in the Kholm Pocket, 1942 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-004-3633-05, Russland, Cholm, Soldatentransport mit Go 242.jpg, Soldiers preparing to board a

Gotha Go 242 The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the ''Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luf ...

glider, Kholm File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-004-3637-13A, Russland, Cholm.jpg, Sergeant gives soldier food, right: wounded with head and arm injuries, the end of January - beginning of May 1942 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-004-3637-35A, Russland, Cholm, essender Soldat.jpg, Soldier sitting for dinner in front of a ruined house File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-004-3648-21A, Russland, Cholm, Frauen mit Toten auf Schlitten.jpg, Russian women transport the dead by sledge during the occupation of Kholm. End January - Beginning May 1942.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* __NOTOC__ {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Conflicts in 1942 Military operations of World War II involving Germany Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War Encirclements in World War II