A pocket is a group of combat forces that have been isolated by opposing forces from their logistical base and other friendly forces. In mobile warfare, such as blitzkrieg, salients were more likely to be cut off into pockets, which became the focus of battles of annihilation. The term ''pocket'' carries connotations that 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 reinforcemen ...

was not intentionally allowed by the encircled forces, as it may have been when defending a fortified position, which is usually called a

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

. That is a similar distinction to that made between a

skirmish Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

and

pitched battle A pitched battle or set-piece battle is a battle in which opposing forces each anticipate the setting of the battle, and each chooses to commit to it. Either side may have the option to disengage before the battle starts or shortly thereafter. A ...

Implementation

Soviet military doctrine

Soviet military doctrine distinguishes several sizes of

: * Cauldron or kettle (russian: котёл, translit=kotyol or ''kotyel''; ua, котел, translit=kotel): a very large, strategic-level concentration of trapped enemy forces * Sack (russian: мешок, translit=meshok; ua, мішок, translit=mishok): an operational-level trapped enemy force * Nest (russian: гнездо, translit=gnezdo; ua, гніздо, translit=hnizdo): a tactical-level trapped enemy force The significance of these terms are reflected by the conception of what can be expected in combat in encirclement operations. A cauldron is expected to be "boiling" with combat activity, the large enemy forces still quite able to offer "hot" resistance in the initial stages of encirclement, and so are to be contained, but not engaged directly. A sack in Soviet experience was often created as a result of operational breakthroughs, and was sometimes as unexpected for the Soviet command as for the enemy. This encirclement, sometimes of an entity of unknown size, tended to move for some time after the initial encirclement due to inherently dynamic nature of

operational warfare In the field of military theory, the operational level of war (also called operational art, as derived from russian: оперативное искусство, or operational warfare) represents the level of command that connects the details of ...

. By contrast a nest was a reference to a tactical, well-defined and contained encirclement of enemy troops that was seen as a fragile construct of enemy troops unsupported by its parent formation (the use of the word nest is similar to the more familiar English expression ''

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

nest'').

Kessel

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

the word ''Kessel'' (literally a

cauldron A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot ( kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in religion, mythology, and ...

though cognate with

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

) is commonly used to refer to an encircled military force, and a '' Kesselschlacht'' (cauldron battle) refers to a

pincer movement The pincer movement, or double envelopment, is a military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanks (sides) of an enemy formation. This classic maneuver holds an important foothold throughout the history of warfare. The pin ...

. The common tactic which would leave a Kessel is referred to as Keil and Kessel (Keil means ''wedge''). Kessel is a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...

in English texts about World War II. Another use of ''Kessel'' is to refer to ''Kessel fever,'' the panic and hopelessness felt by any troops who were surrounded with little or no chance of escape. '

Kettling Kettling (also known as containment or corralling) is a police tactic for controlling large crowds during demonstrations or protests. It involves the formation of large cordons of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a li ...

' is also used to refer to a police tactic in which police surround groups of protesters to contain their activities.

Cerco

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

the word ''Cerco'' (literally a

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

) is commonly used to refer to an encircling military force. ''Cercos'' were particularly common in the

Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõBolivia and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

(1932–1935) and encirclement battles were decisive for the outcome of the war. In the

Campo Vía pocket The battle of the Campo Vía pocket was a decisive engagement of the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia which took place in December 1933. It was one of the most prominent battles of the Chaco War. Lt Col José Félix Estigarribia, with a ma ...

7,500 Bolivians were taken prisoner out of an initial combat force of 10,000. Other ''cercos'' of the war include the

battle of Campo Grande The Battle of Campo Grande was a major engagement which took place during the Chaco War, in the southern region of the Chaco Boreal. During this battle, the Paraguayan Army successfully encircled two Bolivian regiments defending two of the thre ...

and the battle of Cañada Strongest.

Motti

Motti is Finnish language, Finnish military slang for a totally encircled enemy unit. The tactic of encircling it is called motitus, literally meaning the formation of an isolated block or "motti", but in effect meaning an ''entrapment'' or ''envelopment''. The word means "mug" in many Finnish dialects; an alternate translation refers to a cubic meter of firewood, a relatively small area in which an encircled enemy could be "cut down" like trees. ''motti'' is thus related to ''Kesselschlacht, kessel''. A ''motti'' in military tactics therefore means the formation of "bite sized" enemy units which are easier to contain and deal with. This military tactic, tactic of envelopment was used extensively by the Finnish forces in the Winter War and the Continuation War to good effect. It was especially effective against some of the Mechanized military unit, mechanized units of the Soviet Army, which were effectively restricted to the long and narrow forest roads with virtually no way other than forwards or backwards. Once committed to a road, the Soviet troops effectively were trapped. Unlike the mechanized units of the Soviets, the Finnish troops could move quickly through the forests on skis and break columns of armoured Soviet units into smaller chunks (e.g., by felling trees along the road). Once the large column was split up into smaller armoured units, the Finnish forces attacking from within the forest could strike the weakened column. The smaller pockets of enemy troops could then be dealt with individually by concentrating forces on all sides against the entrapped unit. A ''motitus'' is therefore a double envelopment manoeuvre, using the ability of light troops to travel over rough ground to encircle enemy troops on a road. Heavily outnumbered but mobile forces could easily immobilize an enemy many times more numerous. By cutting the enemy columns or units into smaller groups and then encircling them with light and mobile forces, such as ski-troops during winter, a smaller force can overwhelm a much larger force. If the encircled enemy unit was too strong, or if attacking it would have entailed an unacceptably high cost, e.g., because of a lack of heavy equipment, the ''motti'' was usually left to "stew" until it ran out of food, fuel, supplies, and ammunition and was weakened enough to be eliminated. Some of the larger mottis held out until the end of the war because they were resupplied by air. Being trapped, however, these units were not available for battle operations. The largest motti battles in the Winter War occurred at the Battle of Suomussalmi. Three Finnish regiments enveloped and destroyed two Soviet divisions as well as a tank brigade trapped on a road.

Notable pockets

In World War II

*In the winter of 1939–1940, Finnish troops encircled in a series of coordinated assaults approx. 50,000 Red army soldiers in the Battle of Suomussalmi with Soviet casualties exceeding over 30,000, while Finnish casualties stayed relatively low, approx. 1,000 soldiers (estimates vary). Escaping Red army soldiers abandoned hundreds of weapons and vehicles which were later used by the Finnish forces. *From June to December 1941, during Operation Barbarossa, **Almost the entire Western Front (Soviet Union), Soviet Western Front of over 420,000 was encircled and destroyed by the German Army Group Centre in the Battle of Bialystok-Minsk. **Later, 310,000 Soviet Union, Soviet troops were captured in a pocket at Smolensk when isolated by the Panzer forces of Generals Heinz Guderian and Hermann Hoth on August 5, 1941. **During the Siege of Odessa (1941), Siege of Odessa, German and Romanian forces encircled and captured tens of thousands of Soviet troops. **At the end, most of the Southwestern Front (Soviet Union), Soviet Southwestern Front (about 700,000 soldiers) was encircled in the Battle of Kiev (1941), First Battle of Kiev. *During the Battle of Moscow, over one million Soviet troops were encircled and destroyed in the opening phase, with 600,000–700,000 of them becoming prisoners, and the rest being killed. *In the winter of 1942, 100,000 German Wehrmacht troops were encircled in the Demyansk Pocket in northwestern Russia, but were relieved the following spring. *In the winter of 1942, 5,500 German troops were encircled by the Soviets in the Kholm Pocket. *In the spring of 1942, 277,000 Soviet troops engaged in an offensive thrust were encircled during the German counterattack in the Second Battle of Kharkov. *In November 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, nearly all of the 6th Army (Wehrmacht), German Sixth Army of over 250,000 men was encircled and destroyed in Operation Uranus. The Italian Army in Russia and the Second Army (Hungary), Hungarian Second Army were similarly eliminated during Operation Little Saturn. *In late 1942 and early 1943, some 50,000 German 3rd Panzer Army troops were, under much higher losses, encircled and annihilated by the Soviets in the Battle of Velikiye Luki, Velikiye Luki Pocket. *In early 1944 the German 8th Army (Wehrmacht), 8th Army was encircled in the Korsun Pocket; though could eventually break out with both sides suffering heavy losses. *In March 1944 the 1st Panzer Army was trapped by the Soviets in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket (or Hube's Pocket), but was able to inflict high losses and broke out. *In May 1944, nearly half the German and Romanian garrison in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula were captured during the Crimean Offensive, primarily in Sevastopol. *In June and July 1944, over 350,000–500,000 German troops were killed, wounded, or captured during Operation Bagration in modern Belarus. *In August 1944, over 300,000 German and Romanian troops were overrun in the second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive in modern Romania. *In August 1944, following the Normandy Landings, D-Day landings, the German 7th Army (Wehrmacht), 7th Army was trapped in the Falaise pocket. *Also in September 1944, during the Operation Market Garden, Battle of Arnhem, a reinforced British British 1st Airborne Division, Airborne division was trapped in a pocket the Germans called the (lit. 'witches' cauldron'), suffering over 8,000 casualties. *In 1944, thousands of German troops were encircled by a Canadian Army force in the Breskens Pocket during the Battle of the Scheldt. *In winter of 1944–1945, a large number of German Army Group Courland troops was isolated in the Courland Pocket in northwestern Latvia until the end of the war. *In the same winter German troops were encircled in the Battle of Memel, Memel pocket; however, they eventually were evacuated by sea. *Also during the winter of 1944–1945, nearly 300,000 German troops were overrun in the Vistula–Oder Offensive in modern Poland. *In 1944–1945, 180,000 German and Hungarian troops were isolated by Soviet troops in the Siege of Budapest. *In 1945 the German 9th Army (Wehrmacht), 9th Army was destroyed in the Battle of Halbe. *In 1945, 325,000 German Army Group B troops were isolated and captured by advancing Twelfth United States Army Group in the Ruhr Pocket. *In April and May 1945, over 85,000 German troops were encircled and destroyed in the Battle of Berlin and collapse of Nazi Germany. *Finally in August 1945, over 700,000 Japanese and Manchurian troops were encircled over a broad area during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria."Battlefield Manchuria – The Forgotten Victory"
Battlefield (documentary series), ''Battlefield'', 2001, 98 minutes.

Other pockets

*The Hornet's Nest (Civil War), Hornet's Nest during the Battle of Shiloh in the American Civil War, where two Union Army, Union divisions were surrounded, cut off from the rest of the army, and held out against ferocious Confederate States Army, Confederate attacks for six hours before surrendering. *Siege of Campo Vía, Campo Vía in the

Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ Rather than surrender, the encircled troops continued fighting for over two months in what became the Siege of Mariupol, with heavy casualties inflicted on both sides.

References

Sources

External links

{{Wiktionary, cerco, Kessel, motti
The Great Kitilä Motti
(Winter War history from a documentary film's website) Military terminology Military tactics Land warfare Orienteering