The majority of the fighting and dying in World War II centered on the Eastern Front and the clash of the Nazi and Soviet armies. The Nazi invasion in June 1941 Operation Barbarossa can be viewed as a series of double envelopments, capturing huge numbers of men and machines. Also called "cauldrons", the great encirclement battles of 1941 cost the Soviet Union dearly. There were approximately 8-11 pockets in 1941, each of which netted more than 100,000 prisoners. Most of these prisoners would be dead within the next 8 months.[1]
| Prisoners taken | Tanks D/C | Guns D/C | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rossizny | 200 tanks | ||
| 2 | Bialystok-Minsk | 290,000 | 3,332 tanks | 1809 guns |
| 3 | Smolensk | 310,000 | 3205 tanks | 3120 guns |
| 4 | Roslavl | 38,000 | 250 tanks | 359 guns |
| 5 | Gomel | 84,000 | 144 tanks | 848 guns |
| 6 | Dvina | 35,000 | 355 tanks | 655 guns |
| 7 | Staraya Russa | 53,000 | 320 tanks | 695 guns |
| 8 | Luga | 250,000 | 1170 tanks | 3075 guns |
| 9 | Reval | 12,000 | 91 tanks | 293 guns |
| 10 | Galacia | 150,000 | 1970 tanks | 2190 guns |
| 11 | Uman | 103,000 | 317 tanks | 1100 guns |
| 12 | Zhitomir | 18,000 | 142 tanks | 123 guns |
| 13 | Valdai Hills | 30,000 | 400 guns | |
| 14 | Kiev | 667,000 | 884 tanks | 3718 guns |
| 15 | Vyazma-Bryansk | 663,000 | 1242 tanks | 5412 guns |
| 16 | Nikolav | 60,000 | 84 tanks | 1100 guns |
| 17 | Dnieper Bend | 84,000 | 199 tanks | 465 guns |
| 18 | Mariupol (Sea of Azov) | 106,000 | 212 tanks | 672 guns |
| 19 | Crimea | 100,000 | 160 tanks | 700 guns |
| 20 | Donetz | 14,000 | 45 tanks | 69 guns |