Kholm Pocket

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Kholm Pocket
Part of World War II
Date 23 January-5 May 1942
Location Kholm, Russia
Result German defensive success
Belligerents
 Germany  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Theodor Scherer Soviet Union ?
Strength
5,500 unknown
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown
Leningrad and the Baltics 1941–1944

The Kholm Pocket (German: Kessel von Cholm; Russian: Холмский котёл) was the name given for the encirclement of German troops by the Red Army around Kholm south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front, from 23 January 1942 until 5 May 1942. A much larger pocket was simultaneously surrounded in Demyansk, about 100 km (62 mi) to the northeast. These were the results of German retreat following their defeat during the Battle of Moscow.[1]

At the small Kholm pocket, 5,500 German soldiers held out for 105 days.[2] The pocket was supplied by air, but was too small for planes to land; therefore, supplies had to be dropped in and recovered by the German defenders.[3] Among the airdropped supplies were 35 of the first 50 prototype MKb 42(H) rifles, the first time the weapon was used in combat.

The puzzled together German units trapped at Kholm were mainly part of:[4]

  • 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

Hauptmann Albert Biecker was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 20 March 1942 for his command of the defence of the GPU-ruin in the pocket. Biecker was killed in action five weeks later in Cholm, four days before the pocket was relieved by German forces.[3] In July 1942, the Cholm Shield was awarded to the German defenders of the pocket, upon the suggestion of Generalmajor Theodor Scherer, similar to the Demyansk Shield.[4]

Scherer was personally awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves by Adolf Hitler for the command of the defense of Kholm.[4]

Kholm was eventually liberated by the Red Army on 21 February 1944.

Members of the Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 65, a police unit from Gelsenkirchen, were questioned after the war by the state prosecuter in Dortmund for their involvement in ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe. The unit was found to have taken part in a minimum of 5,000 executions and a large number of deportations to concentration camps. Among them was also the hanging of a young girl in Kholm during the siege.[5]

Gallery

  • Offensive of the Red Army south of Lake Ilmen
    7 January–21 February 1942

  • Soldiers in the Kholm Pocket, 1942

  • Transporting soldiers with glider Gotha Go 242nd Soldiers when boarding an aircraft, PK 501

  • Sergeant gives soldier food, right: wounded with head and arm injuries, the end of January - beginning of May 1942

  • Soldier sitting for dinner in front of a ruined house

References

  1. ↑ Carel, p. 25
  2. ↑ Carel, p. 251
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Carel, p. 253
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Kholm Shield (German) www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, accessed: 16 December 2011
  5. ↑ Reserve-Polizeibataillon 65 (mot) (German) www.gelsenzentrum.de, accessed: 16 December 2011

Sources

Further reading

  • Richard Muck, Kampfgruppe Scherer–105 Tage im Kessel, (German) published: 1943, reprinted: 2007, publisher: Arndt Verlag, ISBN 978-3-88741-091-9
  • Jason D Mark (2011). "Besieged:The Epic Battle for Cholm". Leaping Horseman Books. ISBN 978-0-9751076-9-0.

External links

Coordinates: 57°09′N 31°11′E / 57.150°N 31.183°E / 57.150; 31.183

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