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| SS-Division Totenkopf |
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| Kessel von Demjansk |
By late February 1942, the SS-Division Totenkopf's sector had been so widely infiltrated by Soviet troops that all contact with nighbouring German units had been lost. The Totenkopf's positions were often penetrated and the Soviets driven out only after fierce fighting. The SS troops were cold, exhausted, lice-ridden and suffering from frostbite, but had driven off Soviet units greatly superior in numbers. By the time the Soviet attacks began to tail off in mid-March 1942, as the spring thaws set in, they had lost tens of thousands troops in their attempt to crush the Demyansk Pocket. The Totenkopf, in the same period, had lost around 7,000 men. According to Russian sources Soviet casualties around Demyansk during the period between February and May 1942 were 245,500 including 88,908 killed and missing. According to official German statistics and documents, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units suffered 55,000 casualties, including 14,516 killed and missing. Credit: Wikipedia i.a. Left image: according to various scholars, a soldier of the Totenkopf during a break from the fierce battles. Neither heroes nor brave fighters step from the ranks of men made lonely by a hunger in their hearts for news from home. Credit: Toussaint Bonavita. Right image: German soldiers exhausted and worn out with fatigue. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
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