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| Demyansk Pocket |
On February 8 1942, at the significant cost of losses the Soviet ring finally closed around the already depleted SS-Division Totenkopf and the German II and X Corps, trapping 12, 30, 32, 123 and 290.Infantry Divisions. The German command repeatedly requested permission to retreat, but Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler did not give it. The Germans managed to organize an excellent defense of the outer front of the pocket, and inside it they built a system of alternative fortifications and secured settlements and roads. The surrounded parts of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS successfully defended themselves, being surrounded for two months. When contested villages changed the occupants they usually turned into flames. The Totenkopf Division was split up, on orders of German 16th Army, with sub-units being despatched to various crises points. Its units fighting in snow well over one metre deep and in temperatures of minus 30 degrees °C, came under extreme pressure as they tried to hold the line of scattered villages. The desperate resistance by these isolated strongpoints helped to stabilize the front. The German defensive battles were fought with sufficient skill, tenacity, and resourcefulness to merit close scrutiny. Images: photos of a German and a presumably Latvian volunteer Jäger on the north-eastern front, both with determined expressions into the wide vista. The Jägers were usually crack shots used for ambushes and patrols. c. Bundesarchiv.
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