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As the German troops fell back from the Moscow region, Soviet troops launched the Rzhev-Vyazma Strategic Offensive Operation in an attempt to sever the link between troops of the German 16th Army and elements of the German Xth Army Corps in the Demyansk area south of Leningrad, Russia and the Staraya Russa railway that sustained German supplies and communications. Two pincers, it was hoped, would encircle German troops at Demyansk. The northern pincer, or the Demyansk Offensive, was launched on 7 Jan, while the southern pincer, or the Toropets-Kholm Offensive, was launched on 9 Jan. On 8 Feb 1942, the Soviet 1st Army and Soviet 11th Shock Army, supported by 1st and 2nd Guards Rifle Corps, succeeded in encircling the German troops, thus forming the Demyansk Pocket, trapping about 90,000 German troops and about 10,000 auxiliary personnel inside. German General Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt of the IInd Army Corps was the commanding officer of the trapped Germans. On 12 Feb, the Soviet 3rd and 4th Shock Armies joined in to assert more pressure on the trapped German forces, but bad weather and stubborn German resistance led to little Soviet progress.

About 100 kilometers to the southwest, the much smaller Kholm Pocket also continued to resist continuous Soviet attacks.

Meanwhile, the German Luftflotte 1 devoted nearly its entire fleet of transport aircraft to deliver supplies to the two airfields within the pocket, Demyansk and Peski, with only minimal disruption from the weaker Soviet Air Forces. The Luftwaffe would lose 265 aircraft and 387 men during this campaign, while the Soviet Air Forces lost 408 aircraft.

On 21 Mar 1942, German Lieutenant General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach attempted a breakout near the Staraya Russa railway, a region that the Soviet forces had called the "Ramushevo corridor", which succeeded on 21 Apr. By this time, the Germans had suffered about 13,000 casualties, 3,335 of which were fatal.

Epilogue

Although the siege was broken on 21 Apr 1942, fighting in the Demyansk area in Russia would continue for nearly another year until 28 Feb 1943 when German troops finally evacuated from the region. Although trapped, the German troops were able to hold their defensive position and eventually break out due to the successful air supply campaign. This achievement convinced the head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring that a similar, but much larger, supply campaign could be used to continue to support the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, which was encircled in that city in late Nov 1942. The result of that air supply campaign, however, would later prove to be much less effective.

Photographs

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