Battle for the hill

The hill city was occupied by German troops in the fall of 1941, and because of the great activity of partisans in this area, parts of the 281st security division of Major General Theodore Scherer were stationed in it.

On January 15, 1942, the forces of the North-Western Front of the Red Army managed to break through the Wehrmacht's positions at Lake Seliger , after which the provincial town of Kholm became an important railway junction. The 3rd shock Soviet army was to quickly occupy the Hill, and then it would open up the possibility of entering the rear of the 16th Wehrmacht army, which at that time had no forces to cover it. In the city itself at that time, German troops had only one company of the security division (Scherer was in Lokne with the headquarters). The Wehrmacht command soon realized the danger of a possible occupation of the Hill by the Red Army for the front, and soon the garrison of the city was reinforced by units of the 416th Infantry Regiment (commander was Oberst Stengel) and the 65th Police Battalion, retreating from the East. However, the condition of these units left much to be desired: most of the soldiers received frostbite and during the course of the retreat almost all the heavy equipment and artillery were lost. Nevertheless, Stengel located his fighters east of the city and sent a request for reinforcements to the headquarters (however, he himself understood that they would not succeed in quickly breaking through to the city through the snow.

Scherer, whose area of ​​responsibility was Holm, was actively seeking opportunities to strengthen the garrison in the city. He stopped and, providing her with ammunition stock, sent to the city units of the 218th Infantry Division that had arrived from Denmark. Soon he himself went to the city with his headquarters.

Partisan attack

On the night of January 17-18, Vasiliev’s partisans attacked the Hill from three directions. The main attack occurred at 4 in the morning, about 400 partisans took part in it. At the cost of heavy losses and the loss of all cars, the Germans managed to repel the attack of the partisans, as during a long urban battle they used up all their ammunition and were forced to withdraw with nothing. The regular units never approached the partisans on time, but some of them remained in the city and fought alone.

On that day, Major General Scherer with reinforcements arrived in the city and took command. At that time, under his leadership were 3,158 soldiers. In addition, several guns and 17-19 mortars were available. The hill was a fairly convenient defensive site, since it was possible to view all the surroundings from it, and the buildings served as an excellent shelter for soldiers. The most powerful defensive unit was erected in the old GPU prison.

City environment

On January 20, the 33rd rifle division of Makariev, with three regiments battered in battle, launched the second assault on the city. However, he, like the previous one, did not give tangible results (the Wehrmacht lost about 50 people). Then Makaryev decided to surround the city, but the ring could not be dense due to the loss of his division. Due to the fragility of the ring, two companies of the 218th division managed to get into the city. By January 28, Soviet units were able to finally close the ring around the city.

Cauldron Fight

The Soviet side constantly launched local attacks on the city, but Scherer's troops quickly regained their lost territory. The main forces of the Red Army at that moment were concentrated in the Demyansky Cauldron, and therefore General Makaryev could count only on his own strength. Soviet attacks caused trouble to the German garrison, but they were stereotyped, so the Germans easily repelled them. Often it came to hand-to-hand combat, since snow and snowstorms allowed Soviet soldiers to get close to enemy positions. Maxim Alekseevich Purkaev , commander of the 3rd shock army, understood that Makarievna’s forces had suffered heavy losses and couldn’t take the city, and therefore strengthened the encirclement of the 391st Infantry Division, the 146th Tank Battalion (13 tanks) and the artillery regiment , which included reactive mortars. As a result of all this, it was possible to bring the number of Soviet troops besieging the Hill to 23,000 soldiers.

The German command attempted to unlock the city, but it failed. Then, as a support to the perimeter of the boiler, a large amount of artillery was deployed, so the garrison had the opportunity to call up artillery support at any time.

On February 13, the Soviet side launched a massive assault on the city with the forces of two infantry regiments, which were supposed to strike from the East and South-West. In the South-West direction, German troops managed to stop the advance of the Soviet troops, although the attack from this direction was supported by the English tanks Matilda , delivered by Lend-Lease . The low level of crew training did not allow the full use of the advantages of these vehicles in battle. In the East of the Red Army, the 386th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment was pushed aside, which threatened the German defense line. Scherer ordered at all costs to recapture the territory he had seized from the enemy. Heavy fighting lasted for 5 days and nights and cost the Germans heavy losses. Soldiers of the 386th Infantry at close range destroyed Soviet tanks and spent almost all their ammunition supplies, but they managed to recapture the territory occupied by the Red Army. The first assault cost the Red Army heavy losses and ended in nothing.

The next assault followed on February 24th. Simultaneously with the offensive, Soviet artillery disabled German support batteries, as a result of which the garrison was left alone with the enemy. Soviet troops managed to break into the city center and come close to the GPU prison, where there was the most powerful defense center. However, despite all the difficulties, the German garrison again repelled the attack. By the end of March, half of the garrison had died from the typhoid epidemic, and lack of supplies had an acute effect on the soldiers.

Soon, the 3rd shock army again resumed attempts to occupy the city, and one of them was successful. The rifle battalion, with the support of the KV-1 tanks, recaptured a piece of territory in the North of the city and wedged itself firmly into the Wehrmacht's defense. However, it was not possible to break the enemy’s resistance, since Purkaev was forced to send part of his forces under Velikiye Luki .

Air Supply

The Wehrmacht provided air supply to its encircled troops in the Kholmsky boiler. The city had a runway, which, however, was disabled at the end of February. Then the Germans began to dump cargo in special containers.

For the German troops trapped in the boiler, the opportunity to receive supplies by air proved to be saving.

Boiler Living Conditions

At first, after the ring was closed, the garrison of the city used provisions that were in the city at that time. Scherer showed his foresight by sending a number of trucks with supplies and ammunition to the city. Soon, the Wehrmacht command provided the city with supplies of equipment and ammunition by air.

Buildings of the city represented excellent protection for the defenders, in addition, all the surroundings were visible from the city due to its location on a hill. Scherer made excellent use of the terrain, which helped the defenders repel all enemy attacks.

However, in the spring most of the trenches were flooded, as a result of which the defenders were forced to repel the enemy’s attacks while sitting in icy water. When the runway was still incapacitated, a lack of supplies and ammunition began to be felt in the garrison, which was partially offset by captured weapons captured from the enemy, but this could not completely cover the needs of the garrison.

Release Attack

The command of the Wehrmacht understood that the forces of the defenders were not eternal. Therefore, it was decided to create a group to release the city. Lieutenant General Lang was appointed commander. The group included units of two Wehrmacht infantry divisions supported by about 20 tanks and several dozen assault guns. The 8th Guards Division managed to stop the advance of the enemy’s forces towards the city, but it was impossible to completely prevent the breakthrough. Purkayev made the last attempt to storm the Hill, however, and she was unsuccessful. By the morning of May 5, German forces liberated the city from the encirclement.

The failure of the operation revealed many problems in the Red Army. Historians give many diverse versions about the reasons for the failure of the Red Army forces near the Hill. However, one of the main reasons was the poor tactical training of Soviet soldiers, as well as the inability of officers and command to lead the units to interaction. The Red Army at that time had not yet managed to catch up with the German troops in the matter of training and equipping personnel. In addition, the shell hunger experienced at that moment by the Red Army also affected.

German media quickly trumpeted the Wehrmacht's success. The successful defense of the city was presented as an example of the courage and fortitude of a German soldier.