Task Force Scherer
- 105 Days Surrounded
This book tells the incredible story of the horrific sacrifices and the iron will of the men of Kampfgruppe Scherer,
surrounded and bombarded at Cholm by the Red Army for 105 days from January to May 1942.
Over 150 full- and half-page black & white photos (and one full-page full-color photo) document every horrible
moment for every man 'from Grenadier to General,' from -52° temperatures to seas of spring mud. Resupplied by
parachute from the air for months, just surviving the ordeal at Cholm was considered an enormous achievement,
and was rewarded with a Cholm Shield sleeve badge.
The photos in this book show the daily life of soldiers forced to make due with what they had.
There is uniform, weapon and equipment detail, awarding of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, downed
Soviet aircraft, parachute containers, mail delivery, food preparation, fortifications, military vehicles, tanks,
German graves, etc.
This is unique photo material of the most interesting kind.
There is a full-page illustration of the Cholm Shield at the end of the book
and a big two-color double-page map of the battlefield.
This book is quite scarce.
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Hardcover
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In very good exterior and near fine interior condition.
Boards and spine lightly rubbed and bumped, otherwise ok.
All pages are complete and tight in the binding.
Approx/Measurements: 10-1/2" x 8-1/4 ~1.3 lbs. |
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by Richard M.
Published by Gerhard S. Verlag /(OLDB)
Background info:
The Toropets–Kholm Offensive was a military operation conducted south of Lake Ilmen by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, from 9 January to 6 February 1942. The operation contributed to the formation of the Kholm Pocket, the act of surrounding of the Wehrmacht's II. Army Corps in the Demyansk Pocket, and the destruction of the German Wehrmacht's 189th Infantry Regiment near Andreapol.
The initial penetration of the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies was very successful. German forces in the sector were overrun with heavy losses. The failure to predict this attack, coupled with multiple demands on the German reserves, gave the Soviet Front command an opening which it exploited to the utmost, driving deep into the German rear. While the Soviet forces had few supplies at the start of the offensive, they could keep going through the capture of significant amounts of German supply stores at Toropets.
The tank support for such an operation was very weak on the Soviet side, especially compared to the requirements of the doctrine of Deep operations, and the practice later in the war, showing the dearth of resources in the Soviet arsenal at this low point of Soviet fortunes in the war. Yeremenko's 4th Shock Army had only two tank battalions, the 117th Tank Battalion with 12 Lend-Lease Matilda IIs, 9 Valentines, and 10 T-60s, and the 141st Tank Battalion had 4 KV-1s, 6 T-34s, and 20 T-60s.
The drive of the Soviet forces was so strong that the defending German formation, 123rd Infantry Division, which was covering a line of 30 kilometres, had its forward two regiments overrun. The regiments were so thinly spread in their strongpoints that they could not cover each other, allowing the Soviet assault forces to simply walk through between them. The strongpoints were later reduced, with significant casualties for the Germans. A German reserve formation, the 81st Infantry Division, was brought in by rail during the last days of December. Its first regiment, the 189th Infantry under Colonel Hohmeyer together with the 2nd Battalion of Artillery Regiment 181 and the 3rd Company of the Engineer Battalion 181, was immediately ordered to detrain at Toropets and Andreapol. From there it advanced to Okhvat where it was surrounded and completely destroyed on the 14th of January. 1,100 dead were later found in a forest near Okhvat, including the regimental commander who was posthumously promoted to Major General. A total of 40 survivors from the artillery battalion made it back to the German lines. The move into action and collapse was so swift that the regiment was not even identified on German situation maps.
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