Another major problem that is growing in the course of the battle is injuries. --- early in the campaign, the wounded were able to leave on JU52 transport planes that flew into the encirclement to bring reinforcements, but the subsequent replenishment program made it impossible to continue the evacuation.

The daily fighting led to an increase in the number of wounded, especially when the German defense area was slowly shrinking under the constant pressure of the enemy, brutal battles broke out in almost everywhere, and there were fewer and fewer places to accommodate the wounded, the initial main medical unit was located in the east of the town, but after the buildings here were destroyed by Soviet artillery fire, the wounded were also moved to the west of the town, which was the safest area during the entire campaign, also known as the "Sharp Zone", This means that the area here is not much larger than the tip of the hair.

But the disadvantage here is that the houses are all wooden and there are no basements, so if a shell is next to it or hits the house directly, the wounded can easily be re-injured by the flying sharp pieces of wood. This is not uncommon but is a frequent occurrence, with many wounded recovering from injuries sustained in previous battles and re-wounded by one or more wood chips before they have fully recovered.

Under these unfavourable conditions, the demands placed on the German medical team, consisting of Dr. Hooker and Doctor Ao and other unknown medical personnel, were extremely demanding, and in practice they did demonstrate exceptional professionalism. The Germans had lost more than 25 percent of the casualties in the battle, and the number of wounded was even higher, about 2,200 (at least 40 percent of the total), although the medical team had done their best to treat them. However, many of the seriously injured die after ineffective treatment, or remain crippled for life.

Although the Soviet offensive on the front line did not make much progress, their logistics were infinitely better than those of the German defenders, who had endured so hard. They are free to rotate frequently from the front lines, with adequate food rations and warm clothing. Nevertheless, there were some Soviet soldiers who preferred to give up these superior conditions and run over the German positions to surrender. Two Soviet soldiers who had come to surrender at the end of February reported an important piece of information that the Soviets were going to launch a large-scale offensive with a whole division of infantry and tanks on February 23, the "Day of the Soviet Red Army".

In addition, according to the other information they reported, the Germans judged that this time the Soviets would still use the tactics already familiar to the Germans, that is, to attack only one part of the encirclement for a certain period of time. In this mode of attack, the Germans could concentrate their forces entirely from other, less threatening areas to the places where the Soviets were going to attack. And the Germans had already summed up a new set of defensive tactics by this time. That is, at the time of the intensive charge of the Soviet infantry. Shoot the officers and commissars first, then go to the charge and retreat because they have no core, and their tanks are unprotected after the infantry has fled.

The next important step was the destruction of the Soviet command tank, since only this tank was equipped with both radio reception and transmitting devices. Only it can issue commands. The other tanks were only equipped with receivers, and after taking out the command vehicle, the other Soviet tanks would also be overwhelmed by the lack of instructions. At this time, the German anti-tank team was able to take advantage of the chaos to approach these dazed big guys and destroy them one by one with an iron fist.

The Soviet infantry, which had retreated from east of Kholm, regrouped and quickly returned, but the new charge was broken up at this time. Then came the restructuring. The attack was again renewed, but again repulsed. These people were laid down in rows in the snow like wheat had been cut.

The German gendarmes standing at the front of the line were all armed with automatic weapons that could fire quickly, and the Soviet troops in the crowd could not return fire at all, and no one could stand anymore where their ferocious fire passed, and it was a large area, and the vast majority of them had fallen to the ground without firing a shot, and gradually, the soldiers in the front row began to hug the crowd behind them step by step backwards, and in the face of such serious casualties, the Soviet army took the initiative to retreat, and then it became a hasty escape. The German gendarmes regained all the lost territory in one fell swoop.

The failure of the assault on Red Army Street that day did not mean that the Soviet troops had given up the idea of capturing Holm, and the other two infantry divisions of the 3rd Shock Army, which had arrived in rotation, also took turns to devote their infantry forces. For the next two days and two nights, they continued to trample on the corpses of their comrades everywhere, trampling on their allies, leaving thicker and thicker piles of corpses behind each unsuccessful attack, attacking again and again.

In all, no less than 18 main attacks were carried out in these two days, some with tank cooperation, but most were purely infantry charges. Whether it was the main attack or the secondary attack, each attack of the Soviet army was accompanied by heavy artillery fire support, and due to the better weather, the air competition between the Soviet Air Force and the Luftwaffe 1st Air Force was also more intense. Above Holm, Luftwaffe and Soviet fighter jets chased each other, Stuka roared and diveted to bomb Soviet ground targets, and the JU52 landed to unload supplies and replenish troops, and then loaded the seriously wounded and took off.

The warmer weather at the end of February and the beginning of March brought with it a thick fog and typhus fever caused by lice bites began to spread among the defenders of Holm. From the soldier's personal point of view, lice are far more disgusting than dense fog; But from a military point of view, the fog has a more dangerous meaning. Its appearance means that winter will soon be over, and a new spring offensive will break out in the following spring.

The strategic importance of the land bridge on which Holm is located is well understood by both warring parties. The Soviets were certainly launching a large-scale offensive aimed at capturing this military springboard, but the Germans made a strategic maneuver to the area first. During March, General Anim's 39th Panzer Corps again sent reinforcements to the east in an attempt to approach the town of Kholm, but their advance was slowed due to poor ground conditions and stubborn Soviet resistance.

The Germans in Holm were well aware that friendly rescue operations were underway, but at the same time they estimated that the Supreme Commander of the Red Army would not order the Soviet troops surrounding the area to launch an all-out attack on International Women's Day on March 8, and if they could not repel the attack, then any rescue operation would no longer be meaningful. To the surprise of the Sherel battle group, the first offensive of the Soviets that day was not violent, and after losing 5 tanks, they quickly retreated. The next day, a new, but equally weak, offensive was launched, again suffering the loss of 4 tanks before being disintegrated.

…… (To be continued.) )u