First of all, the Soviet Army, the 3rd Shock Army, which was reorganized in December 1940 by the Supreme Command of the Red Army from the base camp reserves, included units transferred from Siberia, and was commanded by General Maxim Aleksievich Pukaev.

After its formation, it was transferred from the outskirts of Moscow to the Osmashkov region and transferred to the North-Western Front. After taking over the defensive strips and part of the troops of the 4th Shock Army, preparations for the winter counteroffensive began. At the beginning of January, it was incorporated into the Kalinin Front, and at the time of the subsequent counteroffensive, the total strength was: 51,500 personnel, 35 tanks, 142 artillery pieces, and 347 mortars.

The infantry component consists of the 23rd, 33rd, 257th and 391st Infantry Divisions, the 20th, 27th, 31st, 42nd, 45th and 54th Infantry Brigades, and the 63rd, 65th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 220th and 221st Separate Ski Infantry Battalions;

Tank and mechanized units are divided into: 146th and 170th separate tank battalions;

The engineer is divided into the 110th independent engineer battalion, the 299th, 469th, 690th, 1296th, and 1334th independent field engineer battalions.

Air support was also received from the 7th Mixed Aviation Division. At that time, the 3rd Shock Army was divided into three directions to attack, and the assault of the 33rd Infantry Division under the command of Senior Colonel Makadev was aimed directly at Holm.

On the German side, Limer arranged a crippled German division here, but this division only had about 5,500 men, and this unit was named the "Sherel Battle Group". In the early battle, the losses of this division were very large, and there was no time to replenish the personnel. These German soldiers were the remnants of the elite soldiers, and they fought bloodily for a year or two. Their commander was Brigadier General Theodor Sherrell, who had previously led the 281st "Security Division", who was also known for his perseverance. Front-line combat commander: Lieutenant Colonel Ioannis Manitis (defensive commander), but also an officer with rich combat experience.

Before Holm accepted the commander-in-chief of the former enemy on the Eastern Front, there was no German army to defend it at all, or Li Mo discovered this key node, and hurriedly ordered the remnant division that retreated through Holm to garrison on the spot, of course Li Mo knew that with these thousands of German troops, it would definitely not be able to stop the onslaught of tens of thousands of Soviet troops, so Li Mo had the following arrangements.

Follow Li Mo's orders. Anim commanded the main forces of the 39th Panzer Corps to establish a "hedgehog" position not far southwest of Kholm. It is also planned to maintain a land access that allows direct contact with the town of Holm. Armed convoys are regularly organized to bring them supplies, including food, ammunition, clothing and horse fodder.

In fact, only the first armed convoy arrived and returned, and an hour after the armed convoy returned unharmed to the "hedgehog" position of the 39th Panzer Army, the Soviet ski units blocked the road between the main forces of the 39th Panzer Army and Holm, and the defenders of the town were now completely encircled.

When General Anim heard the news, he was anxious. Although he is still unstable. But he still decided to send troops to support Sherrell and his men. A heavily armed battle group was immediately organized and launched an assault on the Soviet troops surrounding Kholm. Since neither tanks nor armored vehicles could advance on the frozen roads, only the German infantry trudged waist-deep in the snow to kill the enemy. As you can imagine, such an offensive has little to gain.

General Arnim was deeply distressed by the encirclement of the troops guarding Holm, although he still believed that this was only a temporary isolation, but at this time he did not expect that the siege would last for 105 days and nights from now on, and the only contact between the "Sherel Battle Group" and the outside world could only be carried out by radio!

Immediately after the siege of Holm on 21 January, the Soviet 33rd Infantry Division launched several small exploratory attacks and occupied part of the western part of the town, but was unable to cross the Lovati River in one fell swoop. The main purpose of these small attacks was to find out the determination of the defenders to resist and to calculate the profits of the defenders, and through the temptation to know that the surrounded German army, although small, would not give up easily, so that they had to use heavy artillery and tanks to attack to achieve their goals.

Therefore, the first round of onslaught officially began on January 23. At this time, the Soviet 33rd Infantry Division, supported by the 146th Separate Tank Battalion (2 T-34s, 11 T-60s and 3 rocket launchers), first launched a tank offensive west of Holm, but was repulsed by the Germans. Then it attacked from the east, then to the north, and finally from the south. At the same time as the tank attack, the Soviet artillery also poured heavy artillery fire into the town, which was to achieve another purpose, which was to smash all the houses that the Germans used to hide and shelter from the cold, because Colonel Makadev believed that if these houses were destroyed, the Germans would soon surrender because they had no shelter.

A few days later, on 28 January, the defenders heard the familiar sound of German machine-gun fire coming from outside the defensive line. But this was not the relief force they were hoping for, these MG34 guns were a German mountain machine gun battalion of only 200 men, they were divided and left behind in the Soviet winter offensive, and after fierce fighting they crossed the Soviet encirclement to join the ranks of the "Sherel Battle Group". Immediately after the arrival of these new "reinforcements", an attack was launched on the same day, driving away the Soviet soldiers, who had already occupied part of the western part of the town, and managing to establish a foothold there.

On 29 January, the 391st Infantry Division of the 3rd Soviet Shock Army also rushed to the Holm area, and the 33rd Infantry Division, which had been attacking again for several days, was attacked by two division-sized infantry from all sides of the circular defensive ring. After only an hour outside, they were almost frozen, and although they desperately wanted to be able to return to the basement under the ruins of the house as soon as possible to keep warm, the Germans were still on the lookout for a long time, and they insisted on keeping the Soviet infantry moving in order to maintain the integrity of the battle line.

The Soviet infantry attack was a very rigid pattern, wearing striking brown uniforms in dense formations in the snow, and rushing forward with guns in hand, this suicidal charge allowed the Germans to calmly fire and strafe behind the snow wall built in front of the position.

It is also interesting and noteworthy that Soviet attacks are always carried out at precise times in the area that the Germans expected, so after a round of attacks in a certain area is not repulsed, the Germans know that there will be no more Soviet attacks in that area in the next few hours. This pattern enabled Scherer to move his limited combat personnel away from the place where he had just repelled an attack and to the area where he expected a new Soviet offensive to be. (Such a Soviet commander?) He really deserved to be shot ten times, and this is the result of the Great Purge. ）

Although Holm is surrounded and the supply line is cut off, is there nothing Li Mo can do? Of course not, the German army's air transport force is much stronger than in history, if there are hundreds of thousands of people surrounded, then the supply of the German army may be very difficult, but the supply of a few thousand people is no pressure for Li Mo.

…… (To be continued......)

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