German encirclements of Soviet forces during Operation Barbarossa
The majority of the fighting and dying in World War II centered on the Eastern Front and the clash of the Nazi and Soviet armies. The Nazi invasion in June 1941 Operation Barbarossa can be viewed as a series of double envelopments, capturing huge numbers of men and machines. Also called "cauldrons", the great encirclement battles of 1941 cost the Soviet Union dearly. There were approximately 8-11 pockets in 1941, each of which netted more than 100,000 prisoners - most of them would be dead within the next eight months.[1]
- Białystok and Minsk pockets - 324,000 POWs (prisoners of war)
- Smolensk encirclement (three cauldrons, two smaller ones east of Mogilev and west of Nevel, a greater one between Orscha and Smolensk) - 310,000 POWs
- Uman pocket - 103,000 POWs
- Kiev pocket - 665,000 POWs
- Vyazma and Bryansk pockets - 650,000 POWs
| Prisoners taken | Tanks Destroyed/Captured | Guns Destroyed/Captured | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rossizny | Unknown | 200 tanks | Unknown |
| 2 | Bialystok-Minsk | 290,000 | 3,332 tanks | 1,809 guns |
| 3 | Smolensk | 310,000 | 3,205 tanks | 3,120 guns |
| 4 | Roslavl | 38,000 | 250 tanks | 359 guns |
| 5 | Gomel | 84,000 | 144 tanks | 848 guns |
| 6 | Dvina | 35,000 | 355 tanks | 655 guns |
| 7 | Staraya Russa | 53,000 | 320 tanks | 695 guns |
| 8 | Luga | 250,000 | 1,170 tanks | 3,075 guns |
| 9 | Reval | 12,000 | 91 tanks | 293 guns |
| 10 | Galacia | 150,000 | 1,970 tanks | 2,190 guns |
| 11 | Uman | 103,000 | 317 tanks | 1,100 guns |
| 12 | Zhitomir | 18,000 | 142 tanks | 123 guns |
| 13 | Valdai Hills | 30,000 | 400 guns | |
| 14 | Kiev | 667,000 | 884 tanks | 3,718 guns |
| 15 | Vyazma-Bryansk | 663,000 | 1,242 tanks | 5,412 guns |
| 16 | Nikolav | 60,000 | 84 tanks | 1,100 guns |
| 17 | Dnieper Bend | 84,000 | 199 tanks | 465 guns |
| 18 | Mariupol (Sea of Azov) | 106,000 | 212 tanks | 672 guns |
| 19 | Crimea | 100,000 | 160 tanks | 700 guns |
| 20 | Donetz | 14,000 | 45 tanks | 69 guns |
| Total | 3,067,000 | 14,322 tanks | 26,803 guns | |
References
- ↑ USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia -- The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941 - January 1942
- ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham (30 June 2006). Panzers in winter: Hitler's army and the Battle of the Bulge. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-275-97115-1.
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