Demyansk

[hucks216]

Just bought the Demjansk book and while it is a good 'starter' I thought that it was slightly spoiled by also covering Cholm, so while you could say that you get 2 for the price of 1, by covering both there is less space for either. For Cholm there is the Jason Mark book 'Besieged'.

[alikat]

There are way too many good books out there and not enough time in the week. I am making slow progress on the Hell's Gate tome - I thing the Germans got out quicker!

[Scout]

I've been to Demyansk - its an interesting subject and an impressive place to visit.

Not least the site of the 'Rollbahn.'

The Demyansk Pocket where fighting took place is swampy in areas and one easily gets a feel for how absolutely horrendous it must have been to fight not only the enemy but also massive hordes of mossies.

I was there for only a brief while as compared to those who fought there for months on end, but still one got stung if one stayed still for just a moment and you had to constantly wave mossies away from your face.

I usually dont mind them more than most people, but the Demyansk mossies were very tenacious.
The tales of the massive amounts of mossies and how it must have driven the soldiers there bonkers are NOT exaggerated.

A horrible place for the men to be forced to stay for prolonged periods of time.

There were (are) still crushed helmets hung from trees and much rusted debris on the ground.

Not only Russian lids but I also found a nice rotary magazine from a 'Pulemyot Degtyaryova Pekhotny' in okay condition.

Needless to say, all debris left above ground were rusted and holed.

All was left in situ - nothing was taken.

Its impressive to visit there, but if one does a bit of research and gets a feel for the lay-out of the area and the fighting, its an even more impressive place and you get far more out of the visit there.

On another note: In Demyansk there is a small but very impressive and well stocked museum. I can not stress enough, how you must not miss visiting there. They have quite a collection of artifacts dug up/collected from the battlefield in the Pocket.

I spoke to representatives of the offcial diggers who also work witih the German authorities in order to make sure, that both Russian and German KIA gets a proper burial.

Pics from the museum in Demyansk below:

[Woolgar]

Great pics Scout

Thank you

Nick