Kholm Pocket the third one was successful, with the German forces in the pocket reduced in number to 1,200 by then. In July 1942, the Cholm Shield was awarded to the German defenders of the pocket, upon the suggestion of Generalmajor Theodor Scherer, similar to the Demyansk Shield. Scherer was personally awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves by Adolf Hitler for the command of the defense of Kholm. Kholm was eventually liberated by the Red Army on 21 February 1944. Members of the Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 65, a police unit from Gelsenkirchen, were questioned after the war by the
Demyansk Shield Demyansk Shield Demyansk Shield () was a World War II German military decoration awarded to military personnel who fought in the Demyansk pocket. It commemorated the successful defence of Demyansk, achieved through the use of an airbridge. The pocket of German troops had been encircled and cut off by the Red Army around Demyansk (Demjansk), south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front. It was instituted on 25 April 1943 by Adolf Hitler. It was not bestowed after 1 July 1944. The shield features at its apex an eagle with swooped down wings clutching a laurel wreath