Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

History

First Advisor

Dr. John D. Treadway

Second Advisor

Dr. William H. Thorn

Third Advisor

Dr. Hugh A. West

Abstract

Well over ten million men served in the Axis armies during the war, and over 70 percent of these troops fought on the Eastern Front. Each soldier has/had a personal story to tell - their fighting units are all worthy of mention and every battle they fought in should be appraised. It has been the habit of English-speaking historians studying the Second World War to concentrate almost exclusively on the European Theater of operations. The events on the Eastern Front, with the exception of the battles of Leningrad, Stalingrad, and perhaps Kursk, are practically ignored. This study, however, will analyze a previously little known yet significant campaign of the Soviet-German war of 1941-1945 - the experiences of a portion of Army Group North in and around Demyansk from December 1941 through February 1943. It is the aim of this analysis to help fill the void in the study of individual battles and operations on the Eastern Front. It is hoped that the work will assist English-speaking historians in the discovery of the individual engagements and operations that were fought there. The information shall be presented in a topical fashion that closely adheres to the chronological order of events. The research is based largely on primary source material, including captured German war documents and personal narratives obtained from the Bundesarchiv in Freiburg, from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and from interviews with veterans of the campaign.

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