On the Eastern Front of World War II, in January 1942, the bodies of Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle of Tropets Holm were piled up. The Battle of Holm was formulated as Nazi Germany's propaganda, with German soldiers being canonized as heroic fighters.

　　In January 1942, on the Eastern Front of World War II, the bodies of Soviet soldiers killed in the Tropets Holm siege piled up. After the German defeat at Leningrad, the invading Soviet forces kept the German troops at Holm under siege for about three months. The Soviet Red Army surrounded the German 16th Army, and the Luftwaffe supplied the German 16th Army until the siege was lifted on April 21.

　The Tropets Holm Offensive broke out on January 18, 1942, when Soviet partisans attacked the German-occupied transportation hub of Cholm. A few days later, the Soviet Red Army surrounded the town of Holm and its German garrison, which was resupplied by the Luftwaffe for over three months before a German relief offensive in May 1942 brought the German garrison back into contact. During the Tropets Holm Offensive, the Germans were surrounded for the first time on the Eastern Front by Soviet units for an extended period of time.

　During the Tropets Holm Offensive, heavy artillery fire continued to inflict heavy losses, and on May 1, 1942, about 100 German soldiers and 600 Soviet soldiers were killed; on May 3, the Soviets again lost several hundred men and 13 tanks; on May 18, Soviet troops withdrew from the southeastern sector; on June 8, the northeastern sector was occupied by German troops. On June 8, the Germans occupied the northeastern part. After the conclusion of the offensive, which lasted from January 18 to June 8, 1942, the Germans lost about 1,550 men killed and 2,200 wounded. The Soviet forces suffered approximately 25,000 casualties. Later, on February 21, 1944, the German garrison occupying Holm surrendered in a major offensive by the Soviet Red Army.

　The Battle of Holm was formulated as a heroic battle for German soldiers as propaganda for Nazi Germany. It was used for propaganda purposes in the months following its conclusion. Soldiers who participated were awarded the Holm Shield Medal and General Scherer's Knight's Iron Cross with an oak leaf. The Wehrmacht's official newspaper, Die Wehrmacht, conducted interviews with several combat participants and published many articles. It included the pictorial report "Kampfgruppe Scherer - 105 Tage eingeschlossen" by Richard Mook, a member of the War Press Corps who took approximately 2,500 photographs between the siege and the escape.