How Military Encirclement Works in War

In warfare when someone says, for example, “500,000 Soviet troops were encircled by German Army Group Centre near Smolensk”, it means the Germans had captured all the roads, bridges, railway lines … connecting Smolensk with other places.

How do you know you fully encircled and trapped the enemy? You look at the map and run through a checklist:

Road A from Smolensk to Moscow – cut off. Check.

Road B from Smolensk to Minsk – cut off. Check.

Road C from Smolensk to Vitebsk – cut off. Check.

… and on and on … until you check all the boxes.

The Soviet road and rail networks in World War II were rather underdeveloped, there were often just 2 or 3 major roads connecting one city to the others (except for important transport hubs like Moscow or Ryzhev) this means the capture of just a handful of major highways could threaten an entire army with encirclement.

Okay, now the enemy captured all the roads and bridges, could the encircled men retreat without roads and bridges? I mean could they travel through forests and swamps and mountains … ?

For all practical purposes, No.

First, the troops would have to leave all the artillery, trucks, tanks behind for the enemy or they’d have to destroy the equipment themselves.

Second, the troops would have to march on foot, for tens – often hundreds of kilometer before reaching their own line to regroup. I’m talking about months in the wilderness without being supplied. And the wilderness can be deadlier than the enemy, not everyone can survive it like Bear Grylls does on Discovery Channel.

How effective was this encirclement tactic? Was “just cutting off a few roads and bridges” enough? Let’s look at some examples:

The battle of Kiev 1941, German Army Group South encircled 530,000 Soviet troops. Less than 20,000 managed to escape.

The battle around Smolensk-Vyazma 1941, German Army Group Centre encircled 580,000 Soviet troops. Less than 80,000 successfully broke out.

Was it effective? You bet it was.

(I admit when I was a kid and first heard of the word “encirclement”, I thought of something like this: soldiers standing side by side, holding hands to create a circle, isn’t that what “encircle” means.)