Battle For Velikiye Luki - Aftermath

Aftermath

Radio contact with the eastern side of Velikiye Luki ceased on 15 January: at 04:40 Saß stated that "a breakout appears out of the question because almost 2,000 wounded would fall into Russian hands...help must immediately come from the outside". Along with 3,000-4,000 of his men, he was taken into Soviet captivity when his forces surrendered on 16 January.

Von Saß and seven other officers (including von Rappard, the previous commander of Infantry Regiment 277, who was taken as a POW in 1945) are stated to have been executed in the main square of Velikiye Luki in January 1946, after a tribunal convicted them of war crimes against POWs and civilians in and around the city.

The battle is sometimes called "The Little Stalingrad of the North" due to its similarities with the larger and better-known Battle of Stalingrad that raged simultaneously in the southern sector of the front.