The book presented to readers is devoted to a description of the two largest encirclements of 1942. In February 1942, the troops of the Northwestern Front, for the first time in the history of the Great Patriotic War, managed to cut off a large German group from the main forces. But the Germans not only continued to defend in the “cauldron”, delivering food and ammunition there by plane, but also eventually broke through the corridor, connecting with the main forces. This was not at all what happened in the Kharkov offensive operation of the Red Army in May 1942, where most of the troops, cut off from the main forces by flank attacks, died in senseless brutal battles.