'Höcker' was a German attack by elements of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch’s 16^th Army against formations of General Leytenant Pavel A. Kurochkin’s North-West Front to improve the positions of the forces holding the German 'land bridge' to their Demyansk pocket on the Eastern Front and to reach the Sautschan swamp in preparation for 'Schlingpflanze' and 'Winkelried' (12 September 1942).