Battle of Kiev (1941)

Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battle of Kiev (1941)

Axis-Soviet War
Barbarossa – Finland 1941-44 – Leningrad and Baltics 1941-1944 – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans 1944 – Hungary 1944-1945 – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague – Manchuria 1945

Axis-Soviet War
Barbarossa – Finland 1941-44 – Leningrad and Baltics 1941-1944 – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans 1944 – Hungary 1944-1945 – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague – Manchuria 1945

Operation Barbarossa
Bialystok-Minsk – Smolensk – Uman – 1st Kiev – Yelnya – Odessa – Leningrad – 1st Crimea – 1st Rostov

Operation Barbarossa
Bialystok-Minsk – Smolensk – Uman – 1st Kiev – Yelnya – Odessa – Leningrad – 1st Crimea – 1st Rostov

The Battle of Kiev was a huge encirclement battle in Ukraine during World War II; today it is mentioned as the biggest encirclement battle in history. It lasted from mid-August to September 26, 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa. In Soviet military history it is referred to as Kiev Defense Operation (Киевская оборонительная операция), with dates July 7 — September 26, 1941.

Nearly the entire Soviet Southwestern Front of the Red Army was encircled with the Germans claiming 650,000 captured, as this was the initial paper strengh of the encircled divisions, as revealed to them from captured records. In reality, however, these had by then dwindled to 452,000 of whom 150,541 later escaped , nonetheless the Soviet losses were astonishing.

After the quick initial success of the Wehrmacht, especially in the Northern and Central sector of the Eastern front, a huge bulge in the south remained, where a substantial Soviet force, consisting of nearly the entire Soviet Southwestern Front remained. In the Battle of Uman a significant victory over the Soviet forces was achieved, but the bulk of forces under Semyon Budenny's command were still concentrated in and around Kiev. While lacking mobility and armour, because most of his armoured forces were lost at the Battle of Uman, they nonetheless posed a significant threat to the German advance and were the largest single concentration of Soviet troops on the Eastern Front at that time.

At the end of August, the German High Command OKH had the option of either continuing the advance on Moscow, or destroying the Soviet forces in the south. Because the German Army Group South lacked sufficient strength to encircle and destroy the forces, a significant contribution from Army Group Center was needed to accomplish the task. After a dispute within the German High Command (see Lötzen decision) the bulk of Panzergruppe 2 and the 2nd Army were detached from Army Group Center and send due south to encircle the Soviet army and meet the advancing Army Group South east of Kiev.

The Panzer armies progressed rapidly to conclude the encirclement, a move that caught Budenny by surprise. He was therefore relieved by Stalin's order of September 13. No successor was named, leaving the troops to their individual corps and division commanders. The Panzer armies from South and Center met at Lokhvitsa on September 16. After that, the fate of the encircled armies was sealed. With no mobile forces left and supreme commander, there was no possibility to breakout. The German 17th army and 6th army of Army Group South, as well as the 2th Army of Army Group Center subsequently reduced the pocket, aided by the Panzer armies. On September 19, Kiev fell. The encirclement batte continued until September 26, when the last remnants of troops east of Kiev surrendered.

Consequences

With the large victory at Kiev, the last significant resistance in the Southern theatre removed, Army Group South could continue its march on the Donetsk basin. A complete breakthrough was achieved in the southern sector. However the advance on Moscow was delayed for 4 weeks, a fact that eventually proved detrimental in the subsequent Battle of Moscow. While tactically very successful, the Battle of Kiev did not enhance the Germans' strategic position, because the main objective, achieving a decisive victory that would conclude the war, was not achieved.

While the Soviet forces suffered heartbreaking losses in the battle of Kiev, they at least bought time for the defense of Moscow, thereby contributing to the eventual Allied victory in the war.

Furthermore, the Soviets did learn lessons from this and other encirclement battles. In the later Battle of Moscow, they avoided being encircled by the Nazi forces, and by the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, it was they who were encircling the invaders.

References

John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad

Battle of Kiev (1941)

Consequences

References

See also