Kiev encirclement

Kiev encirclement. During the opening phase (see BARBAROSSA) of the German–Soviet war, the point of Kleist's First Panzer Group reached this Soviet city's outer defensive ring on 11 July 1941 and then, to avoid the hazards of street fighting, turned south along the River Dnieper, having advanced 400 km. (248 mi.) in 18 days. Nevertheless, Lt-General M. P. Kirponos's South-West front, four armies well equipped with artillery and armour, was doing relatively well—disappointingly so for Hitler, who regarded the Ukrainian land and resources as his most important objectives. German Army Group South, having just one panzer group, had not yet managed an encirclement, and Kirponos's armies were still intact. By the first week in August, Army Group South was closing to the Dnieper downstream from Kiev, but South-West front was in position to accomplish an orderly withdrawal to the east bank. Stalin, believing Kiev and the river line to the south could be held, was sending up two more armies and other reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Hitler had decided, to his generals' intense dismay, to stop the advance towards Moscow east of Smolensk and divert General Guderian's Second Panzer Group southwards behind the Dnieper. After a short refit, Guderian wheeled south on 25 August. Kleist pushed north out of a bridgehead at Kremenchug on 10 September, and the two spearheads met near Romny, 200 km. (124 mi.) east of Kiev, six days later. Since Kirponos's armies had not been in the path of the advances, they stood a good chance of breaking out, but Stalin forbade the attempt. The Germans' final prisoner count reached 665,000.

Earl Ziemke