The
Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a very large encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It is considered the largest encirclement of troops in history. The operation continued from August 23, 1941 to September 26, 1941 as part of
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
. In Soviet military history it is referred to as the
Kiev Defensive Operation (Киевская оборонительная операция), with somewhat different dating of July 7 to September 26, 1941.
Nearly the entire Southwestern Front of the
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
was encircled with the Germans claiming 665,000 captured.
The
Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a very large encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It is considered the largest encirclement of troops in history. The operation continued from August 23, 1941 to September 26, 1941 as part of
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
. In Soviet military history it is referred to as the
Kiev Defensive Operation (Киевская оборонительная операция), with somewhat different dating of July 7 to September 26, 1941.
Nearly the entire Southwestern Front of the
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
was encircled with the Germans claiming 665,000 captured. However, the Kiev encirclement was not complete, and small groups of Red Army troops managed to escape the cauldron days after the German pincers met east of the city, including head quarters of Marshall
Semyon BudyonnySemyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was a Soviet military commander and an ally of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.-Early life:...
, Marshall
Semyon TimoshenkoSemyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:Timoshenko was born into a peasant family at Furmanivka, in Southern Bessarabia, now a...
and
CommissarThe political commissar , is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
Nikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
. Nevertheless, the Kiev disaster was an unprecedented defeat for the Red Army, exceeding even the Minsk tragedy of June-July 1941. On 1 September the Southwestern Front numbered 752-760,000 troops (850,000 including reserves and rear service organs), 3,923 guns & mortars, 114 tanks and 167 combat aircraft.
The encirclement trapped 452,700 troops, 2,642 guns & mortars and 64 tanks, of which scarcely 15,000 escaped from the encirclement by 2 October. Overall, the Southwestern Front suffered 700,544 casualties, including 616,304 killed, captured, or missing during the month-long Battle for Kiev. As a result, four Soviet field armies (5th, 37th,
26th- Operational history :26th Army was a part of the Southwestern Front and defended the Soviet-German border between Przemyśl and Carpathian Mountains in June 1941. The Army was located on the eastern bank of San river manning the 8th Fortified District. The 26th Army commander was Lt.Gen. F.Ya....
, & 21st) consisting of 43 divisions virtually ceased to exist. The
40th ArmyThe 40th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a army-level command active from 1941 to 1945 and then again from 1979 to circa 1990.It was first formed, after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, had commenced, from elements of the 26th and 37th Armies under the command...
was badly affected as well. Like the Western Front before it, the Southwestern Front had to be recreated almost from scratch.
Prelude
After the quick initial success of the Wehrmacht, especially in the Northern and Central sector of the
Eastern frontThe Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland , and the Soviet Union which encompassed central and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9...
, a huge bulge in the south remained, where a substantial Soviet force, consisting of nearly the entire Southwestern Front was located. In the
Battle of UmanThe "Battle of Uman" was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8, 1941) was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th (General Lieutenant I.N. Muzyrchenko) and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8,...
a significant victory over the Soviet forces was achieved, but the bulk of forces under Semyon Budyonny's command were still concentrated in and around
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
. While lacking mobility and armour, due to the majority of his armoured forces lost at the
Battle of UmanThe "Battle of Uman" was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8, 1941) was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th (General Lieutenant I.N. Muzyrchenko) and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8,...
, 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 Army High Command (
Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH) had the option of either continuing the advance on Moscow, or destroying the Soviet forces in the south. Because the German
Army Group SouthArmy Group South was the name of a number of German Army Groups during World War II.- Poland campaign :Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South...
(
Heeresgruppe Süd) lacked sufficient strength to encircle and destroy the forces, a significant contribution from Army Group Center (
Heeresgruppe Mitte) was needed to accomplish the task. After a dispute within the German High Command the bulk of Panzergruppe 2 and the 2nd Army were detached from Army Group Center and sent due south to encircle the Soviet army and meet the advancing Army Group South east of Kiev.
The Battle
The Panzer armies progressed rapidly to conclude the encirclement, a move that caught Budyonny by surprise. He was therefore relieved by
StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
's order of September 13. No successor was named, leaving the troops to their individual corps and division commanders. The encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on September the 16th when Kleist's 1st Panzer Army and Guderian's 24th Corps met at Lokhvitsa, 120 miles behind Kiev.
After that, the fate of the encircled armies was sealed. For the Soviets, a disaster of staggering dimensions now unfolded. With no mobile forces or supreme commander left, there was no possibility to break out from the encirclement. The German
17th ArmyThe German Seventeenth Army was a World War II field army.-Commanding Officers:* General der Infanterie Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel * Generaloberst Hermann Hoth...
and 6th Army of Army Group South, as well as the 2nd Army of Army Group Center subsequently reduced the pocket, aided by the two Panzer armies. The encircled Soviet armies at Kiev did not give up easily. A savage battle in which the Soviets were bombarded by artillery, tanks and aircraft had to be fought before the pocket was reduced. By September 19, Kiev had fallen, but the encirclement battle continued. In the end, after 10 days of heavy fighting the last remnants of troops east of Kiev surrendered on September 26. The Germans claimed 600,000 Red Army soldiers captured, although these claims have included a large number of civilians suspected of evading capture. Hitler called it the greatest battle in history.
After the Battle
After Kiev the Red Army had no more reserves. To defend Moscow, the Red Army could field 800,000 men in 83 divisions but no more than 25 of those divisions were fully equipped and staffed, and there was a desperate shortage of tanks, motor vehicles and aircraft. On the German side, the losses exhausted the troops and had worn out much of the equipment. Although there were 2 million men in 70 divisions, only 15% of the divisions were motorised, and had been depleted by the operations, despite being the highest proportion of motorised to infantry ratio in any German operation in the war to date. Operation Typhoon, the offensive towards Moscow would begin on October 2 1941.
With the large victory at Kiev, and the last significant resistance in the Southern theater removed, Army Group South could continue its advance to the strategically significant
Donets BasinDonets Basin, also known as Donbas or Donbass , is a historical, economic and cultural region located on the territory of present-day Ukraine....
. A complete breakthrough was achieved in the southern sector of the front.
However, the need to complete the Kiev operation delayed the advance on Moscow for 4 weeks, a factor that some argue eventually proved detrimental in the subsequent
Battle of MoscowThe Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a 600 km sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942...
due to the onset of cold weather that hampered the offensive operations. While operationally very successful, the Battle of Kiev did little to enhance the German strategic position, because the main objective, a decisive victory that would conclude the war, was not achieved.
While the Soviet forces suffered terrible losses, they bought time for the defence of Moscow, thereby contributing to prolonging the conflict, and leading to the eventual Allied victory in the war.
This was an important lesson for the
StavkaStavka was the term used to refer to command element of armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union...
to learn about evading and extricating troops from other encirclement battles. In the later
Battle of MoscowThe Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a 600 km sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942...
, they avoided being encircled by the German forces, and by the time of the
Battle of StalingradThe Battle of Stalingrad was a battle of World War II between Nazi Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943....
, it was they who were encircling the German formation.
See also
- Battle of Uman
The "Battle of Uman" was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8, 1941) was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th (General Lieutenant I.N. Muzyrchenko) and 12th The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8,...
- Battle of Bialystok-Minsk
The Battle of Białystok–Minsk was a German strategic operation conducted by the Army Group Centre during penetration of the Soviet border region during the opening stage of Operation Barbarossa lasting from 22 to 29 June 1941...
- Battle of Kiev (1943)
The 1943 Battle of Kiev describes three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army, and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht which took place in the wake of the failed German offensive at Kursk during the Second World War. These four operations took place between 3 October and 22...