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The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the
operation that resulted in a very large encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II.
This encirclement is considered the largest encirclement
in the history of warfare (by number of troops). The operation ran from 7 August to 26 September 1941 as part
of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet
Union.[2] In Soviet military history, it is referred to as the
Kiev Defensive Operation (
), with somewhat dierent dating of 7 July 26
September 1941.
Prelude
3 AFTERMATH
The bulk of 2nd Panzer Group and the 2nd Army were 3 Aftermath
detached from Army Group Centre and sent south.[16]
Its mission was to encircle the Southwestern Front, commanded by Budyonny, in conjunction with 1st Panzer By virtue of Guderians southward turn, the WehrmaGroup of Army Group South under Kleist, which was cht destroyed the entire Southwestern Front east of Kiev
during September, inicting 600,000 losses on the Red
driving up from a southeasternly direction.[17]
Army, while Soviet forces west of Moscow conducted a
futile and costly oensive against German Army Group
Center near Smolensk. These operations, such as the
2 Battle
Yelnya Oensive, were conducted over very bad terrain
against defenders in fortied strong points, and nearly all
The Panzer armies made rapid progress. On 12 Septem- of these counter-oensives ended in disaster for the Red
ber, Kleists 1st Panzer Group, which had by now turned Army. As a result of these failed oensives, Red army
4 Assessment
Immediately after World War II ended, prominent German commanders argued that had operations at Kiev been
delayed and had Operation Typhoon been launched in
September rather than October, the Wehrmacht would
have reached and captured Moscow before the onset of
winter.[19] Heinz Guderian and Fedor von Bock in particular ercely argued that the diversion to Kiev would
have dire consequences if the operation dragged on for
too long. Winter was coming in a few weeks, and if
Moscow was not taken before the rst snow, the entire
operation would literally bog down in the mud.
However, David Glantz argued that had Operation Typhoon been launched in September, it would have met
greater resistance due to Soviet forces not having been
weakened by their oensives east of Smolensk. The offensive would have also been launched with an extended
right ank.[19] Glantz also claims that regardless of the nal position of German Troops when winter came, they
would have still faced a counteroensive by the 10 reserve
armies raised by the Soviets toward the end of the year.
If Kiev had not been taken before the Battle of Moscow,
the entire operation would have ended in utter disaster for
the Germans.[19][20][21]
5 See also
Babi Yar
Battle of Uman
107,540 Soviet personnel were awarded the medal for the defence of Kiev from 21st June 1941.
Battle of Bialystok-Minsk
Battle of Kiev (1943)
Yelnya Oensive
6 References
formations defending Moscow were seriously weakened. Citations
With its southern ank secured, Army Group Center
launched Operation Typhoon in the direction of Vyazma [1] Glantz (1995), p. 293
in October.
Over the objections of Gerd von Rundstedt, Army Group
South was ordered to resume the oensive and overran
nearly all of the Crimea and Left Bank Ukraine before
reaching the edges of the Donbas industrial region. However after four months of continuous operations his forces
were at the brink of exhaustion, and suered a major defeat in the Battle of Rostov (1941). Army Group Souths
infantry fared little better and failed to capture the vital
city of Kharkov before nearly all of its factories, skilled
laborers and equipment were evacuated east of the Ural
Mountains.
7 FURTHER READING
[7] Barbarossa, Alan Clark, William Morrow and Company, 1965. P. 101
Bibliography
Guderian, Heinz Panzer Leader New York Da Capo
Press, 1952. (Reissue edition, 2001).
Further reading
Clark, Alan (1965), Barbarossa, William Morrow
and Company
Erickson, John (1975), The Road to Stalingrad
Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), When
Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler,
Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas,
ISBN 0-7006-0899-0
Coordinates:
30.5164E
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