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This month's Forgotten Battle is...
The Battle of Kiev
Intro
The battle of Kiev occurred from July 7 to September 26, 1941. It was fought between the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army east and south of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. This battle would culminate in the largest encirclement in the history of warfare and be considered by historians as one of the greatest military triumphs of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It would also come to symbolize the combat ineffectiveness of Joseph Stalin.
Part I
Before the beginning of World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a treaty of nonaggression. Although the governments of both nations seemed to be mortal enemies, recent events and common goals had led both to the negotiating table. On August 24, 1939, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov signed the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (aka: the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact).
A few years prior to World War II, several conflicts had broken out in Europe that involved both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The most impactful of them was the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). This two and a half year conflict, was fought between Spanish Nationalists led by Francisco Franco and the Spanish Republican Government led by President Manuel Azaña. During the war, the Nazis supported Franco while the Soviets backed Azaña. After nearly three years of brutal conflict, Franco's Nationalist Army emerged victorious.
On September 1, 1939, the German Army launched a blitzkrieg (lightning war) invasion of Poland. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Red Army invaded from the east. The Polish Army was both outnumbered and severely outgunned. After just 35 days of fighting, the Polish Army surrendered. Inspired by his "victory" in Poland, Josef Stalin decided to launch an invasion of Finland (this conflict would be known as the Winter War).
Instead of winning a quick and easy victory, the Red Army suffered multiple defeats. This was directly due to Stalin's purge of the officers of the Red Army. Although they eventually emerged victorious in the Winter War, the Red Army's high number of casualties (more than three times the number of Finnish) had encouraged Adolf Hitler. Further encouraged by the Wehrmacht's victories in France and Poland, Hitler decided to ignore his non-aggression pact with Stalin and turned the blitzkrieg on the Soviet Union.
Part II
On June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa. Millions of German, Romanian, and Finnish soldiers (along with thousands of collaborators from Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland) crossed into Soviet territory after thousands of Luftwaffe planes began bombing Soviet military positions. The Red Army was caught completely off guard and suffered staggering losses.
In spite of receiving several warnings of the Wehrmacht's movements from his intelligence officers, Stalin had ignored all of them (he even had some executed). When he learned of the Invasion of the Soviet Union, he initially blamed his generals and suffered a nervous breakdown. In his maddened state he began to make highly irrational decisions that hampered the Red Army's generals ability to command. This in turn caused the Red Army to suffer catastrophic defeats in Ukraine and Belarus (even when they had superior numbers). Within weeks of the German invasion, entire Soviet divisions ceased to exist.
On July 9, Adolf Hitler issued his Führerweisung Nr 33 (Führer instruction). This ordered the Wehrmacht to cancel their advance on Moscow and begin driving south. In early August two Wehrmacht Army groups (numbering more than 500,000 soldiers) began converging on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. In command of these army groups, was Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Facing the Wehrmacht was the Soviet Southern and Southwestern Fronts under the overall commands of Marshals Semyon Timoshenko and Semyon Budyonny. Combined, their army numbered more than 600,000 soldiers. Although they had superior numbers, the Soviets found themselves severely outgunned. On August 22, elements of the Wehrmacht crossed the Dnieper River and began laying siege to the city of Kiev.
Part III
In command of the Soviet garrison at Kiev was, General Mikhail Kirponos. In preparation for the Axis advance, he had arrayed his army in the salient in and around the city. After seeing how precarious his position was becoming, he requested that he be allowed to retreat from Kiev. Stalin denied Kirponos's request and ordered the latter to hold the city at all costs.
Two panzer divisions had advanced around and attacked the flanks of the Red Army. Although they were suffering heavy casualties, the German Army was able to break through and rapidly advance across to the rear of the Soviet army. Their main targets were the Ukrainian towns of Lokhvista in the north and Lubny in the south. With the situation in Kiev rapidly deteriorating and encirclement becoming inevitable, Stalin found himself under increasing scrutiny. He decided to unceremoniously relieve General Semyon Budyonny of command and replace him with General Timoshenko. This decision effectively sealed the fate of Soviet Army at Kiev.
On September 13, the German 1st Panzer Group attacked the town of Lubny. To their surprise, they were met with stiff resistance from the a ragtag defense of Red Army soldiers and local civilians. Although the latter managed to hold the town for three days, the Germans eventually broke through and successfully linked up with the 2nd Panzer Group in Lokhvista. The encirclement was now complete. With four entire Soviet armies now trapped within Kiev, Stalin finally gave them permission to withdraw from the city. General Kirponos and his soldiers made several attempts to breakout of the encirclement. All of them failed. Kiev finally fell to the Wehrmacht on September 26, 1941.
Epilogue
The casualties for the battle of Kiev had been costly for both sides. The Germans suffered more than 26,000 KIA, 96,000 wounded, 5,000 missing or captured. By contrast, the Red Army lost more than 700,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured (among the dead was General Kirponos). In addition, they also lost more than 300 aircraft and 400 tanks. The number of civilians killed during the battle is unknown, but believed to be even higher. Just over 15,000 Red Army soldiers (including Nikita Krushchev) were able to escape the encirclement before Kiev fell.
Three days after the fall of the city, a death squad called, the Einzatzgruppen moved in. They then rounded up more than 33,000 of Kiev's Jewish population and massacred them at the Babi Yar ravine (this was the worst two-day massacre of World War II). The city would remain under a brutal occupation for the next two years.
https://www.hoover.org/research/great-battle-kiev-september-1941
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/1939-1941/occupation-of-kiev
https://codenames.info/operation/1st-battle-of-kiev/
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/the-largest-encirclement-warfare.html
