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Battle of Kiev
Part of World War II
The eastern front at the time of the Battle of Kiev. (click to enlarge)
Date August, 1941 – September 26, 1941 Location East and South of Kiev, Soviet Union Result Strategic German victory
Combatants
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders
Gerd von Rundstedt	Semyon Budyonny (Removed from duty on Sept. 13. No commander after this.)
Strength
500,000	850,000 (55 Divisions)
Casualties
150,000 dead or wounded	163,600 dead or wounded 452,700 captured

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 665,000 captured. The German Kiev encirclement was not airtight and small groups of Red Army troops managed to escape the cauldron days after the German trap snapped shut, including Marshall Budyonny, Marshall Timoshenko and Commissar Khrushchev. Nevertheless, the Kiev disaster was an unprecedented defeat for the Red Army, exceeding even the Minsk tragedy of June-July 1941. On 1st September the Southwestern Front numbered 752-760,000 men (850,000 including reserves and rear service organs), 3,923 guns & mortars, 114 tanks and 167 combat aircraft. The ensuing encirclement contained 452,700 men, 2,642 guns & mortars and 64 tanks, of which scarcely 15,000 escaped from the encirclement by 2nd 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, & 21st) consisting of 43 divisions virtually ceased to exist. Like the Western Front before it, the Southwestern Front had to be recreated from scratch.

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 was located. In the Battle of Uman 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 Kiev. While lacking mobility and armour, due to the majority of his armoured forces 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 sent 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 Budyonny 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 encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on September the 16th when Kliest'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 Russians, 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 army and 6th army of Army Group South, as well as the 2nd Army of Army Group Center subsequently reduced the pocket, aided by the Panzer armies. The encircled Russian armies at Kiev did not give up easily. A savage battle in which the Soviets were hammered by artillery, tanks and air craft 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 carnage the last remnants of troops east of Kiev surrendered on September 26. The Germans claimed 600,000 Red Army soldiers captured. Hitler called it the greatest battle in History.

After Kiev the Red Army had no more reserves. To defend Moscow, soviet government could field 800,000 men in 83 divisions but no more than 25 of those divisions were fully effective and there was a desperate shortage of armor and aircraft. On the German side, there were 2.0 million men in 70 divisions, almost 1/3 of the divisions were mechanized, the highest proportion of mechanized units to infantry in any German attack in the war so far. Operation Typhoon, the drive on Moscow began on October 2nd.

With the large victory at Kiev, the last significant resistance in the Southern theater removed, Army Group South could continue its march on the Donets 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 little to enhance the Germans' 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 defense of Moscow, thereby contributing to the prolonging and eventual Allied victory in the war.

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

• John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad

• Battle of Uman