According to the "Babarosha" plan, the invading Germans were divided into three army groups: North, Central and South. Among them, the most powerful is the Central Army Group under the command of Marshal Burke, and its subordinate General guderian's 2nd Armored Cluster and General Holt's 3rd Armored Cluster have repeatedly made quick assaults, boldly interspersed, and quickly formed an encirclement in the Soviet rear with a pincer-like offensive. In the initial Battle of Biavistock-Minsk, the Germans captured more than 300,000 people. Then from July to early August, 300,000 prisoners were captured in the Battle of Smolensk. At this time, the distance from the border to Moscow has gone more than half, and Moscow is more than 300 kilometers away.
A thousand miles around the big encirclement
On August 20th, 194 1, the Germans arrived in Dnieper. At this time, the distance between the army group in central Germany and the army group in southern Germany is 550 kilometers. If two army groups are connected by a straight line, the center of this straight line is about 500 kilometers from the rear. In other words, the German attack area is similar to an equilateral triangle, and the main force of the Soviet Southwest Army is between the triangles. Hitler took the opportunity to issue Order No.35 on August 2 1 day, ordering the Germans to annihilate the 5th Army of the Soviet Army in Southwest China, then occupy the industrial zones in Crimea and Donets Basin and cut off the oil supply to the Caucasus.
On August 25th, guderian's 2nd Armored Cluster took the lead in going south and plunged into the rear of Marshal Buyoni's million-strong army. Powerful tanks set off dust all over the sky and swept across the Ukrainian plain like a raging fire. The Soviet high command misjudged guderian's strategic goal, thinking that he would surround the Soviet army and reserve forces from the south wing and attack Moscow in a roundabout way. Hitler left Moscow just around the corner and sent armored troops to the north and south wings. This is inherently illogical, and the Soviet high-level officials failed to understand this. It's strange, too, but it just gives guderian more time to go south.
It was not until the end of August that the Red Army woke up from a dream. At the end of August, Bryansk Army and the 43rd Army of the Reserve Army were ordered to attack in the direction of Roslav and starodub, ready to attack the east wing of guderian. Eremenko, commander of Bryansk Army, confidently assured Stalin that he could stop guderian from going south. However, his anti-assault on the flank of Germany's second armored cluster with 65,438+00 infantry divisions and several tanks failed. Guderian, with profound skill, closed his hand, but his darksteel epee continued to stab the south unscathed.
At the same time, Lund, commander of the German Southern Army Group, ordered the 17 Army to cross the Dnieper River, while Kleist's 1 armored cluster broke into the Soviet rear with the fastest speed and confronted guderian's 2nd armored cluster in Kiev, forming a pincer-like offensive.
At this point, the intention of the Germans to encircle the Soviet troops in Kiev has been exposed. In this extremely unfavorable situation, the Soviet army should take the initiative to retreat to avoid being besieged. However, Stalin remained stubborn and ordered the southwest army to hold its ground at all costs. Not only did the original defenders not leave, but they also sent a large number of troops from all over the country to Kiev and gave them to the Germans.
On September 7th and 8th, Hald arranged the details of the joint operation plan at the headquarters of the Southern Army Group. The goal of this battle plan is to occupy Kiev and annihilate the enemy in Kiev-Dnieper-Diez bend. There are two armies, the southern army group and the central army group. Guderian's 2nd Armored Cluster will continue to advance southward from starodub, inserting Romena and Parker Landers, while Wedges' 2nd Army of the Central Army Group will move southward from Gomel to cover guderian's right wing. The 17 army of the southern army group Stuelpnagel will contain the Soviet troops in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River north of Cherkasil and occupy the bridgehead near Clemenzchug on the other side of the river. Kleist's 1 armored cluster will advance northward from this bridgehead, and meet the vanguard troops of guderian at Romne and Lokovica. These armored offensives will cut off about six Soviet groups to their west at the bend of Dnieper River. At the same time, Marshal Reichenau's Sixth Army will move eastward, cross the Dnieper River and the Diez River, enter Kiev, and begin to annihilate this large number of besieged enemies.
In short, this is a double encirclement plan. The exterior lines are 1 and the 2nd armored cluster, while the interior lines are the 2nd, 6th and17th army groups which are mainly infantry. By September 9, the Germans had made good progress as planned. Tilp nagel's 17 army has crossed the Dnieper River, and Kleist is preparing to meet guderian in the Soviet rear about 150 miles east of Kiev. 10, guderian conquered the military fortress Romne. On June 1 1, budyonny sensed danger and asked Stalin to retreat eastward, but he was rejected.
12, Kleist attacked Rubin from the landing point of Clemenchige. General Kirponos, commander of the Southwest Army of the Soviet Union, risked going to a military court and ordered a full retreat on his own, but this order was quickly cancelled by the high command.
13, Stalin strictly prohibited any form of retreat, and ordered the Soviets not only to hold Kiev, but also to carry out anti-assault on the German 2nd armored cluster. He thought budyonny was afraid of war, so he was removed from his post and replaced by Marshal Timoshenko. After Tymoshenko came to power, he also believed that only retreat could avoid total annihilation. He sent his chief of staff to Moscow to meet Stalin. Stalin didn't show up at all this time, only asking shaposhnikov, the chief of general staff, to convey his instructions: hold Kiev and its surrounding areas.
14, the Germans launched a final attack to surround the Soviet Union. 1 The 16 division of the armored cluster stormed Lubin, and the 3rd division of the 2nd armored cluster stormed Lokovica, with a distance of 40km.
On June 5438+05, guderian troops painted with the commander's initials "G" and Kleist troops painted with the word "K" finally joined forces in Lokvika, 2 10 km east of Kiev. The two elite armored Germans facing the north and south completed the encirclement, and the Soviet troops in Kiev and surrounding areas were surrounded by groups.
The troops of the Southwest Army were quickly surrounded by German divisions and plunged into chaos. 17 at 3: 40 on September, the Soviet high command finally agreed to retreat. However, it was too late, the Soviet command failed, and the officers and men were unprepared for the breakthrough. There is no meaningful breakthrough in the whole 17. On the same day, Hald wrote in his diary: "The enemy in Kiev's encirclement jumped in the circle like marbles."
18, the second day after the breakthrough order was issued, the Soviet army concentrated its powerful troops and tanks and launched its first breakthrough to the German armored division 16. Soviet soldiers, armed with bayoneted rifles, shouted "Hula" and rushed to German positions. The Germans quickly fell into crisis. At this moment, German reinforcements arrived and repelled the Soviet charge, and the first breakthrough failed. On the same day, in the position of the German 2nd Armored Cluster, the two sides also launched a fierce breakout and anti-breakout war. The Soviet troops dispatched 1 cavalry division and two tank brigades to break through, and finally fought their way out of the encirclement, but the German 3rd armored division formed a new encirclement. The Soviet army charged fiercely and stubbornly, paid a heavy price, and finally failed to break through the encirclement. The vast fields are filled with the bodies of Soviet soldiers, and the situation is terrible.
19, the unresponsive Soviet high command finally ordered to give up Kiev. The Soviet army abandoned the Yugoslav capital fortress and peripheral fortifications, blew up the bridge on the Dnieper River and retreated to the city, while Khrushchev, Butjanni and Tymoshenko, the party, government and army officials in the city, fled for their lives first and fled Kiev by plane. The Germans soon occupied Kiev.
On the 20th, the Soviets organized the second large-scale breakthrough, which once opened a gap in the German position, but was quickly defeated by the German counter-assault. At this point, the Soviet army has been unable to carry out effective breakthrough attacks, and the fate of Soviet soldiers in the encirclement has been set. On the same day, Kolppo North, commander of the army, Bulmijiansko, political commissar, and Tupikov, chief of staff, died heroically in the breakout battle.
In order to meet the Soviet siege, Timoshenko dispatched several army troops to attack from outside the encirclement, trying to save the situation that the southwest army was completely annihilated. However, due to the deviation of the direction, the solid defense of the German army 17 was never successful, and the besieged Soviet army lost its last hope.
The Soviet troops in the encirclement became more and more chaotic, and the logistics supply was cut off. In the absence of fuel and ammunition, the whole camp had to hit the blood with bayonets and launch intensive charges on German tanks, cannons and machine guns. The amplifier spread Stalin's inspiring speech all over the battlefield, and many soldiers could still hear his voice when they were killed. This desperate suicide charge eventually turned into a massacre of Soviet troops by the Germans, and thousands of Soviet soldiers fell under the guns of the Germans.
After suffering heavy casualties in vain, the huge Soviet cluster disintegrated incredibly quickly. By September 26, the fighting was over, and nearly one million Red Army soldiers, excluding those who died in battle, 665,000 people became prisoners of war. The Germans also captured 884 tanks, 3,765,438 cannons and 3,500 cars. Among the prisoners of war, those identified as Jews, political commissar and party member were dragged out of the team and shot, and the rest were taken to the rear to do hard labor. The Germans were extremely cruel to them. Most of them were tortured to death by hard labor and hunger and cold, and few people lived to the end of the war.
The smoke cleared and the debate continued.
In the battle of Kiev, the most powerful southwest army of the Soviet Union was completely annihilated, and the Bryansk army and the southern army suffered heavy losses. The situation of the entire Soviet-German battlefield is even more unfavorable to the Soviet Union. After the German army occupied Kiev, it went out to Kharkov Industrial Zone, Donbass and Crimea, and the southwest gateway was opened, and the hinterland such as Moscow was seriously threatened. The Soviet Union lost all its military power in the southwest and had to mobilize a large number of troops from the Far East and Siberia to rebuild new defense lines in deeper areas.
The Soviet Union has always been secretive about its failure in Kiev. Because this is directly caused by the arbitrary and blind command of the supreme commander Stalin himself. Until decades after the war, the official historical materials of the Soviet Union have always touched on this battle and whitewashed it. On the other hand, it also shows that this fiasco left a great shadow in the hearts of Soviet troops. Because of Russia's own aggression, the theoretical construction and drills of the Soviet Union before the war were basically prepared for foreign wars. They lack the psychology and training preparation for homeland defense operations. So at the beginning of the war, no matter what the actual situation is, they always hope to fight back as soon as possible and burn the war to the enemy's territory. After the failure, they clung to the land and refused to give up. As a result, they were surrounded and lost their main force and more territory. The soldiers of the southwest army exchanged blood for precious time to defend Moscow, but the price was too high. Stalin began to correct his mistakes from now on, and no longer changed the orders given by the front-line commanders casually (and Hitler continued to make this stupid mistake). The will and bureaucracy of Soviet officers have also been corrected. After several defeats, a number of outdated generals such as Butioni, voroshilov and Tymoshenko were eliminated, and a new generation of Soviet commanders grew up. After paying expensive tuition fees, they slowly learned the tactics of blitzkrieg from the enemy. You deal with them, they deal with them.
After the battle, Hitler got carried away and called the battle of Kiev "the greatest battle in the history of world war". On the other hand, Hald thought it was "one of the biggest strategic mistakes in the Eastern Campaign." In the eyes of most war generals and military historians, Hitler insisted on hitting Ukraine first and shelving Moscow, which was putting the cart before the horse. He achieved great success in tactics, but made a huge mistake in strategy.
If Hitler can adopt brauchitsch's plan and attack the Soviet troops on the western front west of Moscow in July and August, he will win Moscow, and he can win the battle of Kiev with less time and strength, and most, if not all, of the troops on the western front of the Red Army will be annihilated. More importantly, the shooting of Moscow has a much greater impact on the overall situation, which will not only make the Soviet Union lose its railway hub and make it inconvenient to move, but also cause a huge psychological impact and greatly affect the morale of the Soviet army and civilians.
After completing the battle of Kiev, guderian's 2nd Armored Cluster immediately returned to the central front line, and continued to fight non-stop regardless of personnel fatigue, combat loss and serious mechanical wear. In the following month, it played an important role in the battle of Vyazma-Bryansk. This massive campaign captured another 663,000 Soviet troops and a large number of weapons and equipment. But in any case, the best time to attack Moscow at this time has been missed forever. From the beginning of August to the beginning of 10, for two whole months, the Central Army Group actually waited passively at a place 300 kilometers away from Moscow, doing nothing. During this period, the Soviets stepped up efforts to enrich Moscow's defense. Most importantly, Russia's long winter is coming. It once buried Napoleon's army to Russia, and now it will bury tens of thousands of German invaders.
Of course, there is also a view that Hitler's strategic decision is correct. Because if we March into Moscow immediately after the capture of Smolensk, the Central Army Group will be isolated due to excessive extension, and its wings will be completely exposed to the heavy Soviet cluster, and may even be surrounded. Moreover, the urgent March and the long supply line are not as good as the establishment and consolidation, which will be very fragile, making the logistics supply more and more unsustainable. By occupying Ukraine first and straightening the front, these problems were avoided and good conditions were created for the Central Army Group to attack Moscow. And Ukraine's rich resources have indeed provided strong support for Germany's war machine. This is crucial in the Soviet-German stalemate in the next few years.
The theoretical premise of those who advocate giving priority to attacking Moscow is that if Moscow is captured, the war will be won. I'm afraid this is wishful thinking, just like Napoleon in those days. Even if the Germans take Moscow, the Soviet people and Stalin will not give up their resistance as Hitler and his generals hoped, but the variables of the war will become great and the German army will win great victories. We all know the fact that not all just wars will be won. In fact, until 1942, fascist Germany still had a chance to defeat the Soviet Union, but after the great defeat in Stalingrad, Germany never saw the hope of victory again.
Of course, there is no if in history, and the debate about the decision-making of the battle of Kiev in Germany may last forever, but the factual consequences of history can never be changed. Kiev is the nightmare of Russians, and now it has passed, while the nightmare of Germans is coming.