Biggest Encirclement in History: Battle of Kiev | Animated History

as artillery thunders outside his headquarters marshal simeon timoshenko newly appointed commander of the soviet southwestern front receives a message from high command after weeks of denial his predecessor's request for permission to withdraw from kiev has finally been approved but it is too late only the day before german forces from the north and south had met up to the east of timochenko's position cutting off his last chance to escape the largest encirclement in history was now complete and there was nothing he could do to prevent the disaster that was coming hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian during the german invasion of the soviet union in 1941 heavy fighting occurred in the soviet republic of ukraine it was there in the ancient ukrainian capital city of kiev that the germans conducted the largest encirclement in military history trapping over half a million troops and utterly collapsing the soviet southwestern front in this video we'll see just how this massive force was surrounded and how soviet determination endured even as the noose tightened around them if you're ever thrust into a desperate conflict far from home you'll probably want to make sure you have life insurance fortunately policy genius this video sponsor makes it easy to compare quotes from over a dozen top insurers all in one place historically speaking getting insurance has always been a frustrating experience but the policy genius team not only handles all of the paperwork and scheduling for you but they also do it for free and provide you with step-by-step assistance with the shopping and buying process in fact you could save 1300 or more per year on life insurance by using policy genius to compare policies and you can save 50 or more on life insurance by comparing quotes with policy genius i'm in my early 20s with no prior experience to the life insurance market so planning for the unexpected is an unfamiliar prospect however policy geniuses licensed experts can help first-time life insurance buyers like me navigate every step of the shopping and buying experience and assist in finding the right policy for the best price when you're ready to secure your future head over to policygenius.com armchair historian and get started right now policy genius when it comes to insurance it's nice to get it right less than two months after germany's invasion of the soviet union its forces had driven deep into russian territory after the initial success of their offensive german forces began preparing to secure the flanks of the rapidly advancing army group center and eradicate more of the enemy's forces in the north and south to accomplish this adolf hitler directed elements of army group center to assist army group north in assaulting leningrad and help army group south capture central ukraine while many of his generals were supposedly unhappy with this decision the orders were carried out and german forces began to advance toward the ukrainian capital of kiev in early august by this time army group south's invasion of ukraine was already underway with the reinforcements from army group center their force now consisted of 25 infantry divisions and nine armored divisions for a total of 544 000 men set against them were the forces of the soviet southern and southwestern fronts under the overall command of marshall simeon timoshenko on august 8th the germans finished off a pocket of soviet troops at the town of uman which had been encircled in mid-july inflicting over 200 000 casualties with these men gone the task of defending central ukraine fell almost entirely on the southwestern front consisting of 627 000 troops under general mikhail kirpanos after the battle of uman kirpanos's forces fell back and established a strong defensive line against army group south along the nyapur river holding fast against german attacks from the west and south on august 22nd elements of army group center crossed the nipper and began to besiege the city from the north the soviets held fast in the face of the german assault using the strong defensive positions of the marshes north of kiev but kirpanos quickly recognized the dire threat of encirclement he faced he sent a request to the soviet high command for permission to withdraw but joseph stalin denied this request personally ordering kirpanos to hold kiev at all costs unwilling to defy orders he had his men dig in and prepare to defend the city even as the noose tightened around him at the end of august the second panzer group and second army of army group center under the command of heinz budarian overcame the soviets tough defenses in the north by employing the brilliant tactic of going around them and began steadily making their way south initially kirpanos was hopeful that he could fend off this attack expecting that the german spearhead would overextend itself trying to encircle him and become vulnerable to counter-attacks in the meantime he ordered the brian's front under lieutenant general andrei yarimenka to harass guderian's tank group and slow its advance with the eventual goal of encircling and destroying them although this ultimate objective was next to impossible the brian's front succeeded in delaying the second panzer group with a series of guerilla attacks throughout late august and the first weeks of september however yerimenko's forces suffered heavy losses and as fewer and fewer of his soldiers returned the second panzer group continued its advance [Music] any remaining hope kirpanos may have had of stopping the encirclement was shattered when he received word that the first panzer group of army group south had secretly crossed the nyepur on september 12th and was rapidly advancing northeast to meet up with their comrades from army group center these armored units rapidly cut across the rear of the southwestern front and it soon became obvious that total encirclement of the forces in kiev was inevitable the soviet staff could only relay these developments to stalin and pray he would finally see reason this dire news apparently woke stalin up to the reality of the situation and so he did what any good leader would do designated a scapegoat to take the blame he chose marshall boudiani commander of the soviet forces in the ukraine and his longtime political ally the day after the first panzer group made it across the river stalin unceremoniously fired budyani declaring him unfit to command a modern army and relegating him to a non-combat command for the rest of his career he was replaced by marshal simeon timoshenko who was expected to salvage the rapidly deteriorating situation the first and second panzer groups were closing in from the north and south and nothing the soviets threw at them could stop the armored jaws of the german wolf from closing in around kiev a glimmer of good news arrived on the night of the 13th when the forward elements of budarian's forces were successfully repelled from the town of lubny there a ragtag force engaged the german troops sniping from rooftops and windows and bombarding their tanks with molotov cocktails the fighting tied up the german division in lubny for days preventing them from linking up with the first panzer group and closing the encirclement but this victory merely delayed the inevitable and that same evening one of timoshenko's subordinates sent a blunt telegram to boris shaposhnikov marshall of the red army which ended with the words this is the beginning as you know of catastrophe a matter of a couple of days sure enough on september 16th guderian's second panzer group met up with the first panzer group in the town of lachvitsa about 120 miles east of kiev the encirclement was complete and four soviet armies were now trapped inside the pocket german leaders were surprised by the extent of their success and the seemingly static soviet response upon hearing the news german general gotthard heinrichy remarked in an incomprehensible manner the russian has left his troops to remain in a situation in the ukraine which must result in their capture in a truly dismal example of irony the now encircled soviet forces received a telegram the very next day from marshall shaposhnikov finally authorizing them to withdraw from kiev with nowhere to run the soviets could do nothing but settle into their defensive positions and prepare to make the germans pay for every mile on september 18th the luftwaffe began to bombard kiev in ernst with the stated aim of reducing the city to rubble and ashes dropping over 1.2 million pounds of bombs over the course of the battle meanwhile the german ground forces systematically advanced from all directions slowly crushing all enemy resistance in the east where the german line was the thinnest the soviets made several desperate attempts to break out but to no avail a report to high command on the 17th described enemy formations bounding off the encirclement ring like billiard balls the soviets were incredibly tenacious fighting tooth and nail even after days of constant combat with no sleep as lines of communication broke down the forces remaining inside the pocket were overtaken by utter confusion and the battle soon turned into a slaughter the city of kiev was finally occupied on the 19th with nazi flags flying above the citadel by midday unlike other cities which the soviets largely destroyed on their way out as part of their brutal scorched earth policy kiev was captured with much of the inner city intact the nazis quickly set about occupying most important buildings establishing supply depots and command headquarters which was exactly what the soviets had been counting on five days after the germans entered kiev a series of explosions shook the city as hundreds of explosives hidden by the nkvd were set off 200 german soldiers and officers were killed and much of the city was destroyed in the resulting firestorm meanwhile fighting continued to the east of kiev the remnants of the southwestern front were broken up into several separate pockets which continued to fight stubbornly even as their officers died and their formations dissolved general kirpanos was forced to flee his headquarters as the germans closed in and wound up leading a small group of soldiers in a desperate attempt to break out of the encirclement the general and his haggard escort encountered the enemy nine miles from la christa and kirpanos died fighting alongside his men most of the other commanding officers were more fortunate and managed to escape with their headquarters including marshals budyani and timoshenko along with the up and coming commissar nikita khrushchev around 15 000 soviets managed to escape with them leaving the rest of the southwestern front to its fate on september 26th after 10 days of intense fighting the last scattered remnants of the encircled forces surrendered marking the end of the battle in total the soviets lost upwards of seven hundred thousand men in the encirclement at kiev with four whole armies being completely destroyed over the following weeks the nazis in ukraine began to massacre prisoners and civilians alike enslaving hundreds of thousands to serve as forced laborers the greatest atrocity occurred at the babinyar ravine just outside of kiev in retaliation for the bombings in the city the entire jewish population of kiev over 33 000 people were rounded up and taken to a ravine where they were systematically forced into the ravine and shot one small group at a time after the massacre of babinyar the ravine continued to be used as a mass grave for murdered jews and would claim anywhere from forty thousand to one hundred thousand more lives during the german occupation [Music] the battle of kiev was a devastating loss for the soviet union handing complete control of central ukraine to the germans but even in the midst of its greatest victory the cracks in the nazi war machine were beginning to show damaged or disabled panzers outstripped the maintenance system's capacity to repair and the lack of sufficient rail networks put a strain on german supply lines meanwhile with the nkvd bombings in kiev the soviets were already developing one of the tactics that would help them turn the tide of the war scorched earth successful as it had been the prolonged assault on kiev had robbed the german invasion of its momentum a delay that they could ill afford as the dreaded russian wet season known as the rasputitsa would hit a little over one month after kiev was secured [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 834,546

Rating: 4.9319396 out of 5

Keywords: battle of kiev, operation barbarossa, invasion of the soviet union, 1941 eastern front, second world war

Id: nW_xVZ2qx3s

Length: 14min 50sec (890 seconds)

Published: Thu May 13 2021