One of the significant events of the Great Patriotic War is the 1941 battle for Kyiv. The defense of the city lasted from July to September and claimed many lives. Documents refer to this event as the Kyiv Strategic Defensive Operation.
Despite the heroism of Soviet soldiers and local residents, many strategic mistakes were made. Subsequently, they led to tragic events, for which hundreds of thousands of people had to pay with their lives.
Beginning of the end
For the first time, Kyiv was attacked at the very beginning of the war. It was on June 22, 1941 that German bombers dropped their bombs on him at dawn. Thus began the Great Patriotic War. In less than a month, the Germans will come close to the city.
The buildings of the railway station, aircraft factory, military airfield and others, including residential buildings, were damaged by the air raid. Most people don't even realizethat the war had begun. For them, it was another exercise that had been intensively conducted by the Soviet troops for more than a year.
From the same moment, the city began to prepare for defense. A line of defense of Kyiv was created, which was a strip of 200 pillboxes. Ditches were built in front of them against tanks and infantry. Another line of pillboxes and ditches was created near the city. All these works were carried out by more than 160,000 people from Kiev and nearby villages.
On June 23, mobilization points were opened in the city. 200 thousand people were called up, that is, a fifth of the inhabitants of Kyiv. According to eyewitnesses, young people sought to get to the front for the war with the Germans. This patriotism was not broken by the multiple repressions and denunciations that took place in the 30s and resumed again due to the war.
The beginning of the Kyiv defensive operation is considered to be July 11, when the Wehrmacht forces reached the Irpin River. It was located 15 kilometers west of the city. The operation lasted 70 days.
Event participants
In order to figure out who attacked the city and who carried out the defense of Kyiv, you should look at the table.
| Aggressor side | Defense Side | |
| State | Germany | USSR |
| Name of troops | Wehrmacht | Red Army |
| Groups of troops-participants | Army "South", "Center", 2nd Panzer | Southwestern front, Pinsk flotilla, combined arms armies |
| Command | Field Marshal Rundstedt | Colonel General Kirponos, Rear Admiral Rogachev, USSR Marshal Budyonny |
German plans in July 1941
The German command expected to capture the Donbass and Crimea before the onset of winter. It was also important to capture Leningrad in order to unite with the Finnish troops. The heroic defense of Kyiv could have prevented them from achieving these goals.
According to one of the directives, Hitler ordered that the southeastern section was not just taken. The most important task was to prevent the withdrawal of large enemy forces inland, but to destroy them on the western bank of the Dnieper.
Fighting in July-August: disastrous decisions
In the west of Kyiv was the army "South". It was opposed by the South-Western Front, which outnumbered the enemy in terms of the number of soldiers and technical equipment. But there was a significant lack of experience. The Soviet army lacked initiative commanders, and the Germans perfectly maneuvered and skillfully surrounded the enemy.
Along with the fighting, the population was evacuated. However, she was disorganized. Often, government officials took their families with a lot of luggage, which greatly outraged ordinary residents. For these purposes, trucks were even used, which were sorely lacking at the front.
Stabilize brieflythe situation was allowed by the heroic offensive of the army of General Vlasov. On August 10, thanks to him, a suburb of Kyiv was liberated. This infuriated the German Fuhrer, who on August 8 was determined to hold a parade on Khreshchatyk. However, the success of the Red Army did not last long.
German plans for August
The heroic defense of Kyiv forced the German command to change their plans. Hitler believed that it was much more important to capture not Moscow, as Franz Halder thought, but the southern territories of the USSR. Before winter, Hitler wanted to seize the Crimea, the coal and industrial areas of Donbass, and also block the routes of oil delivery from the Caucasus for the Soviet troops.
Besides Halder, Heinz Guderian did not agree with Hitler's decision either. He personally tried to convince the Fuhrer not to stop the attack on Moscow, but his arguments did not affect the decision of the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht. Thus, parts of the Center group were transferred to the south on August 24, and the attack on Moscow was suspended.
USSR plans in August
Stalin feared for Moscow. He understood that soon hostilities would move in that direction. This was also confirmed by intelligence. As of early August, German troops were supposed to attack Moscow through Bryansk.
But Stalin did not know that Hitler would decide to drastically change his plans and send additional forces to the south.
Fighting in late August: belated retreat
August 21, Hitler signed the directive. It had a decisive influence on the subsequent course of the war. It consisted in the fact that the main forces of the Wehrmacht suffered their blowfrom Moscow to the south, that is, to Kyiv, Crimea and Donbass.
Despite the fact that there was both military and civil defense of Kyiv, the situation became catastrophic. At the same time, the command did not allow the surrender of the capital, fearing the reaction of Stalin, who forbade it.
As a result, the SWF was completely surrounded by the Germans. On the night of September 18, Moscow decided to retreat. However, time was lost, as a result, not all units were able to get out of the ring. About 700 thousand soldiers were captured and killed. The same fate befell General Kirponos, as well as 800 officers and generals who led the front.
The defense of Kyiv was a failure. The Soviet troops, retreating, in a hurry still managed to undermine all four bridges across the Dnieper. At the same time, civilians and military personnel were walking along them at that moment. The city's power plant and water supply were put out of action. Thousands of food bags were thrown into the water. All these actions doomed the remaining residents (about 400 thousand people) to starvation in the occupied city.
The Germans entered the city on 19 September. From the next day, executions of Jews began, and thousands of local residents began to be taken to work in Germany. This went on for three years.
Results and consequences of the operation
The territorial defense of Kyiv could not withstand the forces of the Wehrmacht. The defeat was a heavy blow for the Soviet army. In addition to the huge number of human casu alties, more than 4 thousand were lost.guns, mortars, tanks, planes.
The unsuccessful defense of Kyiv opened the way for the Wehrmacht to the east. Further events unfolded at lightning speed. The Germans captured more and more new territories.
Chronology of the capture of the eastern and southern lands:
- October 8 - Sea of Azov;
- October 16 - Odessa region;
- October 17 - Donbass;
- October 25 - Kharkiv;
- November 2 - Crimea (Sevastopol was under blockade).
There were a few good things about this bloody defeat. First of all, the German troops transferred from Moscow made it possible for the Soviet command to prepare for its defense. The attack on Leningrad was also suspended in order to create a closer ring around it. Thus, the Kyiv defensive operation left no time for the Germans to take Moscow.
