August 1941

Eastern Front

Busch's 16th Army fights its way along the southern shore of Lake Ilmen and cuts a salient into the right flank of the 34th Army. The Soviets battle to bar the road to Staraya Russa.

To support the attacks fo the XXIV Panzer Corps around Roslavl, the IX Corps launches its attack from the Oster River.

After an aruduous march the 11th Panzer Division of the 1st Panzer Group links up with the 101st Jaeger Division of the 17th Army at Dobrianska, southeast of Uman. The 16th Panzer Division also links up with Hungarian troops at Pervomaisk, encircling the 6th and 12th Armies and part of the 18th Army between Uman and Pervomaisk, a total force of over 200,000 Soviet troops. Budenny immediately orders the 26th Army to counterattack toward Boguslav and Zvenigorodka to relieve the pocket. German forces also capture Kirovograd.

The isolation of the Soviet armies around Uman and Smolensk scratched close to a million Soviet soldiers and massive quantities of equipment from the Soviet order of battle. Despite desperated relief attempts, the Red Army effectively has to strike from its strength nearly a third of its original operational strength. However, the sheer scale of the victory was in itself a problem for the Ostheer. Determined Soviet units were able to break out to the east as the Germans found it difficult to seal the pockets with their increasingly overstretched manpower resources. The lack of motorization among German infantry division was clearly evident as the exhausted Landser struggled to cover the vast distanced to catch up with the armored units.