August 1941

Eastern Front

Kexholm falls to the 2nd Finnish Corps, which then pushes into the rear of the 23rd Army as it attempts to pull back.

The 4th Panzer Group attacks the Krasnogvardievsk position but is repulsed. Bitter fighting begins along the line of Soviet fortifications.

On the southern shore of Lake Ilmen, the 34th Army suffers under the attacks of the X and LVI Panzer Corps. The Soviets attempt to fall back, but Manstein's panzers throw the Soviet units into disarray.

On the northern wing of Army Group Center, the Germans prepare to counterattack with the 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions and the 110th and 121st Infantry Divisions at Velikiye Luki to retake the town.

Rakutin halts his attack at Elnya after heavy losses. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group becomes increasingly committed to the fighting in the Ukraine, the XXIV Panzer Corps taking Kostobobr and the XLVII Panzer striking at Pochep. Inside the salient, east of Kiev, the 21st Army is under intense pressure from the 2nd Army and begins to pull out of Gomel.

The Soviet 5th Army begins to fall back to the Dniepr, but the LI Corps attacks its XXVII Rifle Corps as it withdraws. The Germans surge forward and gains a crossing of the river at Okuminovo.

On the extreme southern flank, Kherson falls to the 1st SS Motorized Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler of the 11th Army, as German units reach the mouth of the Dniepr.

Hitler revises Directive No. 34. Army Group South is, upon completion of the Kiev operation, directed to conquer the Kharkov and Donbas industrial centers and then move into the Caucasus to overrun the Soviet oilfields ad Maikop and Grozny. This is pushing the capabilities of the already over extended German armies too far, demonstrating Hitler's total lack of comprehension of the concept of logistics and movement. He also entirely disregards the opinion of his military staff, the protestations of Halder and Brauchitsch one again being ignored. Halder's proposal of August 18th has been turned down without comment.