September 1943

Eastern Front

Kalinin, West and Bryansk Fronts begin their final offensive aimed at taking Smolensk. Fighting is fierce but progress is slow.

Nezhin falls to the 60th Army.

After another long discussion with Hitler, Field Marshal Manstein finally gets approval for the withdrawal of Army Group South behind the line of the Dniepr. Despite his earlier order of the construction of an Eastern Wall, Hitler had forbidden the construction of fortifications. The 6th Army is ordered back to a line running from Melitopol to Zaporozhe, its XVII and XXIX Corps taking up defensive positions along this line while the IV Corps pulls back via Zaporozhe, where it will then join the 1st Panzer Army. Hollidt's 6th Army is also removed from Army Group South and allocated to Kleist's Army Group A. The 1st Panzer Army is to cross at Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe and then fan out to protect a line from Zaporozhe to Kremenchug. Wohler's 8th Army is to cross at Cherkassy and Dnepropetrovsk and again then is to fan out to cover a sector between the 1st and 4th Panzer Armies. Hoth's 4th Panzer will cross at Kiev and then hand over the XXIV Panzer Corps to the 8th Army while redeploying north and south of the city. Manstein moves his headquarters west of Kirovgrad.

Stavka orders Rokossovsky's Central and Vatutin's Vorohezh Front to converge upon Kiev and destroy 4th Panzer Army while Koniev's Steppe Front is to move upon Kremenchug. Malinovsky's Southwest Front is to march to Dnepropetrovsk, while South Front maintains pressure on the 6th Army, isolating the German forces in the Crimea by reaching Kherson.