"This was the leopard's nature": Stalemate in the Ukraine, September 1941
The start of September briefly brought a lull across the Ukrainian front. 5 Army, after the defeat at Konotop, had to pull 1 Tank Corps back to refit. Elsewhere German and Axis units were redeploying from Rumania back to the main battle front.
Equally it became clear that the Germans had reinforced their armoured forces in the Ukraine. Some seemed to be either freshly raised or brought from France, others had seen action already in Bielorussia and at Rzev. In effect, the 9 Army counterstroke had not only bought time, it had also forced the Germans to permamently divert units to the Ukraine away from the Moscow axis.
Some of these new units operated broadly on the Bryansk sector, sometimes up against the 5 Army in the Ukrainian sector, sometimes against 10 Army in the Moscow sector. Soviet intelligence identified 3 heavy armoured divisions (2, 4 & 9 Heavy Armour) and 9 Panzer divisions (1,2,5,6,16,18,20 & 26 Pzr) now in action across the Ukraine. Of these 9 Heavy Armour and 5 of the Panzer divisions were new to the sector (1.2,16,18 & 26 Pzr). If this increased the pressure in the Ukraine, it lessened the power of the German offensive on the Moscow sector.
The fighting again split into 3 sectors. The fall of Konotop saw 1st Tank Corps pulled out of the line for a refit. Initially the German forces were diverted to shore up their positions at Bryansk but by 17 September, they sought to break 5 Army's front at the small town of Pyriatin. The first battle from 17-19 September saw 6 Pzr beaten off.
The town was briefly lost on 22 September
(T-34 destroyed in the second battle of Pyriatin)
and then regained from 2 Panzer by 27 September.
The southern flank for 1 Tank was held at Lebedyn. Here from 23 September to 4 October, the Italians launched their first independent offensive on the Soviet front and crashed into 49 Armija Corps.
Unfortunately for them, this unit had just been reinforced by a brigade of KV1s and, as at Leningrad, these proved very effective when used defensively.
(emergency field repairs for the KVs assigned to 19 Rifle Division)
This pattern of both sides gaining a short time advantage, followed by a counterstroke was repeated across 5 and 12 Army sectors.
The frailty of the German supply net left them vulnerable
(Soviet partisan operations continued, especially in the Bryansk-Homyel-Kiev region)
but their advantages in terms of equipment and tactical skill meant they could usually halt any Soviet blow before a decisive breakthrough was achieved. But for the first time, it felt as if the RKKA was controlling the pace and location of operations, not the Wehrmacht.
Along the bulk of 12 and 26 Army sectors, the Soviets contented themselves with a fighting retreat. STAVKA had stripped this sector of local reserves and these were moving to reinforce 10 Army's offensive at Bryansk. The result was a number of major attritional defensive actions, most notably at Kremenchuk. The latter became the focus for both sides as it was seen as key to the dominating the Lower Dniepr.
A 20 day battle raged from 20 September to 9 October before 26 Army admitted defeat and pulled back. With almost 12,000 dead from both sides, the net effect was to stall the German drive directly towards Kharkov. This battle also set the tone for the campaign in the central sector of the Ukraine for the rest of the year. Both sides tended to mount a few, large scale but localised attempts to pierce the front. These set piece engagements were invariably bloody but indicative that, by the end of September, the Ukrainian front had settled into a stalemate.
(Soviet infantry attack at Kremenchuk)
Key to this was the firm Soviet hold on Dnipropetrovsk. A combination of a major city guarding the wide lower Dniepr, with its north flank protected by the lakes produced by the great Stalin dam, gave 26 Army a near impregnable defensive position. The Germans were forced to heavily screen this sector while at the same time looking to mass so as to breakthrough to the north or south of this de facto fortress.
This breakthrough looked to have been achieved when 15 Panzer breached the Lower Dniepr at Nova Kakhovoka on 23 September after 5 days of intense fighting. This breach cost them 2,528 dead (and with 1,823 Soviet dead).
(Soviet artillery moving into action on the Lower Dniepr battles)
This allowed them to commence a major offensive into the Dombas and to isolate the Crimea. Yakmivka fell in a bitter action from 23 September to 1 October leading to a direct threat to the coal mines of the Dombas.
With this defeat, a counterblow by 64 Corps from the Crimean Isthmus at Novooleksiyivka was broken off on 4 October. The forces in the Crimea were now isolated from the main front in the South Ukraine.
By the end of September, the position in the Ukraine was complex. Essentially, and largely aided by German problems with their supply lines, in the north 5 Army was more than holding its ground. In conjunction with the fast developing Bryansk counterstroke it was making some gains, even if these were frequently lost to German counterblows. In the 12 and 26 Army sectors, the war was becoming one of isolated violent actions, it seemed as if the Germans could no longer mount a sustained assault here. However, STAVKA was consistently weakening these two armies with 5-6 rifle divisions sent to the Bryansk battles and, at the start of October, 8 Mech Corps sent south to bolster 9 Army's positions on the Azov-Stalino sector.
(T-34 of 8 Mech being redeployed to the Stalino-Dombas sector)
Thus overall, both Soviet Fronts in the Ukraine could feel confident that they had done more than just slow the German offensive. Except in the far south, they had all but stalled it, any gains being isolated with the German's incapable of building any momentum from one victory to the next.
The costs reflected this relative stalemate. In August, Soviet dead amounted to 46,558 (and a further 14-15,000 prisoners). The Germans lost 28,353 and their allies 6,586 (and some 7,000 prisoners). In September, Soviet combat losses were 32,313, the German casualties increased to 29.530 as the battles became more attritional and their allies lost a further 7,085. September, effectively set the tone for the rest of the year in the Ukraine. The only sector where the Germans were able to sustain their offensive was the far south, elsewhere both sides reached for a decisive action but in reality neither side had the power to achieve anything but stalemate.
The focus of both supreme commands was on Moscow and Leningrad.
