History of War
Just months after defiantly deceiving his ally Stalin and sending troops into Russian territory, Hitler commanded his Wehrmacht to lay siege and capture the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. The outnumbered German forces advanced aggressively, spearheaded by their Panzer groups, while the Soviets collapsed helplessly before their merciless strides. As the Soviet and German forces clashed on the banks of the Dnieper River, the Red Army desperately scrambled to contain the German onslaught and prevent them from crossing the rivers at all costs. The body of water and thinly spread Soviet force was the only thing standing between Hitler and the fall of Kiev. The Soviet defense could only hold for so long before the German tanks pierced the line in a brutal pincer maneuver. Suddenly, faced with annihilation, Southwestern Front Commander Semión Timoshenko pleaded with Stalin for permission to withdraw. Even so, the response was always the same: Kiev had to be defended at all costs and to the last man. One day after the city was enveloped and four entire Soviet armies lay trapped, Timoshenko received a telegram, a message finally giving him and his men permission to leave the city. But with nowhere to run or hide, over half a million Soviet fighters chose to make the Germans pay for every inch of Kiev they wished to claim…
