The 'Battle of Uman' was an encirclement battle fought between Axis and Soviet forces in the area of the Ukrainian city of Uman within the context of the German 'Barbarossa' invasion of the USSR, and led to the destruction of the Soviet 6^th and 12^th Armies (15 July/8 August 1941).

The battle was known to the Soviets as the 'Uman Defensive Operation', which was an element of the 'Kiev Strategic Defensive Operation', and was fought between part General Polkovnik Mikhail P. Kirponos’s South-West Front, retreating from the Lwów salient, and Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt’s Heeresgruppe 'Süd'.

The Soviet forces were under overall command of Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza Semyon M. Budenny’s South-Western Direction, which included Kirponos’s South-West Front and General Ivan V. Tyulenev’s South Front, Subordinate formations included General Leytenant Ivan N. Muzychenko’s 6^th Army and General Major Pavel G. Ponedelin’s 12^th Army.

In the initial weeks of 'Barbarossa', von Rundstedt’s formations had advanced rapidly to the east, defeating several Soviet mechanised corps at the 'Battle of Brody' on 23/30 June. The armies of the South-West Front were ordered to retreat to the 'Stalin Line', which was the line of fortifications along the previous Soviet/Polish border of 1939. General Eberhard von Mackensen’s III Corps (mot.) and General Werner Kempf’s XLVIII Corps (mot.) of Generaloberst Heinz Guderian’s 1^st Panzergruppe penetrated between the Soviet 5^th Army and Soviet 6^th Army. On 7 July, the XLVIII Corps (mot.) broke through a weak defence on the 'Stalin Line' and began to advance at speed, enveloping the right flank of the 6^th Army. A Soviet counterattack was attempted on 9 July in the direction of Berdichev to prevent any farther eastward advance by the 1^st Panzergruppe. In fighting which continued until 16 July, Generalmajor Ludwig Crüwell’s 11^th Panzerdivision lost 2,000 men, but ultimately the Soviet troops failed and on 16 June the German offensive continued.

Farther to the north, the mobile forces of the III Corps (mot.) also overcame the 'Stalin Line' and reached the approaches to Kiev. von Rundstedt planned to capture Kiev quickly, while Adolf Hitler and the rest of the German high command insisted on a strike to the south, which would guarantee a major encirclement of the Soviet troops in conjunction with the advance of Generaloberst Eugen Ritter von Schobert’s 11^th Army. A compromise solution proposed the capture of Belaya Tserkov to be followed by a strike to the south-west in the direction of the 11^th Army. Such a decision left the possibility, instead of a strike to the south-west, of a continuation of the offensive from Kiev farther to the east, and thus beyond the Dniepr river. But Kiev was secured by a separate Soviet fortified area, and the communications of the III Corps (mot.) were under attack by the 5^th Army.

In the first days of the 'Battle of Uman', therefore, the task of encircling the 6^th Army and 12^th Army from the north and the east was to be undertaken only by divisions of the XLVIII Corps (mot.). To help these divisions, the third formation of the 1^st Panzergruppe, General Gustav von Wietersheim’s XIV Corps (mot.), was redeployed from the south and committed to action between the III Corps (mot.) and XLVIII Corps (mot.) in the direction of Belaya Tserkov.

Infantry formations and units of Generalfeldmarschall Walter von Reichenau’s 6^th Army[/er] on the north hastened to replace the advanced armoured formations and units, and General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel’s 17^th Army to the west continued to pursue the retreating forces of the 6^th Army and 12^th Army. The advance of Schobert’s 11^th Army from the Soviet/Romanian border was checked by Soviet counterblows, and its attack from the south toward Vinnitsa was postponed.

The XVIII Mechanised Corps, which was in the reserve of the South Front, was ordered to advance to Uman on 18 July together with the II Mechanised Corps. However, it had to be used to close the gap between the 12^th Army and 18^th Army that had resulted from the breakthrough of the XLIX Gebirgskorps to Vinnitsa. This breakthrough took the Germans onto the rear of the South Front’s 18^th Army. The actions of the XVIII Mechanised Corps covered the flanks of both armies, and allowed the 18^th Army to retreat, and its attacks distracted the attention of the XLIX Gebirgskorps and alleviated the situation of the 12^th Army near Vinnitsa.

By 25 July, the infantry divisions of Heeresgruppe 'Süd' had come up with the army group’s mobile formations and started to replace them. Near Kiev von Mackensen’s III Corps (mot.) was now began to move to Belaya Tserkov, where its arrival finally crushed another attempt by the 26^th Army to restore a continuous front line. Thus the XIV Corps (mot.) was able to continue the offensive in a south-easterly direction. To the north and north-west of Uman, the 16^th Division (mot.) and 16^th Panzerdivision were now free for other operations, as too was SS-Obergruppenführer Joseph Dietrich’s Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler' (mot.). As a result, by 31 July the 16^th Division (mot.) of the XLVIII Corps (mot.) had captured Talnoye and Novoarkhangel’sk, some 25 miles (40 km) to the east of Uman, and von Hubicki’s 9^th Panzerdivision of the XIV Corps (mot.) took Ol’shanka, some 46.5 miles (70 km) to the south-east of Uman. Thus the new line decided by the Soviet command for the retreat of the 6^th Army and the 12^th Army along the Sinyuha river, was once again pre-empted by the Germans. However, this time the Soviets had left to them nothing with which to parry the German breakthrough as their reserves were completely exhausted. New Armies and divisions, hastily formed by the Soviet high command, were still to the east of the Dniepr river.

To the west of Uman, the command of the XLIX Gebirgskorps launched Generalleutnant Wilhelm Schneckenburger’s fresh 125^th Division, which took Gaisin on 25 July. Other elements of the XLIX Gebirgskorps rushed into the breakthrough, and of these it was Lanz’s 1^st Gebirgsdivision which achieved the greatest success: on 26 July it advanced 43.5 miles (70 km) to the south-east and found itself in the rear of the Soviet troops. Soviet attempts to restore the situation were not successful. In the fighting of 25/27 July, the XLIX Gbirgskorps defeated the XVIII Mechanised Corps and was thus able to outflank the 12^th Army from the south.

On 31 July, the 1^st Gebirgsdivision captured Golovanevsk, about 28 miles (45 km) to the south-south-east of Uman. On the same day the Soviets abandoned Uman. The 6^th Army and the 12^th Army were in an area measuring about 25 by 25 miles (40 by 40 km), surrounded by German troops on all sides but the south. However, the Soviet command still demanded that the two armies attack to the north-east and link with the 26^th Army. In fact, the main task of the South-West Direction was the creation of a defensive line along the Dniepr river. The Soviet command mistakenly believed that the Germans would immediately advance to the east, to the crossings over the Dniepr river, so the attacks of the 6^th Army and the 12^th Army from the flank would hamper them. In fact, the destruction of the 6^th Army and the 12^th Army was the German forces' main task. By 1 August, the German high command had refused plans for the immediate encirclement of the South Front’s 18^th Army in addition to that of the 6^th Army and 12^th Army, and directed the XLIX Gebirgskorps to the east and north-east of Golovanevsk, along the shortest path to complete the encirclement near Uman.

On the morning of 1 August, the commands of the 6^th Army and the 12^th Army, whose remnants on 28 July had been combined with the II Mechanised Corps as the Operational Group 'Ponedelin', sent a joint communication to the South Front’s command, copied to Iosef Stalin: 'The situation has become critical. The encirclement of the 6^th and 12^th Armies is completed. There is a direct threat of the disintegration of the combined combat order of 6^th and 12^th Armies There are no reserves There is no ammunition, the fuel is running out.'

Tyulenev, the commander of the South Front, assured Stalin that the situation would be restored by a blow toward the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' by the fresh 223^rd Division from the north-east and formations of the 18^th Army from the south, and at the same time denied that his forces were hampered by any supply difficulties.

On 1 August, the 18^th Army attempted to join the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' from the south. But the divisions on the right flank of the XLiX Gebirgskorps repelled the attack of the XVII Corps, and by evening the 18^th Army was furthermore attacked by elements of General Kurt von Briesen’s LII Corps and the Hungarian Mobile Corps. The 18^th Army’s commander gave the order to retreat to Pervomaysk. At the same time, the XLIX Gebirgskorps' attacks on the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' distracted the Soviet units and allowed the 1^st Gebirgsdivision to move still farther to the east.

Only recently formed and and therefore wholly inexperienced, the 223^rd Division was caught while preparing for an attack and therefore succumbed to the sudden blow of Generalmajor Friedrich Kühn’s 14^th Panzerdivision, and was quickly defeated. A breakthrough toward the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' from the north-east was foiled. Tyulenev continued to believe that only the 'leaked' German groups were acting in this direction, while the main forces of the 1^st Panzergruppe had already entered the breakthrough, fanning out to the south and south-east.

On 2 August, the units of the 1^st Gebirgsdivision reached the Sinyuha river, where they joined Hubicki’s 9^th Panzerdivision of the XIV Corps (mot.). At this time, other parts of the XLVIII Corps (mot.) and XIV Corps (mot.) in heavy fighting repulsed all attempts by the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' to break through to the east and north-east. The ring of the encirclement had been closed, but it was not yet strong. The encirclement was reinforced on the following day by a second linkage, formed when the 16^th Panzerdivision met the Hungarian Mobile Corps in Pervomaysk.

The command of the encircled Soviet armies fully realised the severity of the situation and though it requested help it did not receive it. The formations and units of the South Front retreated, and their battle lines were broken on several occasions. The 26^th Army was defeated in the battles with the 1^st Panzergruppe and retreated to the Dniepr river, and all attempts by the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' to link with it failed. On the night of 2 August Muzychenko, the commander of the 6^th Army, requested permission to break out of the encirclement to the south-east, in the direction of the South Front’s 18^th Army, but Tyulenev repeatedly ordered it to move to the east, to the junction line on the Sinyuha river, which was firmly occupied by the XLVIII Corps (mot.) and the XIV Corps (mot.). Moreover, farther to the east the offensive of the III Corps (mot.) was developed. On 1/5 August, the Operational Group 'Ponedelin' attacked mainly in this direction, but only some parts of the 6^th Army moved to the south and south-east, entering into a head-on battle with the XLIX Gebirgskorps.

On 4 August, in a blow from each side, German troops eliminated the bridgehead which had been captured by General Major Nikolai I. Proshkin’s Operational Group 'Proshkin' on the eastern bank of the Sinyuha river near the village of Ternovka. By the evening of 4 August, the Soviet high command had lost almost all interest in the fate of the remnants of the encircled armies. In his negotiations with Kirponos, the commander of the South-West Front, Stalin demanded the creation of a powerful defensive line along the Dniepr river, and mentioned the fate of the 6^th Army and the 12^th Army only in response to a question from Kirponos. Formally, on 6 August another Soviet offensive towards Uman from the north-east was planned, but in reality the armies were left to their own devices. In the south, the right flank of the 18^th Army was scattered and partially surrounded near Pervomaysk. By 5 August the area of the encirclement still held by the 65,000 or so men of the Soviet forces had shrunk to about 6.2 by 6.2 miles (10 by 10 km), and was entirely swept by German artillery fire.

On the night of 6 August, Soviet troops made a desperate attempt to break out of the Uman encirclement. This time they struck to the south, assuming that it would be sufficient to break through the positions of the XLIX Gebirgskorps to establish contact the 18^th Army to the north of Pervomaysk. In fact, Pervomaysk had been lost on 3 August, but the South Front had not reported the fact. The 6^th Army planned to effect its break-out by collecting its last few tanks in a 'special task' column. Detachments of Lanz’s 1^st Gebirgsdivision and Generalleutnant Karl Eglseer’s 4^th Gebirgsdivision failed to stop the night breakthrough, and the Soviet strike forces marched 12.5 miles (20 km) and even took Golovanevsk. Instead of the 18^th Army, however, the break-out force encountered General Kurt von Briesen’s LII Corps and Hubicki’s 9^th Panzerdivision, and was brought to a peremptory halt. In the course of the break-out, the Soviets suffered heavy losses and by the morning of 7 August had been generally routed, only small groups without heavy weapons managing to exit the encirclement. The 'special task' column was annihilated and Muzychenko, the commander of the 6^th Army, was taken prisoner.

During the following night, another break-out was made. This time elements of the predominantly 12^th Army and the II Mechanised Corps broke through to the east and north-east. The only part of the undertaking, and then only to a very limited degree, to achieve success was that to the north-east, but again only very small detachments were able to get out of the encirclement. Ponedelin, the commander of the 12^th Army, was taken prisoner after his tank was hit and disabled. During the afternoon of 7 August, Soviet troops surrounded in the forests near the villages of Podvysokoye and Kopenkovatoye began to surrender. Beside the commanders of the 6^th and 12^th Armies, four corps and 11 divisional commanders were taken prisoner.