Almost at the same time, opposite him, the senior commander of the German Southern Corps, was also engaged in an operational consultation.

Unlike in history, Army Group South was now commanded by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, who proposed the tactic of breaking through the Ardennes Forest during the French campaign, which was approved by Führer Chirek and finally succeeded.

Although the armored forces of the German army are very advanced, they are also related to tactics, if they can't easily kill France back then, they will not lay a good situation for the future, and if it becomes a war of attrition, it will become the terrible consequences of World War I.

Now, Manstein has been promoted by Führer Cirek to directly lead the entire army group.

Army Group South was huge, it included the 6th, 11th, and 17th armies, as well as the 1st Panzer Army, as well as the separate Viking Division, for a total of 63 divisions.

The total strength was about the same as that of the army in the center, but the area they were going to attack was much larger, and along the way, Manstein already felt that his forces were indeed too scattered.

Every time, he can defeat the Soviet army, but he does not have enough strength to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

"The Soviets are deployed on the Dnieper, every bridge has heavy handles, and there are positions outside the bridgehead, and this battle will not be particularly smooth." This was stated by the commander of the 1st Panzer Army, Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist.

The onslaught of tanks, after all, still takes time, and in the vast plains of Ukraine, the German armored forces are constantly advancing, but not as quickly as in Belarus.

It's all because of logistical supply problems.

In Belarus, Germany built a broad-gauge railway, which was directly connected to the German mainland's railway line, which greatly facilitated the supply, although the Soviets destroyed some railway lines, they were quickly repaired, relying on that railway artery, the Central Route Army hardly had to worry about logistics and supplies.

But in Ukraine it is different, due to the different tracks, the train has to change wheels when transiting, which is quite inefficient, and the transportation of supplies by rail and road together has only been supported until now.

Compared with history, the proportion of tanks in the German offensive sequence has increased significantly, not to mention the tanks in ordinary infantry divisions, the 1st Panzer Army alone is equipped with 3900 tanks.

At the same time, there are a large number of infantry fighting vehicles, all kinds of wheeled transporters, all of which need to consume a lot of fuel, which puts forward new requirements for Germany's logistical supply, and as the front advances, the supply line is getting longer and longer.

All of this slowed down their offensive, and as an admirer of blitzkrieg, Manstein was not satisfied with the speed of his troops, and he knew that he had another problem.

"We found the right place, seized the bridge, crossed the Dnieper, it didn't have too many problems, and now it seems that there are several locations that are very suitable." "But we now lack enough troops to encircle the entire Kyiv region of the Soviet army, like Belarus, with huge arms stretched out and encircling the whole region," Manstein said. ”

The Southwestern Front of the USSR in the Ukrainian regions had more troops than Belarus in the center.

After a series of battles in the border area and the defeat of the Dubno-Lutsk-Rivne tank engagement, the Soviet Red Army High Command considered the south-west direction to be the main direction of the German offensive and deployed most of the Soviet Red Army forces in Ukraine.

Until now, the whole of Ukraine has the 5th, 6th, 26th, and 12th armies of the Southwestern Front, the 18th and 9th armies of the Southern Front, 6 army groups, 69 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry divisions, and 28 armored brigades.

And in Kyiv alone, there are 44 divisions, and it is not as easy for these units to be completely surrounded, not as it is in the center.

Even Manstein, who has always been bold in using troops, is now scratching his head, how to fight this battle?

Manstein was not worried that he would not be able to defeat his opponent, he was capable enough to liberate Kyiv, but Manstein, who was well aware of Ciric's strategic goals, could not be satisfied with merely defeating the enemy.

They must not only defeat, but also completely encircle and destroy the enemy.

Just defeat them, they will retreat and then be organized, and the best solution is to completely destroy them.

The strategic goal, first, was to occupy Moscow, and secondly, to destroy the living forces of the Soviets.

Manstein was not trying to defeat the enemy, but to destroy them completely, and now Manstein was worried about this goal.

There are not enough troops, there is too much meat, and I can't eat one bite.

"Then we can stutter." At this moment, Kleist spoke: "If we hit Kyiv directly, once the defenders in Kyiv can't be defeated, they will definitely break through, and we don't have enough strength to intercept it, so I think we should simply cut off some of them first, such as Uman in the south of Kyiv, how about we solve the defenders of Uman first?" ”

Uman, south of Kiev, is the largest city of Ukraine, with a force of 1.5 million troops of the South-Western Front, of which 200,000 are deployed in Uman.

Let's start with Uman first, and have a complete encirclement, so far, the southern army group has not had too dazzling results, so let's start with Uman!

At the same time, this is also very consistent with the current advance line of the German army.

The 1st Panzer Army under Kleist's command advanced in a wedge formation to the south of Kiev and north of Uman, while the 17th Army of Stupnag was advancing south of Uman.

Now, they can suddenly change the route of their march and they can encircle Uman.

When the time comes, see how the defenders of Kiev will choose, if they divide their troops to save Uman, then surround the point and send reinforcements, in the field, it is definitely a paradise for tank troops, they can destroy as many as they come, if they sit back and watch Uman be wiped out, their own army will pass through Uman to the east, cross the Dnieper River, and then wave their division to the north to surround Kyiv, which can greatly reduce the pressure.

"Yes, then we'll use this tactic." Manstein: "We, the Southern Army, must hand in a satisfactory answer, destroy the living forces of the Soviets, and lay the foundation for the eventual rendezvous with Moscow!" ”

With Manstein's clap, the vigorous battle of Kiev finally kicked off, and the battle began first in Uman, south of Kiev. This originally inconspicuous city, which was only a flank of Kiev, ushered in the most terrible battle.