This historic film from the former Soviet Union shows the Second Battle of Kiev in 1943. Highly propagandistic in content and tone, the film begins with images of Ukrainian civilians who suffered at the hands of the Germany Army before showing the vast offensive that liberated the city. The film shows German officers relaxing at the 1:00 mark and shows them mowing down captured Russian soldiers and civilians at 1:10. These atrocities and more are answered by the Red Army which is shown moving at 1:44 into combat and the Red Air Force which is seen engaging the enemy at 2:39.
The offensive shown was part of much wider Soviet offensive in Ukraine known as the Battle of the Dnieper involved three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army, and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht which took place between 3 October and 22 December 1943.
Following the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army launched Belgorod-Khar’kov Offensive Operation, pushing Erich von Manstein’s Army Group South back towards the Dnieper River. Stavka, the Soviet high command, ordered the Central Front and the Voronezh Front to force crossings of the Dnieper. When this was unsuccessful in October, the effort was handed over to the 1st Ukrainian Front, with some support from the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Nikolai Vatutin, was able to secure bridgeheads north and south of Kiev.
Although the Soviets failed to break the rail link with Army Group Center or envelop Army Group South, they had broken the Dnieper line, taken Kiev, the third biggest city in the Soviet Union, and inflicted significant casualties on the 4th Panzer Army. The Germans, for their part, had bloodied several sizable Soviet formations and kept the vital rail link open, but failed in its attempt to encircle and destroy the Soviet spearheads. A few days after XLVIII Panzer Corps was pulled out to rest and refit, the Soviets launched Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive on Christmas Eve. The renamed Voronezh Front Offensive pushed the Germans back to the 1939 Polish border by 3 January 1944.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
