Prelude
After the initial success of the Wehrmacht in the Central sector of the Eastern front, a huge salient in the south remained where a substantial Soviet force of nearly the entire Southwestern Front was located in and around Kiev. While lacking mobility and armor due to high losses in tanks at the Battle of Uman, they nonetheless posed a significant threat to the German advance and were the largest single concentration of Soviet troops on the Eastern Front at that time.
At the end of August, the German Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH) had the option of either continuing the advance on Moscow, or putting that goal aside temporarily in favor of assisting the other two army groups (North and South) both of which lagged behind.
Because the German Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd) lacked sufficient strength to encircle and destroy Budyonny's forces, a significant contribution from Army Group Centre was sent to accomplish the task.
On August 3, Hitler temporarily cancelled the drive on Moscow in favor of driving south and attacking Kiev in the Ukraine.
The bulk of Panzergruppe 2 and the 2 Armee were detached from Army Group Centre and sent due south. Its mission was to encircle Budyonny's Southwestern Front in conjunction with Army Group South whose Panzergruppe 1 under Field Marshall Kleist had outflanked Kiev in a southeasternly direction.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Kiev (1941)
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