Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin - The Ukraine

The Ukraine

Vatutin now aspired to retake Kiev. He undertook a secret regrouping under an imaginative and deceptive plan. His forces surprised Manstein, attacking the Germans from an unexpected direction, and on 6 November 1943, he retook Kiev. Vatutin relentlessly exploited his victory in Kiev, and pushed deep into the German defenses. When Vatutin overextended his armies, Manstein used the XLVIII Panzerkorps to masterfully counterattack. In the battle of Radomyshl (6–15 November 1943) and the battle of the Meleni pocket (16–23 December 1943) Manstein unleashed successful and brilliant counterattacks which took terrain back and inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army forces. In January, Vatutin and the 2nd Ukrainian Front of Army General Ivan Konev carried out an encirclement of the Korsun salient in the Korsun-Shevchenko operation. Although Vatutin started the operation two days after Konev and his striking formation, and the 6th Tank Army was only recently formed, he achieved the element of surprise by committing his tanks to the battle from the first echelon. This allowed the 6th Tank Army to penetrate deep into German defenses and, on 3 February, it linked with the advancing armor of Konev's front and trapped 56,000 German troops. By 17 February, Vatutin and Konev had eliminated the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket after more than half of the German force successfully escaped.