Defeat at the Dnepr: The XLVIII. Panzerkorps’ Counterattack at Kiev, November 1943

In late 1943, the German Army on the Eastern Front was in dire straits.Its southern army group had been pushed out of eastern Ukraine, and on 6 November 1943, Kiev-one of the Soviet Union’s largest cities-was retaken by an increasingly capable Soviet Red Army.To prevent the total collapse of his army group’s front line, Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein had no choice but to launch a counterattack to halt the Red Army’s advance and recapture the Ukrainian capital.On 7 November, two Panzer divisions attached to the XLVIII Panzerkorps plunged into the Red Army’s positions southwest of Kiev, stopping the Red Army in its tracks.Five days later, two more Panzer divisions joined the counterattack, and the XLVIII Panzerkorps achieved numerous tactical victories as it marched northeast. Commanded by General der Panzertruppen Balck after mid-November, the XLVIII Panzerkorps continued producing tactical success as it swept aside disorganized resistance from Soviet General Vatutin’s First Ukrainia