Editing Operation Barbarossa (section)

===Kiev===
{{Main|Battle of Kiev (1941)}}
Before an attack on Moscow could begin, operations in Kiev needed to be finished. Half of Army Group Centre had swung to the south in the back of the Kiev position, while Army Group South moved to the north from its Dnieper [[bridgehead]].{{sfn|Glantz|House|1995|p=77}} The encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on 16 September. A battle ensued in which the Soviets were hammered with tanks, artillery, and aerial bombardment. After ten days of vicious fighting, the Germans claimed 665,000 Soviet soldiers captured, although the real figure is probably around 220,000.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2015|p=94}} Soviet losses were 452,720 men, 3,867 artillery pieces and mortars from 43 divisions of the 5th, 21st, 26th, and 37th Soviet Armies.{{sfn|Glantz|House|1995|p=77}} Despite the exhaustion and losses facing some German units (upwards of 75 percent of their men) from the intense fighting, the massive defeat of the Soviets at Kiev and the Red Army losses during the first three months of the assault contributed to the German assumption that [[Operation Typhoon]] (the attack on Moscow) could still succeed.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|p=145}}