The Situation
In the months leading up to the battle of Korsun Pocket German forces
had been pushed back from the Dnieper River until only one salient,
between Kanev and Cherkassy, south of Kiev remained (See
January 25th Grand Overview -huge-). It
was a position that begged for a battle of encirclement and the
German generals knew it. However, Hitler forbade any retreat to
more defensible positions. Leading up to the opening of the battle
on January 25th there were several indications that the Soviets
had shot their bolt in the Korsun region. An abortive attack by
Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front had simply resulted in a small pocket
of Soviet troops around Tichonovka (see
Jan 25th 1st Ukrainian Front)and on the other side of the salient
bitter fighting around Kirovograd (just off the south map edge)
had seen only minor Soviet gains.
 This
lulled the germans into a false sense of security. The massive
build up by Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front (see
Jan 25th 2nd Ukrainian Front) went unnoticed by the German
high command. Therefore when the attack finally came its overwhelming
force caught the Germans by surprise.
To be continued ...
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