Whakaoti i te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te Pipiri 1941 me te whakarewatanga o Operation Barbarossa, i arahina e Kleist te 1st Panzer Group hei waahanga o Army Group South - i whakawhiwhia ki te hopu i a Moldavia me Ukraine - ana i angitu i te waahanga tuatahi o te whakaekenga, i ahu whakamua ki Ukraine. I pakaru te 1st Panzer Group i te Raina a Stalin, katahi ka hinga nga roopu miihini e rima o te Soviet 5th Army me te 6 Army i te
Te Pakanga o Brody (23 ki te 30 Pipiri 1941). I te Hōngongoi 1941 i te Pakanga o Uman, i pakaru te 1st Panzer Group i nga raina o te Soviet Southern Front, i arahi ki te karapoti me te whakangaromanga o te Soviet 6th me te 12 o nga ope ki te tonga-rawhiti o te taone o Uman (i te rohe o Cherkasy o tenei ra). I te Pakanga Tuatahi o Kiev o Akuhata-Hepeti 1941, ko te huri ki te raki o te 1st Panzer Group mai i te pokapū o Ukraine i te taha o te 2nd Panzer Group ki te tonga mai i Smolensk i arahi ki te karapoti me te whakangaromanga o te katoa o te Soviet Southwestern Front ki te rawhiti o Kiev, e neke atu ana i te 600,000 nga ngaronga o te ope Whero. Heoi, he nui te utu o te pakanga, i taua wa ko nga hoia Tiamana he haurua noa iho o nga taakaha i a ratou e toru marama ki muri.