The attempted breakout at the Bukryn bridgehead succeeded in enlarging the bridgehead. German artillery exacted a tremendous cost, and the Soviets halted the attack on 15 October. Further south, at Kremenchug, General Rotmistrov found a ten kilometer gap in the German line. On 16 October, supported, by the 17th Air Army, he crossed the Dnieper River capturing P’yatykatky on 18 October. The next day he made a clear breakthrough striking west for Kirovograd, assisted by the 5th Air Army, and south toward Krivoy Rog. On 22 October he took Novo Starodub and, on 27 October he entered the outskirts of Krivoi Rog. German General Mackensen, outflanked, abandoned Dnepropetrovsk on 25 October.
By now General Rotmistrov’s fuel was running low. His German opponent received an influx of tanks. An attack by Totenkopf plugged the gap and pushed Rotmistrov’s spearhead back out of Krivoy Rog.
General Rybalko, whose 3 Guards Tank Army had assisted with the first attempt to breakout of the Bukryn bridgehead, was ordered to move his army, through marshy terrain, to the smaller Lyutezh bridgehead 150 kilometers to the north. He withdrew from Bukryn on 25 October and crossed the river during three days of low clouds and rain. The move to Lyutezh took two days and by 2 November his entire tank army was relocated.
The Soviet attempt to breakout of the Bukryn bridgehead resumed on 1 November, distracting the Germans from the attempt taking place at Lyutezh. Bad weather restricted the 2nd Air Army’s attempts to assist the breakout to 640 sorties in two days.
The breakout from the Lyutezh bridgehead began on 3 November with an artillery barrage and assistance by Katyusha rockets. By 4 November Soviet troops entered the suburbs of Kiev. The Kiev-Zhitomir road was cut the next day. Rain, low clouds, and fog hindered operations on both sides. The Soviet Red flag was raised in the center of the city on 6 November, and Stalin was notified of its capture.
Sources: Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1943-1945: Red Steamroller, Robert A. Forczyk, Pen and Sword Military, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, 2016
The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1973
War Over the Steppes: The Air Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941-45, E. R. Hooton, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2016
Jack Kruse, Author 