The Soviets have used this temporary lull in the pace to strengthen their second defence line.

Facing Finland Soviets abandon hopes of an offensive and fall back from the  border to extend the line North fearing a Finish attack around the north flank.

Facing AGN and AGC there is  little action except for frantic fort building. The line now consists of forts, forest/swamp or Tank/Mech defences along most of its length to Mogilev. The Bialystok pocket still causes some nuisance value by cadreing a 7-6 infantry division.

Against AGS however the Soviet High command  needed to make a big decision. Do they use their mechanised reserves to counter attack the panzers and try to res-establish supply to the Kiev outer ring or fall back beyond the Dnieper to act as a mobile reserve to seal any river crossings in the coming weeks.

In the event the targets of a lone panzer division and a large stack of support headed by the SS mot division persuaded them to commit and the largest tank engagement of the war to date takes place in front of Kiev.

Other than two Mech divisions which rush to seal the German bridgehead north of the  city all available motorised forces are employed in the counter attack. 8 full strength Tank and motorised divisions, 12 cadre/regiment motorised assets and 3 artillery regiments plus aircraft make two attacks to break the ring of steel.

The air covert is Returned by ME109s out of Zhitomar. Both attacks fail (4:1 -1 and 2:1 +1) achieving NE results!

Full commitment for no gain. Only the victorious 2nd Mech Corps moving up from hitting the 11 Army last month is free to move and bar the path to Umman and the rear of the  Soviet line to Odessa..

Stalin in a range despatches NKVD commissars to stiffen the resolve and the front line cities of Minsk, Kiev and Odessa are now ideologically purified and ready to defend the motherland to the last man.

The one ray of hope to is that a lone 6-4-8 Tank division struggling back from the frontier ZOCs the main German supply line. Outside Lvov one hex of the Broad gauge rail line (advanced rule) remains un-converted so consequently German spearheads will be out of supply except where they can draw on Trucks.  SS police are sent to investigate and the commander of rail line security in the sector disappears in mysterious circumstances.