The Battle of Uman was a battle of the Eastern Front of World War II, fought in Western Ukraine between the German Army Group South commanded by General Gerd von Rundstedt and the Soviet Southwestern Front commanded by Marshal Semyon Budyonny.

In the initial weeks Operation Barbarossa Army Group South had driven rapidly east, capturing Lvov, Tornopol and Vinnitsa , and destroying mechanised formations that General Mikhail Kirponos had thrown into battle in a desperate attempt to halt the invasion.

On 10 July Kirponos was sacked and Budenny was given the command of the Southwestern Front. He had 1.5 million soldiers under his command in two large concentrations at Uman and Kiev. No sooner had he taken up his command then Army Group South launched three assaults deep into the Ukraine. General Ewald von Kleist's 1st Panzer Army drove a wedge between the two Soviet concentrations south of Kiev and north of Uman, capturing Berdichev on 15 July and Kazatin on 16 July. General Heinrich von Stulpnagel 's 17th Army advanced to the south of Uman and General Ritter von Schobert 's 11th Army advanced northwards from the Rumanian border.

It would have been advisable for Budenny to withdraw his troops to avoid encirclement but he was ordered by Joseph Stalin to attack. Lacking tanks, he ordered an infantry assault on 20 July, which was suicidal against the German armoured concentrations.

By 8 August the trap was closed and 20 Soviet divisions from the 6th and 12th Armies — about 300,000 troops — were encircled. The defenders fought on until their ammunition was exhausted and then launched suicide charges against the encircling troops. By 22 August the Germans had crushed all resistance, and taken around 100,000 prisoners.