From February 1-18th, 1944, 5th SS Wiking was encircled with 5 other divisions and engaged in the Battle of Korsun Pocket (Cherkassy). By January it had not yet received it's Panther Abteilung and only had 12 Pz III's J, 8 Pz IV's H and 4 Stug III's G ready for action. While managing a breakout on the 18th, it lost nearly all of it's heavy equipment in this battle. It was refitted with Panther A's on March 27th at the Maciejow railroad station in order to participate in the battle for Kovel.