Battle of Moscow,

• Named by Germans as ‘Operation Typhoon’, the attack began on October 2nd 1941.
Hitler believed the capture of Moscow to be vital to Operation Barbarossa, thinking that
having the capital cut off from Russia, the rest of the country would fall.
• 'Operation Typhoon' started off in ideal weather conditions on October 2nd, 1941. Field
Marshall von Bock had been given overall command of the attack on Moscow. Hitler had
ordered that units in other parts of the Russian campaign be moved to Moscow -
General Hoepner's IV Panzer group had been moved from Leningrad - hence why the
Germans did not have sufficient men to launch an attack on the city and why it had to be
besieged. For the attack, Bock had at his disposal 1 million men, 1,700 tanks, 19,500
artillery guns and 950 combat aircraft - 50% of all the German men in Russia, 75% of all
the tanks and 33% of all the planes. To defend Moscow, the Russians had under
500,000 men, less than 900 tanks and just over 300 combat planes.
• On October 12th, ten days into the attack by Bock's Army Group Centre, he received a
further order from German Supreme Command: "The Führer has reaffirmed his
decision that the surrender of Moscow will not be accepted, even if it is offered by
the enemy." Moscow had to be razed to the ground for Hitler’s campaign to be
successful. The order went on to instruct Bock that gaps could be left open for people in
Moscow to escape into the interior of Russia where administrating them would cause
chaos.
• The attack started well for the Germans. The Russians found it difficult to communicate
with all parts of their defences and infantry divisions frequently had to face tanks without
air or artillery support. By October 7th, even Marshall Zhukov was forced to admit that all
the major roads to Moscow were open to the Germans. Large parts of the Red Army had
been encircled at Vyazma (the 19th, 24th, 29th, 30th, 32nd and 43rd armies) and at two
places near Bryansk (the 3rd, 13th and 50th armies) such was the ferocity of the
German attack and the state of the Russian army then. it was these armies that had
been trapped near Vyazma and Bryansk that caused the Germans their first major
problem in the attack on Moscow. The Germans could not simply leave nine Russian
armies in their rear as they advanced east. They had to take on these trapped armies.
By doing so, they slowed down their advance to Moscow to such an extent that the Red
Army was given sufficient breathing space to reorganise itself and its defences under the
command of Marshall Georgy Zhukov - the man who 'never lost a battle'.
• Zhukov organised his defence along the so-called 'Mozhaysk Line'. The Germans
attacked this line on October 10th - by which time they had dealt with the Russians at
Vyazma. Though on paper the delay to the Germans had been mere days, to the
Russians it allowed them time to move their forces to where Zhukov believed they would
be needed. Even so, the Germans broke through the Mozhaysk Line at a number of
places and for all of Zhokov's work, Moscow was still very much threatened. Parts of the
German army got to 45 miles of Moscow's centre before the tide was turned and a
stalemate developed with little movement on either side.
• On November 13th, senior German commanders met at Orsha. It was at this meeting
that the decision was taken to start a second assault on Moscow. During the stalemate,
the Russians had sent 100,000 more men to defend Moscow with an extra 300 tanks
and 2,000 artillery guns.
• Moscow itself had been turned into a fortress with 422 miles of anti-tank ditches being
dug, 812 miles of barbed wire entanglements and some 30,000 firing points. Resistance
groups had also been organised to fight both in the city, should the Germans enter
Moscow and in the area around the city.
• The second assault narrowed its target area so that as much fire power could be
concentrated in one area as possible. The belief that was held was that if one small part
of the city was entered, all the defences surrounding it would fall once the might of the
Panzer units fanned out. However, the attack met with fierce Russian resistance. The
Germans got as far forward as 18 miles from Moscow's centre (the village of Krasnaya
Polyana) but the Russian defence line held out. It is said that German reconnaissance
units actually got into the outskirts of the city but by the end of November the whole
forward momentum of the Germans had stalled. By December, the Russians had started
to counter-attack the Germans. In just 20 days of the second offensive, the Germans lost
155,000 men (killed, wounded or a victim of frostbite), about 800 tanks and 300 artillery
guns.
• Stalin himself made it clear to Zhukov that he expected a counter-attack to start on
December 5th in the battle zone to the north of Moscow and on December 6th in the
battle zone to the south of the city. The attacks took place at the times decreed by Stalin
and they proved highly effective against an enemy that was being hit hard by sub-zero
winter temperatures - night temperatures of -20F were not uncomon.
• The Wehrmacht was pushed back between 60 and 155 miles in places and by January
1942, the threat to Moscow had passed. Hitler's response to this was to move 800,000
 men from the west of Europe to the Eastern Front - thus ending forever any chance,
however very small it may have been, of 'Operation Sealion', which was the name given
by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940, being carried out.

Stalin
• Stalin’s tactics and orders worked to the advantage of the Red Army. After the initial
shock of the German attack, Stalin’s presence in the capital city instilled hope into its
people so they were willing to defend Moscow.

Zhukov
• Zhukov organised his defence along the so-called 'Mozhaysk Line'. The Germans
attacked this line on October 10th - by which time they had dealt with the Russians at
Vyazma. Though on paper the delay to the Germans had been mere days, to the
Russians it allowed them time to move their forces to where Zhukov believed they would
be needed. Even so, the Germans broke through the Mozhaysk Line at a number of
places and for all of Zhokov's work, Moscow was still very much threatened.
• Rokossovsky said of Zhukov "In my view, Zhukov remains always a man of strong will
and decisiveness, clear and gifted, exacting, persistent and purposeful. These qualities
are all, undoubtedly, indispensable to a great military leader, and Zhukov has them."

Artemyev

• Moscow itself had been turned into a fortress with 422 miles of anti-tank ditches being
dug, 812 miles of barbed wire entanglements and some 30,000 firing points. Resistance
groups had also been organised to fight both in the city, should the Germans enter
Moscow and in the area around the city. In all, about 10,000 people from Moscow were
involved in planned resistance activities. Lieutenant-General P A Artemyev was given
the task of defending the city. Between 100 and 120 trains provided the city with what
was required on a daily basis at a time when the Germans could only average 23 trains
a day when they required 70 - such was the effectiveness of partisan activity.
• The second assault narrowed its target area so that as much fire power could be
concentrated in one area as possible. The belief that was held was that if one small part
of the city was entered, all the defences surrounding it would fall once the might of the
Panzer units fanned out. However, the attack met with fierce Russian resistance.
Significance

• Germany faced the prospect of a war of attrition, something it was not

prepared for and bound to lose in the long run. The battle was a stinging
defeat for the Axis and it ended German hopes for a quick and decisive
victory over the Soviet Union.
• For the first time since June 1941, Soviet forces had stopped the Germans
and driven them back. This resulted in Stalin becoming overconfident and
deciding to further expand the offensive.
• Moscow became a symbol of Soviet resistance against the invading Axis
forces. To commemorate the battle, Moscow was awarded the title of "Hero
City" in 1965, on the 20th anniversary of Victory Day