Battle of Moscow
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{{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict=Battle of Moscow |image=Image:MoscowBattle.gif |caption=Soviet troops in winter camouflage |partof=World War II, Eastern Front |place=Northern and Western outskirts of Moscow |date=October 2, 1941 - January 7, 1942 |result=Soviet victory |combatant1=Germany |combatant2=Soviet Union |commander1=Fedor von Bock |commander2=Georgi Zhukov |strength1=~ 1,500,000 |strength2=~ 1,500,000 |casualties1=250,000 |casualties2=700,000 |}} Template:Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War
The Battle of Moscow refers to the defense of the Soviet capital of Moscow and the subsequent counter-offensive against the German army, between October 1941 and January 1942 on the Eastern Front of World War II.
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The German invasion
On 22 June 1941, Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union, taking the Soviet leadership and the Red Army totally by surprise. Having destroyed most of the Soviet air force on the ground, German forces quickly advanced deep into Soviet territory using Blitzkrieg tactics. Armoured units raced forward in pincer movements pocketing and destroying entire Soviet armies. While the German Army Group North moved towards Leningrad, Army Group South conquered the Ukraine, and Army Group Centre advanced on Moscow.
The Soviet defenses were overwhelmed and the casualties were enormous. In early August 1941, the Germans captured the city of Smolensk, an important stronghold on the road to Moscow, but the engagement delayed the German advance until mid-September, effectively disrupting the blitzkrieg. Moving forward again, Heinz Guderian's Panzer Army reached the outskirts of Moscow, at which point Hitler ordered him to turn south and support Gerd von Rundstedt's attack on Kiev. On October 2 1941, Army Group Centre under Fedor von Bock finally launched its attack on Moscow, code-named Operation Typhoon.
The Soviet forces of the Western Front, Reserve Front, Bryansk Front and Kalinin Front defending the Moscow area suffered heavy casualties, but kept fighting fiercely. On October 10, Georgi Zhukov took charge of the Western Front and the defence of Moscow.
The defense of Moscow
Image:Eastern Front 1941-06 to 1941-12.png
The 2nd German Army broke through the defense of 50th Soviet Army, capturing Bryansk in late September 1941. Orel fell on October 3. The German forces then tried to advance along the Orel-Tula line. West of Moscow, Vyazma was captured on October 13. According to German sources, more than 650,000 Soviet prisoners of war were taken in this battle. By the end of October, the line of front was as follows: Kalinin — Volokolamsk — Kubinka — Naro-Fominsk — Serpukhov — Tarusa — Aleksin — Tula. Kalinin was seized on December 4. Tula, a small town 165 km south of Moscow was partly encircled on December 5.
Moscow now became the target of German air raids. The population was ordered to build barricades in the city's streets, even near the Kremlin itself. The Soviet government was evacuated east to the city of Kuybyshev, (modern-day Samara), though Stalin remained in Moscow. To stiffen the resolve of both soldiers and increasingly demoralized civilians, he ordered the traditional military parade on 7 November, commemorating the October Revolution, to be conducted in Red Square. The troops paraded past the Kremlin and then marched directly to the battlefront. Image:Moscowbattleparade.jpg
Meanwhile, German progress was already bogging down. The autumn rains almost paralyzed the Wehrmacht, turning roads into stretches of mud. When the frost set in early November, the Germans could use the roads again, but were ill-equipped for winter warfare, as Hitler had anticipated a quick victory in the summer. Warm clothing and white camouflage suits were lacking, and tanks and other vehicles became immobilized as temperatures dropped well below freezing. Indeed, the winter of 1941-1942 was unusually cold, even by Russian standards.
The Soviet defence of the approaches to Moscow grew increasingly desperate. The Soviets sent thousands of recruits and volunteers, even women's battalions into German machine-gun fire. It was in front of Moscow that the term Panfilovets was coined: Ivan Panfilov, commander of the Soviet 316th Rifle Division, died in fierce self-sacrificing infantry combat against German tanks. Only a handful of heavily wounded Soviet soldiers survived the carnage; large numbers of German soldiers were killed as well.
The Soviet counter-offensive
Image:Eastern Front 1941-12 to 1942-05.png On 5 December 1941, Zhukov launched a massive Soviet counter-attack, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre. The offensive unfolded on all sectors in the Moscow area on 6 December. During the autumn, Zhukov had been transferring fresh and well-equipped Soviet forces from Siberia and the Far East to Moscow, but held them back for the counter-offensive. He relied on intelligence from spy Richard Sorge, who told him Japan would not attack in the east, after he had already predicted Operation Barbarossa. Now with the enemy perilously close to the center of Moscow, he threw the reinforcements against the German lines, along with newly-built T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers. The Soviet troops were prepared for winter warfare, and they included several ski batallions. The exhausted and freezing Germans were routed and driven back 100 to 250 km by 7 January 1942. The Soviets consolidated their positions in April 1942, having pushed the German forces out of reach of Moscow. The victory in the battle of Moscow provided an important boost for Soviet morale, as the German army lost its aura of invincibility. Having failed to defeat the Soviet Union in a quick strike, the Germans had to prepare for a long and bloody struggle. The Blitzkrieg had failed.
Tula was relieved by the Soviets on December, 16. North of Moscow, Kalinin was retaken on January 7, 1942. However, the Vyazma offensive, lasting until April 20, 1942, failed. The Germans continued to threaten Moscow from this direction.
According to various credible Western and Eastern sources, about 700,000 Red Army troops were either killed, wounded or missing during the battle, compared to about 250,000 Axis soldiers. For the heroism of the city's defenders, Moscow was awarded the title Hero City in 1965, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the eventual Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
External links
- serpukhov.ru - The Moscow battle.
See also
Template:World War IITemplate:Link FA
cs:Bitva před Moskvou de:Schlacht um Moskau es:Batalla de Moscú fr:Bataille de Moscou id:Pertempuran Moskwa he:הקרב על מוסקבה pl:Bitwa pod Moskwą pt:Batalha de Moscovo ru:Московская битва 1941—1942 ro:Bătălia de la Moscova sr:Московска битка