About the battle that buried Barbarossa
Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - behind Moscow!
Vasily Klochkov
70 years ago, 30 September 1941, the Wehrmacht launched one of the most famous operations of the Second World War, it is known in German historiography as the operation “Typhoon”, and we have the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Moscow.
It was the most important, one might even say, key operation of that war: if the Wehrmacht could take the capital of the Soviet Union, the million Kwantung army of the Japanese empire in the Far East and the Turkish army in the South Caucasus would stand against the USSR. The Great Patriotic War would have become even more bloody and difficult, we would have lost millions more lives. In addition, Moscow was the most important city of the Soviet Union - the center of the industrial region, the main transport hub connecting various regions of the country. The loss of the capital would deal a terrible blow to the defensive industrial potential, the possibility of transportation by rail and the morale of the population.
The defeat of the Wehrmacht near Moscow finally buried plans for a “blitzkrieg”, and Berlin had no other plan. The Third Reich was not prepared to wage a protracted war of attrition, in which he who can produce more technology wins, weapons, expose a larger number of military units, provide the armed forces and the population with everything necessary In 1942, the military and political leadership of the Reich had to improvise.
It should be noted that the Barbarossa plan was already largely disrupted by the heroic resistance of the Soviet forces in border battles. It was not possible to immediately crush the forces of the Red Army in the south-western direction and the northern strategic direction. Therefore, Berlin had to suspend the attack on Moscow and move the attack units near Leningrad and south to Kiev. Smolensk's fierce defense (July 10 - September 10 1941) stopped the enemy for two months.
6 September 1941, the supreme commander of the armed forces of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, in his Directive No. 35, ordered the defeat of the Red Army in the Moscow direction before the onset of winter cold. 16 September, when the battle for Kiev (7 July 1941 - 26 September 1941) was nearing completion, the command of Army Group Center issued a directive on the preparation of an offensive operation to seize the capital of the USSR, codenamed Typhoon.
The offensive operation provided for powerful strikes by large groups, which were concentrated in the areas of the Spiritual (3rd tank a group under the command of Colonel-General German Goth, from October 5, General Georg Reinhardt), Roslavl (4th tank group under the command of Colonel-General Erich Göpner) and Shostka (2nd tank group under the command of Colonel-General Heinz Guderian). They were to surround the main forces of the Red Army (Moscow forces were defended by the troops of the Western, Bryansk, and Reserve fronts), which covered the capital, and destroy them in the areas of Vyazma and Bryansk. And then by swift march to bypass Moscow from the south and north, with the goal of its complete encirclement and subsequent capture.
If the plans of the German command had been successful, the residents of Moscow would have waited a very sad fate - they were not going to feed the huge metropolis in Berlin. The capital of the USSR was proposed to completely destroy, as well as its population.
It is necessary to take into account the fact that when this battle began, the Wehrmacht had superior numbers and armaments: in the Army Group of the Center there were 1,9 million people, 1,7 thousand tanks, 14 thousand guns and mortars, 1390 airplanes. They were opposed: about 1,2 million people, 1044 tanks, more than 10,5 thousand guns and mortars, 568 aircraft (the air forces of three fronts were reinforced by 368 long-range bombers aviation, 423 fighters and 9 reconnaissance fighter aviation in Moscow, this equalized the aviation forces).
On September 30, the Guderian tank group's 2 forces launched an offensive, and on October 2, the main forces of the Army Group Center also launched an offensive. Thus began the Moscow Strategic Defensive Operation, which was the first stage of the battle of Moscow, marching from 30 September 1941 of the year to 20 of April 1942. The command of the Wehrmacht managed to create a significant superiority in the main directions of attack, the Soviet defensive orders were stretched, so the defense was broken.
October 3 units of Guderian entered Orel in 200 km from the offensive line. October 6 captured Bryansk and Karachev - the forces of the Bryansk Front were in the "boiler". The 3-I, 13-I and 15-I Soviet armies were surrounded, in total: 27 divisions, 2 tank brigades and other units.
And on October 7, the Wehrmacht closed the encirclement around the main forces of the Western and Reserve fronts in the Vyazma region. Total was surrounded: 37 divisions, 9 tank brigades and other units. Their fierce resistance, and they fought for up to two weeks, held down significant enemy forces (before the 20 divisions) and reduced the Wehrmacht’s offensive outburst.
At this time, hastily, reserves were closed, important areas were closed, new lines of defense were built. October 20 in Moscow imposed a state of siege, some state institutions were evacuated to the east, but Stalin remained in Moscow.
As a result, the fierce resistance of soldiers and commanders, the resilience of the main part of the population did their job, in November the Typhoon died away. December 5 launched a counter-offensive near Moscow, which led to the defeat of the shock groups of the Army Group Center and removed most of the threat from Moscow.
On the fields of the Moscow region, the Red Army and the Soviet people inflicted the first major defeat on the Hitlerite hordes, finally disrupted the Barbarossa plan, and destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht. It became finally clear that the enemy will be defeated and victory will be ours. The plans of Berlin (and the "world backstage") were dealt a crushing blow, Hitler and his generals had to transfer the Reich and the Wehrmacht to the rails of a long war.
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