December 5, 1941 – World War II: Soviet forces launch a massive counter-attack in the Battle of Moscow
On December 5, 1941, Sovietforces comprising the Western, Southwestern, and Kalinin Fronts, with estimatesplacing total troop strength at 500,000 to 1.1 million, launched a powerfulcounter-attack that took the Germans completely by surprise. The Soviets initially made slow progress, butsoon recaptured Solnechnogorsk on December 12 and Klin on December 15, and withthe German lines crumbling, nearly trapped the German 2nd and 3rdPanzer Armies in separate encirclement maneuvers.
(Taken from German Invasion of the Soviet Union – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)
Battle of Moscow On October 2, 1941, shortly after the Kievcampaign ended, on Hitler’s orders, the Wehrmacht launched its offensive on Moscow. For this campaign, codenamed OperationTyphoon, the Germans assembled an enormous force of 1.9 million troops, 48,000artillery pieces, 1,400 planes, and 1,000 tanks, the latter involving threePanzer Groups (now renamed Panzer Armies), the 2nd, 3rd,and 4th (the latter taken from Army Group North). A series of spectacular victories followed:German 2nd Panzer Army, moving north from Kiev, took Oryol onOctober 3 and Bryansk on October 6, trapping 2 Soviet armies, while German 3rdand 4th Panzer Armies to the north conducted a pincers attack aroundVyazma, trapping 4 Soviet armies. Theencircled Red Army forces resisted fiercely, requiring 28 divisions of German Army Group Centerand two weeks to eliminate the pockets. Some 500,000–600,000 Soviet troops were captured, and the first of threelines of defenses on the approach to Moscowhad been breached. Hitler and the GermanHigh Command by now were convinced that Moscowwould soon be captured, while in Berlin,rumors abounded that German troops would be home by Christmas.
Some Red Army elements fromthe Bryansk-Vyazma sector avoided encirclement and retreated to the tworemaining defense lines near Mozhaisk. By now, the Soviet military situation was critical, with only 90,000troops and 150 tanks left to defend Moscow. Stalin embarked on a massive campaign toraise new armies and transfer formations from other sectors, and move largeamounts of weapons and military equipment to Moscow. Martial law was declared in the city, and on Stalin’s orders, thecivilian population was organized into work brigades to construct trenches andanti-tank traps along Moscow’sperimeter. As well, consumer industriesin the capital were converted to support the war effort, e.g. an automobileplant now produced light weapons, a clock factory made mine detonators, andmachine shops repaired tanks and military vehicles.
On October 15, 1941, onStalin’s orders, the state government, communist party leadership, and Sovietmilitary high command evacuated from Moscow, and established (temporary)headquarters at Kuibyshev (present-day Samara). Stalin and a small core of officials remained in Moscow, which somewhat calmed the civilianpopulation that had panicked at the government evacuation, and initially hadalso hastened to leave the capital.
On October 13, 1941, whilemopping up operations continued at the Bryansk-Vyazma sector, German armoredunits thrust into the Soviet defense lines at Mozhaisk, breaking through afterfour days of fighting, and taking Kalinin, Kaluga, and then Naro-Fominsk(October 21) and Volokolamsk (October 27), with Soviet forces retreating to newlines behind the Nara River. The way to Moscow now appeared open.
In fact, Operation Typhoonwas by now sputtering, with German forces severely depleted and counting only30% of operational motor vehicles and 30-50% available troop strength in mostunits. Furthermore, since nearly thestart of Operation Typhoon, the weather had deteriorated, with the seasonal coldrains and wet snow turning the unpaved roads into a virtually impassable clayeymorass (a phenomenon known in Russia as “Rasputitsa”, literally, “time without roads”) that brought Germanmotorized and horse traffic to a standstill. The stoppage in movement also prevented the delivery to the frontlinesof troop reinforcements, supplies, and munitions. On October 31, 1941, with weather and roadconditions worsening, the German High Command stopped the advance, this pauseeventually lasting over two weeks, until November 15. Temperatures also had begun to drop, and theGermans were yet without winter clothing and winterization supplies for theirequipment, which also were caught up in the weather-induced logistical delay.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Stalinand the Soviet High Command took advantage of this crucial delay by hastilyorganizing 11 new armies and transferring 30 divisions from Siberia (togetherwith 1,000 tanks and 1,000 planes) for Moscow, the latter being made availablefollowing Soviet intelligence information indicating that the Japanese did notintend to attack the Soviet Far East. Bymid-November 1941, the Soviets had fortified three defensive lines around Moscow, set up artilleryand ambush points along the expected German routes of advance, and reinforcedSoviet frontline and reserve armies. Ultimately, Soviet forces in Moscowwould total 2 million troops, 3,200 tanks, 7,600 artillery pieces, and 1,400planes.
On November 15, 1941, cold,dry weather returned, which froze and hardened the ground, allowing the Wehrmachtto resume its offensive. For the finalpush to Moscow, three panzer armies were tasked with executing a pincersmovement: the 2nd in the south, and the 3rd and 4thin the north, both pincer arms to link up at Noginsk, 40 miles east ofMoscow. Then with Soviet forces divertedto protect the flanks, German 4th Army would attack from the westdirectly into Moscow.
In the southern pincer,German 2nd Panzer Army had reached the outskirts of Tula as early as October26, but was stopped by strong Soviet resistance as well as supply shortages,bad weather, and destroyed roads and bridges. On November 18, while still suffering from logistical shortages, 2ndPanzer Army attacked toward Tulaand made only slow progress, although it captured Stalinogorsk on November22. In late November 1941, a powerfulSoviet counter-attack with two armies and Siberian units inflicted a decisivedefeat on German 2nd Panzer Army at Kashira, which effectivelystopped the southern advance.
To the north, German 3rdand 4th Panzer Armies made more headway, taking Klin (November 24)and Solnechnogorsk (November 25), and on November 28, crossed the Moscow-VolgaCanal, to begin encirclement of the capital from the north. Wehrmacht troops also reached KrasnayaPolyana and possibly also Khimki, 18 miles and 11 miles from Moscow, respectively, marking the farthestextent of the German advance and also where German officers using binocularswere able to make out some of the city’s main buildings.
With both pincersimmobilized, on December 1, 1941, German 4th Army attacked from thewest, but encountered the strong defensive lines fronting Moscow, and was repulsed. Furthermore, by early December 1941, snowblizzards prevailed and temperatures plummeted to –30°C (–22°F) to –40°C(–40°F), and German Army Group Center, which wasfighting without winter clothing, suffered 130,000 casualties fromfrostbite. German tanks, trucks, andweapons, still not winterized, suffered operational malfunctions in the winteryconditions. Furthermore, because of poorweather prevailing throughout much of Operation Typhoon, the Luftwaffe, which had proved decisive in earlierbattles, had so far played virtually no part in the Moscow campaign.
The final German push for Moscow was undertaken withgreatly depleted resources in manpower and logistical support, but the German HighCommand had hoped that one final fierce and determined attack might overcomethe last enemy resistance. Then with theoffensive failing, the Germans turned to hold onto their positions, andcorrectly assessed that the Soviet frontline forces were just as battered, butunaware that large numbers of Red Army reserve armies were now in place andpoised to go on the offensive.
On December 6, 1941, Sovietforces comprising the Western, Southwestern, and Kalinin Fronts, with estimatesplacing total troop strength at 500,000 to 1.1 million, launched a powerfulcounter-attack that took the Germans completely by surprise. The Soviets initially made slow progress, butsoon recaptured Solnechnogorsk on December 12 and Klin on December 15, and withthe German lines crumbling, nearly trapped the German 2nd and 3rdPanzer Armies in separate encirclement maneuvers.
On December 8, 1941, Hitlerordered German forces to hold their lines, but on December 14, General FranzHalder, head of the German Army High Command, believing that the frontlinecould not be held, ordered a limited withdrawal behind the Oka River. On December 20, a furious Hitler met withfrontline commanders and rescinded the withdrawal instruction, and ordered thatpresent lines be defended at all costs. A heated argument then ensued, with the generals pointing out thebattered conditions of the troops and that German casualties from the cold werehigher than those from actual combat. OnDecember 25, Hitler dismissed forty high-ranking officers, including GeneralHeinz Guderian (2nd Panzer Army), General Erich Hoepner (4thPanzer Army), and General Fedor von Bock (Army Group Center), the latter for “medicalreasons”. One week earlier, Hitler hadalso fired General Walther von Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the GermanArmed Forces, and took over for himself the control of all German forces andall military decisions.
By late December 1941 to January 1942, the RedArmy counter-offensive was pushing back the Germans north, south, and west ofMoscow, with the Soviets retaking Naro-Fominsk (December 26), Kaluga (December28), and Maloyaroslavets (January 10). But on January 7, 1942, the Red Army, soon experiencing manpower lossesand extended supply lines, and increasing German resistance, halted itsoffensive, by then having driven back the Wehrmacht some 60-150 miles from Moscow. The Luftwaffe, which thus far had been anon-factor, took advantage of a break in the weather and took to the skies,attacking Soviet positions and evacuating trapped German units, and provedinstrumental in averting the complete collapse of ArmyGroup Center,which had established new defense lines, including a section, called the RzhevSalient, which potentially could threaten Moscow.
