THE BATTLE OF MOSCOW

By Lyubov Tsarevskaya

Starting a war against the Soviet Union in June of 1941, Hitler intended to end it by the autumn and bring the Soviet Union to its knees. He even ordered granite for a victory monument, which he was going to install after the destruction of Moscow.

The capture of Moscow was a top-priority issue for the enemy, since this would have meant a decisive success in political and economic terms, not to mention the fact that the Russians would have lost an essential railroad junction. The powerful army group “Center”, which was superior to the Soviet Army in terms of personnel and military equipment was concentrated in Moscow’s direction.

On October 2nd the Nazis launched their offensive code-named Typhoon. The German onslaught was swift, and at first it fully justified its codename. The Germans managed to break through the Soviet troops' defenses at some sections of the front and to come close to Moscow. The famous saboteur Otto Scorzeni recalled after the war: “We managed to reach a small village lying 15 kilometers north-west of Moscow. In good weather Moscow could be seen from the village's bell tower...” Western newspapers wrote at that time: “The Russian bear is killed. Only a miracle can save Moscow.”

In Moscow the situation was very hard indeed. In preparations for street fighting the Muscovites began to dig trenches and antitank ditches, to put up barricades; they rebuffed the enemy air raids rather successfully. Government institutions, material values and the population were evacuated. Fearing that the enemy might capture the city, Stalin ordered to prepare the vital facilities and enterprises to be blown up. 

In those critical days General Georgy Zhukov was appointed to lead the Western Front, which was defending Moscow. In those disquieting days the country's leader Josef Stalin called Zhukov and asked: 

“Are you sure that we will be able to defend Moscow? It's painful for me to ask this question, but I expect you to give an honest answer.” 

“We will hold Moscow of course,” Georgy Zhukov replied, “but we will need at least two more armies and 200 tanks to do so.” 

Zhukov was ordered to work out a plan as to how to stop the enemy from moving forward and launch a counteroffensive. 

“Such a plan was worked out and submitted to the leadership,” said Marshal Zhukov later recalling the battle of Moscow. “The command used intelligence data and managed to find out the direction of the enemy's main strike against Moscow. Having found out where the dangerous section was, we built our defenses accordingly. When the battle began, the Germans did not expect to be met with such fierce resistance. The enemy abstained huge losses.” 

On November 7, 1941 the annual military parade was held in Moscow's Red Square. It was of great importance in terms of strengthening the Soviet people's confidence in their final victory. In mid-November the German troops made another attempt to capture the city, but they failed once again. In the face of the powerful resistance put up by the Soviet Army the German soldiers lost their fighting spirit. Several weeks later the Soviet Army launched a counteroffensive and drove the enemy away from the capital. 

The Battle of Moscow was of enormous moral and political importance to the Soviet people; it buried Hitler’s plans of waging a “lightning war” against the Soviet Union and was a serious defeat for the German army.