The loss of a battle at Moscow was never a factor of Superiority of the Russian Army but rather a contribution to the Environment from October to December of 1941. The action of Moscow involved the Soviet Union and the German Army. During the second world war, the German head was Adolf Hitler, a famous entity in the second world conflict that began in Europe and spread to other countries in Asia and even the United States. The leading cause of the Moscow battle was that Hitler wanted to possess part of the Sovereign territory, and the Sovereign was never ready to lose its habitat to Germany. The board had two periods of constant fighting that covered about 600 km of part of the Eastern Front (Hickman, 2019). The battle began in the tenth month of 1942 and took three months until it ended in January. Moscow was one of the most important military centers of the Soviets, and Hitler knew that the USSR was a strategic army that was strong in terms of defense. Therefore, attacking and conquering the USSR to overthrow the USSR army, Hitler was aware that once he succeeded, he would rule and destroy the other nations in the world conflict.
The blitzkrieg attack plan had its original reference as Operation Barbarossa. It wanted to take custody of Moscow in less than four months. The resistance of the USSR Wehrmacht was a slowing factor to the invasion plans despite the initial strategic plans of advancement towards invading Moscow. The consolidation of the Wehrmacht alongside Leningrad and Kyiv further delayed the progress towards the invasion of Moscow (Hickman, 2019). On the second day of October 1941, the Axis advance renewed as it targeted to advance its charge further. The operation codenamed itself Operation Typhoon to win Moscow before winter, which had a disadvantage of weather. The German army was victorious in their progress attacks against the Soviet military. The German army attacked and destroyed a significant section of the Soviet military. However, the Soviet Army was still vigilant to guard their heart, Moscow. Therefore, the USSR altered the German army’s advancement at Mozhaisk, a defense center (Trueman, 2015). The location of Mozhaisk was about 120km away from the capital. Throughout the progress of the Wehrmacht offensive, there was nothing that acted as a stopper or a disadvantage during the invasion until the weather became the sole barrier during the battle. The autumn rains were heavy, and the precipitation clogged the Soviet roads with thick mud such that the Axis machinery and vehicles could not proceed further with ease. The weather condition altered the invasion plans. However, the frozen and cold state of weather still allowed limited advancement and struggled to attack the Soviet Army.
Bock’s Plan
The Bock used the second, fourth, and ninth group of soldiers to meet their goal. Panzer’s second, third, and fourth teams supported the Bock army. Luftwaffe’s Luftflotte assisted the attack after they provided the air cover. The total number of the combined force was short of 2 million military men, with 1700 tanks. Additionally, 14,000 artillery pieces added to the strength of the military (Contributors, 2022) Operation Typhoon deployed a double-pincer movement which was part of their initial plans against the western region of the Soviet and spare fronts located near Vyazma. On the other hand, the second troop moved to attack and capture Bryansk towards the south. The Germans were very optimistic that if they seceded in their maneuvers, they would force the UUSR head, Stalin, to give in to the German army and resolve to make peace. The German militia was very determined as they received chief orders from Hitler to proceed with the invasion further in the second month (Trueman, 2015). However, the tactical attack of the Germans on the Soviets was because it could not conquer some alliances that nations had formed against German. Operation Typhoon failed due to the failure of German forces to stay strong after some months of campaigning. The justification is that the supply lines declined in efforts to deliver goods to the front. Later, Guderian discovered that his army did not have sufficient fuel after they had invaded more profoundly into the Soviet territory.
Soviet Preparations
The Soviets became alert about the threat to Moscow, and as a result, they began structuring several defensive lines to protect the city. The defensive lines were strategically positioned in front of the town, with the first line stretching from Rzhev and Bryansk (Chen, 2022). The second defensive line was at Kalinin trying to Kaluga while touching a section of the Mozhaisk guard line. The USSR drafted its subject citizens to design three defensive lines to elevate the protection mechanism around the city of Moscow. However, Japan could have posed a potential threat to the USSR by Japan (Hickman, 2019). The Japanese threat could have drawn the attention of the USSR army from focusing on the current threat from Germany. Still, Japan was concentrating on their neighboring attacks, and their resources went to address their conflict with the Chinese. Therefore, this was an opportunity for the Soviets to react against the invasion of Hitler’s Moscow even though Japan and the USSR had already signed a neutrality pact to avoid multiple attacks.
Previous Victories of Germany
On October 1oth, 1941, some of the German panzer groups made tremendous progress close to Vyazma, and they surrounded four Soviet armies. The four armies that were in the hands of the German panzer groups did not take surrendering as an option (Chen, 2022). Instead, the four armies kept up with the fight. As a result, these efforts slowed the invasion advancement of the German military towards the Soviet army, which was very much aware of the invasion’s progress (Contributors, 2022). The counteraction of the Soviets also influenced the diversion of the Bock troops to come back up the diminishing pocket. The German had to deploy 28 divisions in this battle consequently. The remaining soldiers at the Soviet Western regions and the Extra reservation of the fronts had the mandate of attacking the Mozhaisk defense line to enable them to advance even further. The remnant army also backed up the 5th through 16th to 43rd up to the 49th forces (Chen, 2022). Guderian’s panzers quickly surrounded the whole Bryansk front towards the South. Connecting with the second army on October 6th, 1941, the German troops collectively were victorious in taking over the custody of Orel and Bryansk.
The capturing of Orel and Bryansk made the 3rd, and 13th armies flee away after continued counteraction. However, the initial plan operations of the German military arrested more than 500 000 Men who were USSR soldiers. The following day, there was snowfall, which was the winter season. The Germans were aware of the weather state, and they tried to quicken the invasion. However, the Soviet army was familiar, and it was tactical in delaying the attack to take advantage of the weather (Contributors, 2022). The snow melted on the Soviet roads making them clogged with mad. As a result, the movement was problematic. As a result, German operations in Soviet territory slowed down. The Bock troop, which was responsible for moving the operations forward, turned back a multitude of the Soviet army until they arrived at Mozhaisk defenses. It was already there days after the snowfall. The counterattack of the Bock troop forced Stalin to recall Marshal Georgy Zhukov from his duty after an incident at Leningrad and told him to take control of Moscow’s defense. Stalin remained to deploy his workforce at the Mozhaisk line.
Attack of the Germans
The attack of the Germans was strategic to drive back the German forces back and attempt to recover the soldiers that the German army had Hitler captured. Zhukov engaged his troops at strategic critical points in Volokolamsk, Mozhaisk, the second engagement at Maloyaroslavets, and the last military Kaluga (Contributors, 2022). The Bock to wanted to avoid the attack of Soviet forces in bulk. Therefore, Bock focused on Kalinin, which was towards the north, and Kaluga in the southern section of the Soviet. The Soviets were strong in defending Tula after failing to protect Kalinin and Kaluga. After Germany captured Mozhaisk and Maloyaroslavets, Zhukov had no option but to fall behind the Nara River. The logistical issues and the counterattacks from the Soviets wore down the advancement of the German forces. The rounds had already frozen by Nov 15, and the logistics were no longer a problem (Hickman, 2019). The German Panzer armies and Guderian attacked from the north and around the city of Moscow, respectively. However, they succeeded in capturing Klin despite the defense around the city of Moscow on Nov. 21 (Graham & Royde-Smith, 2022). They went beyond Moscow, but the army was growing weak, and as a result, they were pushed back. The Bock advanced their attack in various sections, but then the temperature was heading to -50 degrees Celsius, too cold for the advancement of the German forces. They had to withdraw their offenses.
The Strike Back of the Soviets at Moscow
Zhukov did not give up on striking back against the Germans. He had 48 divisions he had deployed from the Far East and Siberia. This was enough to counterattack the Germans and drive them from Moscow. Hitler was unable to strategize a solid defense to stand against the USSR. On Dec. 7, the Soviets attacked the Panzer army at Klin after they failed and advanced to Rzhev (Contributors, 2022). The Soviet military reduced the pressure that Germans had built up on Tula. Two days after the success in Tula on 16th Dec, Hitler’s anger caused the sacking of Bock for Field Marshal Günther von Kluge. It was because Bock did not follow instructions from Hitler (Graham & Royde-Smith, 2022). The Soviets in Russia took advantage of the worst weather state, which was extremely cold. As a result, the operations of the Luftwaffe’s decreased. The terrain was challenging for the Germans, and by Jan 7th, the Soviets had driven the Germans 160 miles away from Moscow.
In a nutshell, the battle was a success for the Russians even though it had more casualties than what Germans had. The war between Germany and the Soviets led to the weakening of the German defense. It had deployed most of its resources and personnel into the invasion plan of Moscow. Therefore, the success of the Soviet army is attributed to the weather conditions and terrain, which weakened the German soldiers.
References
Chen, C. P. (2022). Battle of Moscow. World War II Database. https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=37
Contributors, N. W. E. (2022). Battle of Moscow. New World Encyclopedia. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Moscow
Graham, J., & Royde-Smith. (2022). Operation Barbarossa | History, Summary, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Operation-Barbarossa
Hickman, K. (2019). Battle of Moscow – World War II – Operation Barbarossa. https://www.thoughtco.com/battle-of-moscow-2360444
Trueman, C. N. (2015). The Battle for Moscow –. History Learning Site. https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-and-eastern-europe/the-battle-for-moscow/
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