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southern city of Voroshilovgrad; and the third demanding that 50 tanks

per Panzer Division be sent to General von Kleist, who’s forces were

being defeated by Russian General Cherevichenko on the Ukrainian

front. This erupted into chaos around the German high command, and

left Hitler in control of the crucial 5 Panzer Army, a crucial

division near Moscow: a command he was ill qualified to take.

These Soviet counteroffensives tumbled back the exhausted

Germans, lapped around their flanks, and produced a critical

situation. From generals downward, the invaders were filled with

ghastly thoughts of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. In that emergency

Hitler forbade any retreat beyond the shortest possible local

withdrawals. His decision exposed his troops to awful sufferings in

their advanced positions facing Moscow, for they had neither the

clothing nor the equipment for a Russian winter campaign; but if they

had once started a general retreat it might easily have degenerated

into a panic-stricken rout.

The Red Army’s winter counteroffensive continued for more than

three months after its December launching, though with diminishing

progress. By March 1942 it had advanced more than 150 miles in some

sectors. But the Germans maintained their hold on the main bastions of

their winter front despite the fact that the Soviets had often

advanced many miles beyond these bastions, which were in effect cut

off. In retrospect it became clear that Hitler’s objection to any

major withdrawals worked out in such a way as to restore the

confidence of the German troops and probably saved them from a

widespread collapse. Nevertheless, they paid a heavy price indirectly

for that rigid defense. The tremendous strain of that winter

campaign, on armies that had not been prepared for it, had other

serious effects. Before the winter ended, many German divisions were

reduced to barely a third of their original strength, and they were

never fully built up again.

In early January, as soon as it was known that the Germans

were in retreat, the Red Army troops were spurred into motion, and

their morale and fighting spirit increased greatly – along with Soviet

casualties. For the Russians began to counter-attack without regard

to losses, flinging themselves at the German rearguards. Zhukov was

forced to change his tactics and order his troops to avoid all centers

of enemy resistance – as he was being smashed at such points. As soon

as the gaps in the German positions could be found, the Russians

struck there. The Red Army was well equipped for winter warfare and

was much more mobile than their enemy. But, as Zhukov admits, they

were still poorly trained, and their Field Commanders were still

hesitant to attack gaps in the German line, as they still feared

encirclement. Stalin, at the time, was convinced that the Germans

were still benumbed by the cold, and that the entire front was ripe

for the taking. However, Zhukov knew that the only vulnerable front

was the Army Group Center; their other positions in Valdai, Volkov, or

the Ukraine were unlikely to yield any further successes. However,

Stalin hastily attacked the flanks of the Army Group Center, which

would give Zhukov’s army a fierce fight, and casualties and delays

were high. Stalin’s mistake, in the end, was overestimating Russian

strength, and underestimating German resilience – especially under the

F?rhrer’s strict command not to fall back.

By the end of April, the Russians had pushed back the German

Kalinin, North-West, and Bryansk until Russian army groups could push

them back no further. These German forces were no longer capable of

any advancement into Russia, and were bogged down by the spring mud.

The Russian 33 and 39 Soviet Armies remained in the pocket of the

remaining “horseshoe” shaped German front (known as the Rzhev Salient,

and maintained by three Panzer armies), where the Army Group Center

continued to fend off struggling Russian forces. However, the forces

around the Rzhev Salient were strained and barely able to continue

holding the front. Yet Hitler maintained them there, hoping to

someday launch another offensive from that point. By March of 1942

however, the F?rhrer had lost all his interest in ever taking the

Russian capital. Thus ends the story of the siege on Moscow, and

begins the long story of the rebuilding.

Germany, had it mobilized its forces completely in 1941, would

have been able to take Russia within a matter of months. However,

being spread as they were between both the Eastern and Western fronts,

it became an exponentially more difficult task for him – one which he

never succeeded in. Hitler’s egotistical caprice drove him away from

victory. He fought on three fronts, and made the United States an

enemy of Germany; against such odds he could not win. His decision to

fork off from the attack on Moscow, detaching all but one Panzer Army

from Army Group Center to send them to Leningrad and the Ukraine meant

that the capital would never be taken by German troops. By the time

they re-grouped within Army Group Center in February, it was too late

and too muddy for them to cover the distance from Smolensk to Moscow.

The war had resulted in losses of 860,000 troops for the Germans.

Soviet

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