As the capital of the Soviet Union, Moscow was a main strategic
goal for the German commandment. Under the Barbarossa Plan Moscow
was to be occupied in the first three months after the invasion,
but in fact, the offensive on the city was launched only on 30
September 1941. The Germans called this offensive Operation
Typhoon. According to Hitler's order, issued after the operation
had begun, Moscow was to be encircled and then destroyed by a
man-made flood.
The Army Group Center was to carry out the offensive. In the
first period of the operation, the Germans were to launch a triple
offensive from the Roslavl area, the Dukhovshina area and the
Shostka area to destroy Soviet forces near the towns of Vyazma and
Bryansk. After that, German forces were to advance directly on
Moscow and surround it from the north and south.
The Soviet commandment learned about the German plans too late,
and so warned the forces about the upcoming assault only on 27
September. At the time of the German attack, the construction of
the Vyazma and Mozhaysk defensive lines had not yet been finished
and the fronts, which were protecting the Moscow sector, had not
been reinforced. The enemy had superiority in both manpower and
equipment.
On 30 September the 2nd German panzer army went on the offensive
in the Orel city sector and the main forces of the army group
delivered the thrust in the direction of Vyazma on 2 October. The
enemy advance was very fast and Soviet forces suffered one defeat
after another.
On 6 October the town of Bryansk was occupied and the 3rd, 15th
and 13th Soviet armies were encircled near it. The Germans had
often used the "pincer movement" during military actions in Europe
and the encircled had always given up quickly. However, Soviet
forces continued to fight, attempting to break through the
encirclement and forcing the Germans to slow the advance in order
to keep the pocket closed. By 23 October the remains of the armies
escaped the encirclement.
Soviet forces attempted to counterattack near the town of Vyazma
but were defeated. As a result of the unsuccessful counterblow, on
7 October five Soviet armies were encircled in the Vyazma area and
did not escape the pocket.
On 12 October about 85 thousand men managed to break through,
but the breach in the encirclement line was quickly closed again
and all the other troops - about 688 thousand soldiers - were taken
prisoner. The Vyazma Operation turned out to be one of the greatest
Soviet losses of WWII.
On 15 October the evacuation of Moscow began. The government
evacuated military schools, general staff administrations and other
state institutions, while citizens tried to leave the city on their
own. By the end of October the Germans had staved the Soviet
Western Front forces off from the Mozhaysk defensive line. The
battles took place only about 55 miles from Moscow.
After the success near Vyazma, the Germans overestimated their
ability to defeat the Soviet army. Only two units - the 4th panzer
army and the 4th army - were to attack the Soviet capital directly,
while the other forces were to act on the flanks. In addition, the
battles in the pockets significantly reduced the enemy advance, so
the Soviet commandment gained some time to reinforce the
fronts.
On 29 October the 2nd panzer army, which acted in the southern
sector of the front, reached Tula. The Germans had been attacking
the city for three days, but the city garrison and the
citizens-in-arms successfully held the defense, so the enemy
neither occupied nor besieged Tula.
By 30 October the front line stabilized for a while. The Soviet
commandment used the operational rest to regroup the forces and to
shift the reinforcement units from the Far East to the Moscow
sector. In addition, ten new armies were formed as the reserve.
On 15 November the Germans reopened the offensive and delivered
the thrust northwest from Moscow. They divided the 30th Soviet
army, which had been protecting that area, into separate groups. On
23 November the Germans occupied the towns of Klin and
Solnechnogorsk, then, four days later, Istra and Yakhroma. On 28
November the enemy crossed the Moscow River - Volga River
channel.
At the same time, the 2nd panzer army was acting on the Tula
front.
On 26 November the panzer army reached Kashira but stopped the
advance. On the next day the 2nd Soviet cavalry corps
counterattacked and by 7 December staved the enemy off from
Kashira.
The last of the successful German operations took place on 1
December, when the Germans occupied the village of Krasnaya Polyana
and several other built-up areas. By 5 December the German advance
was stopped in all the sectors and the Soviet counter offensive
started.
Also on 5 December the Kalinin Front forces regained Yakhroma
and Krasnaya Polyana. Seeing the upcoming threat, Hitler ordered
the Army Group Center to go on the defensive, while Soviet forces
advanced in all directions. On 9 December the Soutwestern Front
forces liberated the town of Elets. On the 11th Stalinogorsk and
Istra were regained, on the 15th the town of Klin and on the 16th
Kalinin. The Soviet commandment ordered to pursue the enemy.
At the end of December, the Bryansk Front forces reached the
Belev - Mtsensk - Verkhovie line. By the beginning of January 1942,
the Kalinin Front forces reached the approaches to the town of
Rzhev but were forced to stop the offensive. Battles near Rzhev
lasted until 20 April with the Soviet forces being defeated. As a
result, the Rzhev Bulge appeared.
The Western Front right wing forces stopped on 25 December at
the Lama River - Ruza River line and the main forces of the Western
Front continued the advance and stopped only on 4 January, after
the liberation of the city of Borovsk. The left wing forces of the
Western Front stopped the advance near the town of Mosalsk.
It took the Soviet forces a month to push the enemy about 123
miles back from Moscow, but the Army Group Center still was not
defeated.
