moscow
Stalingrad and Kiev with the ultimate target being the oil fields.
Colonel General Erich Hoepner was stripped of his pension and demoted to Private by Hitler for defying his no retreat from Moscow order. Hoepner appealed to the Military courts and had his pension restored and retired. Always an active conspirator against Hitler, his was put on trial after the 1944 attempt on Hitler and was hanged.
He hoped to force the Russian Army to end their retreat and to fight a decisive battle.
Stalingrad, Leningrad and Moscow.
Hitler did not change his mind. Conquering the Ukraine, Belorus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were prerequisite objectives prior to moving on to Moscow.
Hitler wanted to use Moscow as a supreme base for the Axis second only to Berlin. Also as strategy point towards the complete annihilation of Russia and eventually into parts of Asia.
failure to take moscow in 1941
Russian coup attempt. Moscow
Stalingrad in what is now volgograd near the bottom left of moscow
Stalingrad
Answer - why Hitler was eager to take Moscow?