History of World War II: where did the Germans get near Moscow? There were 30 kilometers to the capital. Battle for Moscow 1941-1942 The historical significance of the defeat of the Germans near Moscow

The Battle for Moscow (1941-1942) is one of the largest battles of the Second World War, both in terms of the number of participants in the parties, and in terms of the territory on which it took place. The significance of the battle is enormous, it was on the verge of actual defeat, but thanks to the valor of the soldiers and the talents of the generals, the battle for Moscow was won, and the myth of the invincibility of the German troops was destroyed. Where did the Germans stop near Moscow? The course of the battle, the strength of the parties, as well as its results and consequences will be discussed further in the article.

History of the battle

According to the master plan of the German command, codenamed "Barbarossa", Moscow was supposed to be captured three to four months after the start of the war. However, the Soviet troops offered heroic resistance. The battle for Smolensk alone delayed the German troops for two months.

Hitlerite soldiers approached Moscow only at the end of September, that is, in the fourth month of the war. The operation to capture the capital of the USSR received the code name "Typhoon", according to which the German troops were to cover Moscow from the north and south, then surround and capture. The Moscow battle took place on a vast territory that stretched for a thousand kilometers.

Side forces. Germany

Huge forces were deployed by the German command. 77 divisions with a total number of more than 2 million people took part in the battles. In addition, the Wehrmacht had at its disposal more than 1,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, 14,000 guns and mortars, and about 800 aircraft. The commander of this huge army was Field Marshal F. von Bock.

USSR

For the Headquarters of the VKG, there were forces of five fronts with a total number of more than 1.25 million people. Also, the Soviet troops had more than 1000 tanks, 10 thousand guns and mortars and more than 500 aircraft. The defense of Moscow was in turn led by several outstanding strategists: A. M. Vasilevsky, I. S. Konev, G. K. Zhukov.

Course of events

Before finding out where the Germans were stopped near Moscow, it is worth talking a little about the course of hostilities in this battle. It is customary to divide it into two stages: defensive (which lasted from September 30 to December 4, 1941) and offensive (from December 5, 1941 to April 20, 1942).

defensive stage

September 30, 1941 is considered the start date of the battle for Moscow. On this day, the Nazis attacked the troops of the Bryansk Front.

On October 2, the Germans went on the offensive in the Vyazma direction. Despite stubborn resistance, the German units managed to cut through the Soviet troops between the cities of Rzhev and Vyazma, as a result of which the troops of actually two fronts ended up in a cauldron. In total, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers were surrounded.

After the defeat near Bryansk, the Soviet command organized a line of defense in the Mozhaisk direction. The inhabitants of the city hastily prepared fortifications: trenches and trenches were dug, anti-tank hedgehogs were placed.

During the rapid offensive, the German troops managed to capture such cities as Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Kalinin, Mozhaisk from October 13 to 18 and come close to the Soviet capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

Moscow surrounded

Even before the actual introduction of a state of siege in Moscow, on October 15, the Defense Command was evacuated from the capital to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), the next day, the evacuation of all government agencies, the general staff, etc. began.

JV Stalin decided to stay in the city. On the same day, the residents of the capital panicked, rumors spread about leaving Moscow, several dozen residents of the city tried to urgently leave the capital. Only by October 20 was it possible to establish order. On this day, the city went into a state of siege.

By the end of October 1941, fighting was already underway near Moscow in Naro-Fominsk, Kubinka, and Volokolamsk. Moscow was regularly raided by German aircraft, which did not cause much damage, since the most valuable buildings of the capital were carefully camouflaged, and the Soviet anti-aircraft gunners also worked well. At the cost of huge losses, the October offensive of the German troops was stopped. But they almost reached Moscow.

Where did the Germans get to? This sad list includes the suburbs of Tula, Serpukhov, Naro-Fominsk, Kaluga, Kalinin, Mozhaisk.

Parade on Red Square

Taking advantage of the relative silence at the front, the Soviet command decided to hold a military parade on Red Square. The purpose of the parade was to raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. The date was set for November 7, 1941, S. M. Budyonny hosted the parade, General P. A. Artemyev commanded the parade. Rifle and motorized rifle units, Red Navy, cavalrymen, as well as artillery and tank regiments took part in the parade. The soldiers left the parade almost immediately to the front line, leaving unconquered Moscow behind...

Where did the Germans go? What cities did they reach? How did the Red Army men manage to stop the enemy's orderly battle formations? It's time to find out about it.

November offensive of the Nazis on the capital

On November 15, after a powerful artillery preparation, a new round of the German offensive near Moscow began. Stubborn battles unfolded in the Volokolamsk and Klinsk directions. So, in 20 days of the offensive, the Nazis managed to advance 100 km and capture cities such as Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma. The closest settlement to Moscow, where the Germans reached during the offensive, turned out to be Yasnaya Polyana - the estate of the writer Leo Tolstoy.

The Germans had about 17 km to the borders of Moscow itself, and 29 km to the walls of the Kremlin. By the beginning of December, as a result of a counterattack, the Soviet units managed to drive the Germans out of the previously occupied territories in the vicinity of the capital, including from Yasnaya Polyana.

Today we know where the Germans reached near Moscow - to the very walls of the capital! But they failed to take the city.

The onset of cold weather

As mentioned above, the Barbarossa plan provided for the capture of Moscow by German troops no later than October 1941. In this regard, the German command did not provide for winter uniforms for soldiers. The first night frosts began at the end of October, and for the first time the temperature dropped below zero on November 4th. That day the thermometer showed -8 degrees. Subsequently, the temperature very rarely dropped below 0 °C.

Not only German soldiers, dressed in light uniforms, were not ready for the first cold weather, but also equipment that was not designed to work at low temperatures.

The cold caught the soldiers when they were actually a few dozen kilometers from Belokamennaya, but their equipment did not start in the cold, and the frozen Germans near Moscow did not want to fight. "General Frost" once again rushed to the rescue of the Russians ...

Where did the Germans stop near Moscow? The last German attempt to capture Moscow was made during the attack on Naro-Fominsk on December 1. In the course of several massive attacks, the German units managed to penetrate for a short time into the areas of Zvenigorod for 5 km, Naro-Fominsk up to 10 km.

After the transfer of the reserve, the Soviet troops managed to push the enemy back to their original positions. The Naro-Fominsk operation is considered the last one carried out by the Soviet command at the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow.

The results of the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow

The Soviet Union defended its capital at a huge cost. The irretrievable losses of the personnel of the Red Army during the defensive phase amounted to more than 500 thousand people. at this stage, lost about 145 thousand people. But in the course of its attack on Moscow, the German command used virtually all the free reserves, which by December 1941 were actually depleted, which allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive.

At the end of November, after it became known from undercover sources that Japan was not from the Far East, about 10 divisions and hundreds of tanks were transferred to Moscow. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts were equipped with new divisions, as a result of which, by the beginning of the offensive, the Soviet group in the Moscow direction consisted of more than 1.1 million soldiers, 7,700 guns and mortars, 750 tanks, and about 1 thousand aircraft.

However, it was opposed by a grouping of German troops, not inferior, but even superior in number. The number of personnel reached 1.7 million people, tanks and aircraft were 1200 and 650, respectively.

On the fifth and sixth of December, the troops of three fronts went on a large-scale offensive, and already on December 8, Hitler gives the order for the German troops to go on the defensive. In 1941, Istra and Solnechnogorsk were liberated by Soviet troops. On December 15 and 16, the cities of Klin and Kalinin were liberated.

During the ten days of the offensive, the Red Army managed to push back the enemy in different sectors of the front for 80-100 km, and also create a threat of collapse to the German front of Army Group Center.

Hitler, not wanting to back down, dismissed Generals Brauchitsch and Bock and appointed General G. von Kluge as the new commander of the army. However, the Soviet offensive developed rapidly, and the German command was unable to stop it. In total, in December 1941, German troops in different sectors of the front were driven back by 100-250 km, which meant the elimination of the threat to the capital, the complete defeat of the Germans near Moscow.

In 1942, the Soviet troops slowed down the pace of their offensive and failed to actually destroy the front of Army Group Center, although they inflicted an extremely heavy defeat on the German troops.

The result of the battle for Moscow

The historical significance of the defeat of the Germans near Moscow is invaluable for the entire Second World War. More than 3 million people, more than 2,000 aircraft and 3,000 tanks took part in this battle on both sides, and the front stretched for more than 1,000 km. During the 7 months of the battle, Soviet troops lost more than 900 thousand people killed and missing, German troops lost more than 400 thousand people over the same period. Important results of the battle for Moscow (1941-1942) can be indicated:

• The German plan of "blitzkrieg" - a quick lightning victory - was destroyed, Germany had to prepare for a long exhausting war.
• The threat of the capture of Moscow ceased to exist.
• The myth of the invincibility of the German army was dispelled.
• The German army suffered serious losses in its advanced and most combat-ready units, which had to be replenished with inexperienced recruits.
• The Soviet command gained tremendous experience for the successful conduct of the war with the German army.
• After the victory in the Moscow battle, an anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape.

This is how the defense of Moscow took place, and its positive outcome brought such significant results.