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- "We will not flinch in the battle for our capital": how the Germans were driven away from Moscow
"We will not flinch in the battle for our capital": how the Germans were driven away from Moscow
On December 5, 1941, the Soviet counteroffensive began near Moscow. For the first time during the Second World War, the Nazis suffered a strategic defeat. It was then that the blitzkrieg was disrupted. Izvestia recalled how it was.
"The war imposed on us"
The first three months of the Great Patriotic War were a tragedy for our country that cannot be compared with anything else. The Germans advanced, occupying cities and regions. The Red Army retreated with heavy losses. They lacked combat experience, and the Nazis effectively used their tactical advantage. At the same time, in the USSR, for the first time, the Germans encountered desperate resistance, which they tried to suppress with frightening methods.
German soldiers and equipment on the outskirts of Moscow. Autumn 1941
Heinrich Himmler at that time defined the essence of the confrontation as follows: "This is a war of ideologies and a struggle of races. On one side stands National Socialism, an ideology based on the values of our German Nordic blood. On the other side stands a people of 180 million, a mixture of races and peoples whose names are unpronounceable and whose physical nature is such that the only thing that can be done to them is to shoot them without any mercy or mercy." Germany was waging a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. But the atrocities in the occupied territory could not break the spirit of the Soviet people. Berlin understood that the decisive factor should be the destruction of Moscow, after which the Red Army would be forced to retreat across the Volga, and the invaders would gain a decisive moral advantage, showing the whole world their military and political superiority.
Residents of Moscow are digging an anti-tank moat. Autumn 1941
On September 30, 1941, the German offensive Operation Typhoon began, the purpose of which was the lightning capture of Moscow. Hitler planned to dismember the Soviet defenses with three powerful tank strikes in the eastern and northeastern directions, and then encircle and destroy Red Army units in the area of Vyazma and Bryansk. After that, the encirclement of Moscow was planned.
Military parade on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 1941
By that time, the Germans had captured the territory of the USSR, where more than 70 million people lived before the war. 38% of the country's grain was harvested there, more than 68% of cast iron, 58% of steel were produced, and 63% of coal was mined. German troops were advancing inexorably towards Moscow. But on November 7, a parade took place on Red Square. The units marching along the cobblestones were immediately sent to the front. In his speech, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief spoke of victory, that Moscow would remain and not fall to the enemy: "The treacherous attack of the German bandits and the war imposed on us created a threat to our country. We have temporarily lost a number of regions, and the enemy has found himself at the gates of Leningrad and Moscow. The enemy was counting on the fact that after the first blow our army would be scattered, our country would be brought to its knees. But the enemy had cruelly miscalculated. Despite temporary setbacks, our army and our navy are heroically repelling enemy attacks along the entire front, inflicting heavy damage on it, and our country — our whole country — has organized itself into a single combat camp in order to defeat the German invaders together with our army and our fleet."
On the outskirts of Moscow
Perhaps the critical hours of the confrontation came when the Nazis managed to force the Istra reservoir. Under the threat of encirclement, on November 22, General Konstantin Rokossovsky, contrary to the demands of front commander Georgy Zhukov, ordered his troops to retreat. There was only one tank dash to Moscow, to the Kremlin. This is not an exaggeration, but the German officers saw the outlines of the historical buildings of Belokamennaya through binoculars. Evacuation began in the capital. Tens of thousands of Muscovites enlisted in the militia. They were volunteers who were ready to sacrifice themselves in defense of the country. At the cost of heavy losses, they gained minutes and hours, blocking the enemy's way to our capital.
Soldiers of the Leningrad district workers' battalion in Moscow. October 1941
In the Volokolamsk direction, the Germans were blocked by the 316th Infantry Division of Major General Ivan Panfilov, which was defending a 41 km front. In the battle at the Dubosekov junction, Red Army soldiers used anti-tank rifles for the first time. The heroes managed to stop the advance of the Nazi divisions.
Tula, the city of gunsmiths, turned out to be an impregnable fortress. From October 29 to December 6, the Germans unsuccessfully tried to capture it more than once.
The gun of Sergeant Smirnov, installed on the outskirts of Tula. Early December 1941
On November 28, the Germans captured Yakhroma and the bridge over the Moscow–Volga canal. An armored train of NKVD troops No. 73 was urgently sent there, which helped the soldiers of the 29th and 50th rifle brigades to repel enemy attacks. The forces of the Soviet soldiers were not enough, but they gained a foothold on the Peremilovsky heights. The Germans were driven back. Now there, on the hill, there is a monument to the fighter — defender of Moscow.
On November 29, Adolf Hitler received Italian Foreign Minister Gian Galeazzo Ciano at the Wolfschanze Residence. In a friendly conversation with an ally, the German Fuhrer confidently argued: "If we look at the whole, the war has already been won... Germany's goal was to break the Russian resistance in the center and on the southern flank of the front and then deliver a powerful blow to Moscow. This operation is being carried out systematically. If resistance continues in Russia, it comes not from people, but from nature. Six weeks of good weather, and Russia will be eliminated by Germany."
The gun crew of the battalion's squadron commander of anti-tank rifles, Sergeant Ivan Ryabukha, is firing at the battle lines near Naro-Fominsk. November 1941
But the very next day, Field Marshal Fyodor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, claimed the opposite: "The situation is critical. I'm throwing everything I have into battle, but I don't have the troops to surround Moscow. The enemy has understood our plan, and he is concentrating fresh forces north and south of Moscow. My only hope is to continue the frontal offensive. But if you do this, then there is a danger of an exhausting battle, such as it was at Verdun 25 years ago." He saw that every week the Red Army's confrontation would become more fierce.
In the same hours, a historic decision was made, which Marshal Zhukov recalled as follows: "I called the Supreme Commander and, after reporting the situation, asked him to give the order to launch a counteroffensive. Stalin listened attentively, and then asked:
— Are you sure that the enemy has reached a state of crisis and is unable to bring in any new large group?
Commander of the Western Front, Army General Georgy Zhukov at headquarters. Autumn 1941
— The enemy is exhausted. But if we do not eliminate the dangerous enemy formations now, the Germans will be able to reinforce their troops in the Moscow area with large reserves at the expense of the northern and southern groupings of their troops, and then the situation may become seriously complicated."
That gloomy autumn, few believed in the success of the counteroffensive. For too long, the Nazis had been training their opponents to defeat. But in an extreme situation, the Red Army command decided to launch a counteroffensive.
Red Army soldiers with a Maxim machine gun overcome heights during the battles near Moscow. November 1941
The Germans expected a protracted battle, but did not expect that the Red Army would have enough forces for offensive actions. Zhukov's iron self-control, which had not disclosed his reserves for a long time, had an effect. But the troops defending Moscow were replenished with three new armies. We received additional tanks and cavalry. The timing for a decisive offensive on several sectors of the three fronts — the Western, Southwestern and Kalinin fronts - was precisely chosen. On the outskirts of Moscow, the German military vehicle began to slip. The tension of the first months of the war affected the occupiers as well.
The breakthrough of three fronts
On December 5, units of the Red Army launched an offensive on a front about a thousand kilometers long. The very next day, the defenders of Moscow managed to break through the German defenses in several directions.
On December 8, Rokossovsky's 16th Army liberated Kryukovo, and on December 11, Istra. Yefremov was liberated on December 13, Klin on the 15th, Kalinin on the 16th, Aleksin on the 17th, Volokolamsk on the 20th, Naro-Fominsk on the 26th, Kozelsk on the 28th, Kaluga on the 30th. By the end of December, having pushed the enemy by 50-100 km, our troops reached the Volga–Rzhev–Zubtsov line. In the liberated towns and villages, a terrible picture of reprisals and looting was revealed.
Red Army soldiers walk along the street of the liberated city of Kalinin. December 16, 1941
In the battles in the Istra-Volokolamsk direction, the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of General Lev Dovator heroically proved itself, raiding the enemy's rear. On December 19, near the village of Palashkino, near Ruza, the famous general was mortally wounded. Lev Dovator was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 110 living and dead defenders of Moscow were awarded the Golden Star in those days.
Tens of millions of Soviet people listened to inspiring reports from the Soviet Information Bureau, which were read on the radio by announcer Yuri Levitan. We followed the events "in the foggy fields near Moscow" with surprise and confidence.
A German tank destroyed during the Battle of Moscow near the village of Krasnye Gorki. December 10, 1941
Hitler was well aware of the importance of these battles. He understood that defeat would turn the war into a protracted regime, unfavorable for Germany. On December 19, he made feverish changes in the leadership of the Wehrmacht. The unsuccessful von Bock was replaced by Gunther von Kluge. Field Marshal von Brauchitsch was ousted from his key position as commander of the Army. These powers were assumed by Hitler himself, who hoped for the fanaticism of soldiers and officers. This symbolic gesture did not help the Germans to stop the retreat.
The Defenders of Moscow march, created by composer Boris Mokrousov and poet Alexei Surkov, has been heard all over the world.:
We will not flinch in battle.
For your capital,
Our native Moscow is dear to us.
An indestructible wall,
Steel defense
We will defeat and destroy the enemy.
An indestructible wall,
Steel defense
We will defeat and destroy the enemy.
The operation ended on January 8, when the Germans managed to push back 100-250 km to the West, completely liberating the Moscow, Tula, Kalinin and Ryazan regions, partly Smolensk and Oryol. 11 thousand settlements.
A German soldier surrenders in the Solnechnogorsk area. December 1941
Having missed a painful blow, the Nazis did not lose their strategic initiative. For a long time they did not abandon plans to capture Moscow and retained the potential for offensive operations in the USSR. Heavy losses during defensive and offensive operations near Moscow prevented the Red Army from building on its success in the second half of January 1942. But the course of the war showed that the battle for Moscow was a turning point. Both at the front and in the rear, people believed that fascists could be beaten. They believed in their commanders, in the future victory.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
