In World War II, the Battle of Moscow was undoubtedly one of the most tragic battles, and the offensive and defensive reversals during the period were also classic. In this battle, the Germans suffered the last activity of the Xiaoice River Period, which also cost millions of German troops heavy. However, it is strange that in the face of such huge losses, Hitler strictly ordered the German army not to retreat half a step. You know, at this time, the German army has become the German ice sculpture in Moscow, so in the face of such a situation, what is the reason for Hitler not to retreat?
I. The German Army in Moscow
For the Germans in Moscow, it was good to start the war again.
After all, in the Battle of Vyazma-Bryansk, the Germans annihilated at least 300,000 Soviet troops, which was a huge damage to Moscow's defensive posture.
The eight armies of the three fronts were encircled, all valuable soviet forces used to defend Moscow, but now suffered heavy losses, as well as their few technical weapons.
It can be said that this result made the Germans very satisfied, as long as they can continue to maintain this situation, I believe it will not be long before they can break through Moscow.
The reality, however, is that
Although Hitler said over and over again that the Soviet Union was a broken house and would collapse when it was kicked, Moscow was attacked by the Germans for more than two months, but it could not be broken.
The morale of the troops has dropped little by little, and the losses suffered by the troops are not much better than those of their enemies. It can be said that both sides endure in battle.
However, compared with the Soviet army, the situation of the German army was worse, because they had to bear not only the casualties of the offensive and defensive battles, but also the terrible cold.
By 15 November, russian soldiers had received enough warm clothes—short coats, felt boots, thick cotton coats, and hats with earrings.
The Germans, on the other hand, were still shivering in the cold wind, and their winter combat supplies came late, and they were prepared to cope with the temperature of minus thirty degrees.
However, the cooling that began on November 15 was already very rapid, and the soldiers' clothing was not enough to cope with such a low temperature, and as time passed, the weapons in the hands of the German army became disobedient.
In fact, at this time, not only the small arms in the hands of the German army were frozen, but even tanks and armored vehicles and tanks were frozen.
The original antifreeze oil and antifreeze have become waste, not only can not play a role in antifreeze, but also freeze the weapon. Soldiers had to work very hard to de-icing their weapons, but it wasn't long before they froze, not to mention that many of the parts were damaged.
Although they reached a position less than thirty kilometers from Moscow on the north, south, and west sides of Moscow at the end of November, they could no longer make any progress.
Second, the situation is reversed
In Hitler's eyes, Moscow was already in the bag, after all, his army had advanced so far, there was no reason why it could not move so far. Hitler
To his subordinates, he said: "We will use a little more force in the end, and we will soon win." Von Bock, commander of the German Army Group Center, also compared the Battle of the Marne with the Battle of Moscow, arguing that "as long as you put in the last battalion, you will win the battle." ”
He did decide to use his "last battalion" on 1 December, the day he made his last attack, but the result was meaningless because they did not succeed at all.
At this time, the German army was already in great trouble, while the Soviet army on the opposite side had the advantage.
Although inferior to the Germans, the Soviets were effectively supplied because the road and railroad points were in Moscow, and because of the short logistics lines.
The Germans, on the other hand, were no longer able to do so, and they were more than a thousand kilometers from the logistics line and could not get enough supplies in time.
And the German high command still refused to allow them to retreat, and let them continue to attack, but where did they have the strength to attack now?
By what attack? Those weapons that have lost their usefulness? Or are they soldiers who are already frozen and unable to move? Even more deadly, on December 5, the Soviets had launched a counteroffensive, which on December 6 became a full-fledged counteroffensive.
At this time, in the face of the Soviet counter-attack, the German army had no ability to resist at all, and the panicked German troops were defeated.
They dispersed at once from the 320-kilometer-long front surrounding Moscow, hoping to break away from contact with the Soviets at the fastest speed possible. With weapons failing, no pre-set positions, and even the soldiers frozen, the German front became fragile.
The panicked German soldiers took their booty, discarded their weapons, and quickly retreated to the rear. During this period, the organization of the German army collapsed at the earliest.
More and more generals demanded a retreat from Hitler, such as Guderian and Marshal von Bock.
But Hitler arbitrarily refused this request, believing that the troops could still hold out and could never give up lightly. For today's sake, only by sticking to the front line can there be a glimmer of life.
So Hitler eliminated all possibilities of retreat and demanded that the Germans conduct the most complete defense and hold the front. Even though the Germans suffered heavy losses, Hitler was reluctant to let the Germans retreat one step back.
Even when the field officers on the front line repeatedly demanded a retreat, Hitler was unmoved, and even removed a large number of officers, including Guderian and von Bock, so that his orders could be carried out.
Third, Hitler's reasons for not being able to retreat
Hitler had many reasons to believe that the Germans could not retreat, and one of the key reasons was the battle between Napoleon and Russia in 1812
。 In the winter of 1812, Napoleon's French army was in a very similar situation to his present, suffering a massive cooling and snowfall of the Xiaoice River period, and the French army began to retreat in the absence of supplies and warm clothing, but collapsed after being pursued by the Russian army led by Kutuzov.
Hitler believed that if he let his troops retreat, he would encounter no better situation than the French army at that time, and might even be counterattacked by the Soviet army all the way to Germany, so he would not agree to any retreat plan.
Although the Germans were already in retreat by this time, dozens of divisions were undermanned, heavily ill-equipped divisions were spread over hundreds of kilometers of fronts, and a considerable number of troops were on the salients.
However, if the troops are allowed to retreat, then this retreat without a preset position and the lack of control over the troops will only cause the troops to fall into a catastrophe.
Then instead of letting the troops be annihilated by the Soviets one by one in the retreat, it is better to let the troops lay down their hearts and deploy in situ, do a battle of trapped beasts, and perhaps have a chance to survive.
In fact, it must be pointed out that Hitler's understanding is very good, because at this time it is undoubtedly a huge trouble for the German army to retreat.
For the Germans at this time, retreat was a slow suicide option, they did not know where to retreat, nor did they know the situation of friendly forces, and each division became more dispersed in this situation, because the military commanders of each unit, whether the commanders of the army groups or the commanders of the armies and divisions, could not effectively understand the enemy and our posture on the battlefield and the specific conditions of the troops.
They had been frightened by the so-called powerful offensive of the Soviet army, and they only knew how to flee backwards as soon as possible, and no one knew where to flee and where to flee.
But as far as the actual situation was concerned, the Soviet counter-offensive was not as serious as they thought.
Although the Soviets had a large number of trumpets, the troops were not as many as the Germans expected. This was because the Germans were accustomed to using numbers to calculate the strength of the other side, but in fact many of the Soviet divisions at this time were empty shelves, only more than three thousand people. Ammunition was also insufficient, and many times soviet artillery could only have two shells per gun per day.
It can be said that this offensive method was not enough to annihilate the German army, but the German army was defeated by the Soviet army in panic. If the Germans had sunk their minds, it would have been difficult for the Soviets to achieve further results.
epilogue
As a result, Hitler's order not to retreat was correct. The Soviets were indeed hoping that the German army would collapse so that it could completely break the German army. However, when the German army sank down to fight the Soviet army to the death, the fragile strength and logistics of the Soviet army were difficult to achieve results, and they could only choose to end the offensive and confront the German army on the established front. It can be said that Hitler's decision saved the German army, but this also had a bad result, that is, Hitler drove out the originally trained officers and trusted only his own judgment. From this point on, the Germans would face even greater defeats.
Reference: Memories and Reflections
History of the Second World War
Lost Victory