The battle was arguably the bloodiest battle of World War II, and none of the soldiers who fought in it survived 24 hours, and the battle was the Battle of Moscow. This battle concerned the fate of the entire Soviet Union, and it was also the largest city defense war in human history, that is, in this battle, the Soviet Union let Germany, which has always been known for "blitzkrieg", experience defeat for the first time.
The "undefeated myth" of the German army in the European battlefield was thus broken by the Soviet army, and what was the reason why the German army with many troops and advanced equipment suffered a crushing defeat in this war? How did the Soviet army fight back in the face of the German army's million-strong division? Interested partners, you can like, pay attention to and collect!
Germans
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the German army pressed the border, and the Soviet Union fought a battle</h1>
In June 1941, the Germans tore up the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Ordinance and planned to capture Moscow in one fell swoop in the depths of winter. In the early stage, the German army acted according to the plan, and the troops attacked the Soviet Union in three ways, and the Soviet army was powerless to fight like a bamboo, and the Soviet military top brass received war reports unfavorable to their own side every day.
The German army was mainly divided into directions, army group south was responsible for capturing Ukraine and the Caucasus, army group north was mainly responsible for attacking Leninglie, and army group center was mainly responsible for attacking Moscow. Using the method of blitzkrieg, it quickly captured a large area of land in the Soviet Union.
Soviet-German Non-Aggression Ordinance
The German army is also unequivocal, in this war directly sent 3 million troops to the Soviet territory to launch an attack, a week after the beginning of the war, the Soviet Union's many border cities were occupied by the German army, tens of thousands of soldiers died in the battle, in the face of such a situation, the Soviets once fell into despair, and lived in fear of being dominated by the German army.
Judging from the situation on the battlefield, the soviet situation had been forced to the edge of the cliff, and if it was not adjusted, Moscow could really be occupied by the Germans in the deep winter. Seeing this, Stalin hastily adopted urgent measures to reform the theater of operations, and the Soviet Response was timely enough to reduce casualties to a certain extent.
Moscow
According to statistics, within three weeks of the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, the Soviet Union lost 3,000 artillery pieces, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,500 aircraft, and more than 300,000 Soviet troops were captured. By July 1941, the Germans had successfully captured Smolensk, the only way through Moscow, and the Germans were only 380 kilometers away from Moscow.
It was also in Smolensk that the Germans suffered stubborn resistance from the Soviets. After capturing Minsk in Belarus and Ukraine, the Germans decided to concentrate their forces on Attacking Moscow. However, because the German Army Group North was blocked in Leningrad, Hitler transferred the panzer and motorized divisions that had originally attacked Leningrad to carry out Moscow's "typhoon plan".
The German "Typhoon Plan"
The Soviet Union faced the approaching German army, and Stalin urgently summoned General Zhukov. Leningrad was the first to be threatened, General Zhukov was ordered to go to Leningrad, in a few days and nights of competition, the Soviet Union successfully resisted the German offensive, but the German mechanized troops fought less and less, sniffing out the enemy's conspiracy General Zhukov, handed over the command to the deputy general and hurried back to Moscow.
By this time, in order to capture Moscow, Hitler had quietly prepared 74 divisions of the Army Group Center, totaling 1.8 million people, and also transferred the Armored Corps of Ukraine and leningrad and an army group to the Smolensk area. The Soviets also quickly drew 75 divisions from all over the country and moved closer to the Moscow border.
Leningrad
With the implementation of the typhoon plan, the red army of the Soviet Union could not resist the strong offensive of the German army, and the defensive line was destroyed by the German army one by one. In September, Oryol was attacked by the Germans, who successfully reached Vyazma, west of Moscow, encircling the local Soviet regiments.
In October, the German Army Group North first attacked the Smolensk region, while the Soviet defensive line in Vyazma was soon disintegrated by german armored forces, and the Soviet German army was severely damaged. Seeing that the German army was already approaching Moscow, Hitler also thought that victory was in sight, so he asked the Central Army to approach Leningrad.
Vyazma Line
This eased the pressure on Moscow, which gave the Soviets plenty of time to build defensive works and enough buffer time for troops transferred from all over the country. The Soviet army, which was surrounded by Vyazma, was actually using delaying tactics to fight with the German Fourth Army to delay the arrival of General Zhukov.
At this time, General Zhukov had just rushed from the Leningrad front to Moscow and re-accepted the command of the Moscow army, and it was necessary to fully understand the specific situation of the combat troops and the speed of the march of the support troops. To hold Moscow, the front-line troops had to make sacrifices to buy time for the supporting forces.
Mozhaisk Line
The first was the construction of the Mozhaisk Line, which was reorganized into the 5th Army. Just as the Soviets were getting ready, it suddenly snowed heavily in the Soviet Union.
The Germans were only able to slow down, and the roads became muddy due to snowfall. The mud on the road made it difficult for the German army's sophisticated equipment to work. After receiving the favor of Heaven, the Soviet Union also had enough time to prepare for a small counterattack. On the instructions of General Zhukov, new defensive lines were established in the sections of Volokolamsk-Mozhaisk and Yaroslavets Khluga.
Snowy outskirts of Moscow
Under the mediation of General Zhukov, 14 infantry divisions were soon mobilized in the Soviet Union, plus 16 tank brigades and more than 40 artillery regiments, and the 5th Army and the 6th Army were re-established in a very short period of time, and experienced generals were arranged for each of them.
Moreover, the local citizens of Moscow were mobilized, from ordinary workers to peasants and students, and even women with children, and all the energy and power were brought into it. In just three days, 25 workers' battalions, 120,000 militia divisions and 600,000 were involved in the construction of the Moscow defense project.
General Zhukov
These improvised units were then deployed to the defensive front, mainly defending the German army and going to the main sections of the Soviet capital Moscow, which greatly slowed the speed of the German advance. On the whole, the Germans were still slowly advancing towards Moscow.
By mid-October, two-thirds of the way to Moscow had been completed, and in order to ensure a foolproof and smoother capture of Moscow, the Germans once again transferred the Second Panzer Army, the Fourth Panzer Army, and the Fourth Panzer Army to encircle Moscow in all directions.
The Germans attacked the Soviet Union
Under the attack of German armored vehicles, the defense of Moscow's western front basically collapsed, Moscow was in danger, and in order to replenish the missing troops, more than 3,500 cadets had to be forced to rush to the front. When the German general Gudri had already thought that Moscow was already "in the bag", it was attacked that night.
2,000 cadets and more than 400 paratroopers worked together to blow up bridges over the Ula River and quickly occupy defensive positions, much to the desperation of Gudri's plan, which had just been stolen. Since then, the Soviet counterattack has also officially begun, although the preparation of the German army is not sufficient, but it also makes the arrogant German army suffer a lot.
The Defense of Moscow
In the face of the fierce German attack, these cadets never gave up their positions, and again resisted the german attack. The original plan was to delay the German army for 5 days, but the cadets resisted for 12 days, and the surviving more than 1200 cadets boycotted the German armored vehicles outside Moscow, buying valuable time for Moscow.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Soviet Union's final counterattack</h1>
The Soviet army resisted the German offensive and finally waited for the opportunity to counterattack. The first is to take advantage of the weather, when the temperature of the Soviet Union has dropped to more than minus 20 degrees, and the German army has dragged the war time to the hands of the Soviets who have been dealing with snow for half a lifetime, which is tantamount to burying the home field advantage of the battlefield in vain. In this cold winter, the Supply Chain of the Germans was not available, the mechanized troops of the German Army were incapacitated, the German army equipment was not enough to withstand the cold, and the combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.
Soviet tanks
At the end of November, the Soviet Union had completely contained the German offensive, and after a month of resistance, the Soviet Union finally dragged out all the reinforcements, which made the strength of the Soviet army soar. With nearly 8,000 artillery pieces, 800 tanks and 1,000 aircraft, the army numbered 1.1 million.
On the other hand, although the German army has 1.7 million people, there are more than 13,000 artillery pieces, more than 1,100 tanks, but there are less than 700 aircraft, although the number of Soviet troops is not dominant, but the aircraft are far more than the German army, plus the German army is relatively scattered, and the Soviet Union is basically concentrated in moscow, so the Soviet Union can be said to have the advantage.
Soviet warplanes
At the end of November 1941, General Zhukov gave the order to counterattack, and the German army received news that the Soviet Union had no counter-offensive capability for the time being, so it did not care that a devastating disaster was quietly approaching the German army. On 5 December, the Soviets took the lead in launching a counteroffensive, breaking through the flank of German tank armored vehicles and forcing the Germans to retreat in the direction of Kling.
The next day, the Soviet Western Front encircled the Germans from both the north and the south and dealt a heavy blow, and the Germans retreated one after another, thus losing the best opportunity to occupy Moscow. Just when the German army was preparing to retreat on all fronts, Hitler severely rebuked and issued an order to make the German army wait for the opportunity to launch a counterattack, never allow the retreat, and also dismissed the German commander Gudri who issued the retreat order without authorization.
Blitzkrieg
With the rout of the main German army, the Soviet army became more and more courageous, and under the strong counter-offensive, the German remnants could no longer resist the Soviet offensive, and could only be forced to make a choice, admit that they did not have the ability to capture Moscow, and quietly withdraw from the battlefield. The defense of Moscow ended in victory when the Soviet people joined forces to resist. The myth of the undefeated "blitzkrieg" was broken, and the German army fell in the European theater from then on, laying the foundation for the subsequent defeat of Germany.