On land the German Armies seemed invincible.
Expect for the Battle of Britain Germany hadn't suffered a major defeat.
As the German armies crossed into the Soviet Union in June 1941 they made gain after gain.
But they also suffered heavy losses.
Their biggest loss happened in front of Moscow, the Soviet capital.
How did the Germans experience this defeat?
How did the homefront react?
In this video more on the German perspective of the Battle of Moscow!
Welcome back everyone.
If this is your first time here, welcome to History Hustle.
I'm Stefan, history teacher, hustling history for you.
Please consider subscribing and don't forget to hit the notification bell to join the hustle.
Let's start!
On 22 June 1941 the Germans and their Allies invaded the USSR.
As the German-led Axis forces moved across the Eastern European lands they made huge
terrirotial gains – captured millions of Red Army POW – but against heavy losses
of their own.
Besides that the German supply lines became longer and longer.
Early October the first snow began to fell.
It soon melted which turned the unpaved Soviet roads to muddy swamps.
This autumn mud was known as rasputitsa.
As Operation Barbarossa was going on and as the Soviet Army kept on fighting and didn't
surrender as a whole, many began to wonder when the Soviets were going to surrender.
On 2 October 1941 the German troops heard a proclamation of their Führer that Moscow
was the final objective, the final battle to end this campaign many expected to be done
with last Summer.
Operation Taifun was the name of the plan to capture Moscow.
Many Germans were thrilled to hear from their leader that thís was going to be the last
battle against Bolshevism.
The next day the Germans drove into the city of Orel.
As German panzers appeared on the streets local trams were still driving on the streets.
From there the completed the encirclement of Bryansk.
Vyazma was also taken.
According to German high command there was nothing but open fields between them and the
Soviet capital.
A survey of German letters from the front showed that expectations of victory were higher
in October (due to the victories at Bryansk and Vyazma) than they were in the previous
months.
On 19 October a state of siege was declared in Moscow as Stalin informed his guards he
was going to stay in the Soviet capital: “Will will not surrender Moscow”.
Army Group Centre was moving towards the city.
Mid-October the German pincer movement took Kalinin, north of Moscow and Kaluga, south
of Moscow.
Soviet commander Georgy Zhukov launched a counter attack with mixed results.
The Soviets could field the new T-34 tank but in 1941 there were far too few of them.
Hitler wanted to finish the encirclement of the city.
By now – it was near the end of October – he could foresee the war would run on
into 1942.
Hitler believed that once the roads would freeze his tanks could run again and planned
his finaul assault in early November.
Near the end of that month German forces took the city of Klin (north of Moscow) and crossed
the Moscow-Volga Canal.
South to Moscow the heavy fortified Tula wasn't taken as the southern prong of the German
attack ground to a halt.
As partisan activities sprung up in the rear German reprisals increased.
Villages were burned down and civilians were shot.
These methods had more to do with the German sense of isolation and vulnerability rather
with the real threat of partisans and civilians.
One German soldier feared his own moral disintegration as he wrote to
his wife:
Early December this German soldier was severily wounded.
His comrades dragged him for miles as he died of his wounds and was buried near the entrence
of a Soviet school.
Initially Moscow was defended with 240,000 men with 500 tanks (many of them light tanks).
It was a scratch force made up from remnants of defeated units and conscripted locals.
Yet, the Germans were astonished by their suicidal resistance.
Near the end of November the German assault was clearly wilting.
The limit of the German drive on Moscow was reached at the outskirts of the city.
The German soldiers were too tired, short of tanks and ammunition and not well prepared
for the winter conditions.
Last Summer orders for winter equipment had been issued but only for 58 divisions, the
amount of troops that were expected to stay in German-occupied USSR after their victory.
They believed the Soviets were on their last legs.
They were wrong.
Twelve armies were held in reserve by Soviet high command.
As it appeared that Japan wasn't going to invade the USSR (due to Soviet spy Richard
Sorge), units from eastern Russia were moved to Moscow.
These troops were spotted by German planes but German commanders dismissed these reports
as they did not believe a Soviet counteroffensive was possible.
The Soviet forces did have winter equipment, the Germans were lacking so much.
On 5 December the Red Army moved forward in deep snow.
The attack started north of Moscow as concentrated 'shock groups' pinched holes in the German
defences.
Initially this wasn't too succesful.
As a German lieutenant wrote:
Klin was retaken on 15 December and near the end of the month Kalinin was retaken.
This all happened after bitter fighting.
The cold affected both sides.
The German soldier were in no state to counter attack.
The entire Army Group Centre was now threatened with encirclement.
German soldier began to retreat.
This retreat became a chaotic rout as vehicles, heavy weapons, spare parts and field kitchens
were simply abandoned.
Morale sunk to an all-time low.
As a survey from AG-C showed:
The weather was the worst.
With blizzards going on German soldiers often didn't know where their own lines were.
The depended on local guides who were often shot after showing them the way out of fear
of being persuited by the Red Army.
Willy Peter Reese was also present during this period.
I mentioned him in the previous episode.
He was a German poet who was sent to the Eastern Front at the age of 20.
He was now fighting a pitched battle near a village named Volovo.
They waged a battle against Soviet Cossack troops.
They managed to fend off the attack and took refuge in the village.
As Reese wrote:
As the Germans retreated they tried to destroy everything that could be of value of their
persuers.
This included Soviet villages.
As Reese wrote:
On 16 December Hitler issued the 'Halt Order' where not a step back was permitted.
The frostbiten and demoralised men did hold their lines.
Yet, morale was at rock bottem.
High Command issued a report on that morale of the 4th Army.
This was the result:
Within the German elites the mood was very bleak also with heart attacks, strokes, suicides
and sackings as a result.
The situation was often compared to Napoleon's defeat in 1812.
Via letters the news reached the homefront.
The SD (the intelligence agency) noted that civilians abandoned official sources of information
and turned to rumours, stories of soldiers and people with connections.
Propaganda minister Goebbels then issued guidelines to the High Command to make clear to their
troops that the men had to act as propagandists themselves, propagandists to the home front.
Goebbels also set up a Winter Relief campaign where a nationwide collection of winter clothing
and kit was undertaken.
There was a huge response from the homefront as by mid-January 1942 over 67 winter items
were collected.
Between January and April 1942 Hitler adressed the German public four times over the radio.
He referred back to the troubled times of the First World War and the concept of 'Holding
out' (Durchhalten) resurfaced.
Hitler also admitted he wasn't able to predict how long it would take to take down the USSR.
Many Germans by this time had already adjusted to this prospect that also this war was going
to be a long one and a difficult one.
The Red Army's counteroffensive petered out in March 1942.
With the winter coming to an end, it was believed the Red Army could be defeated in a renewed
Summer offensive.
One mother wrote to her son on the Eastern Front, a son who back in 1940 was afraid that
he was born too late:
‘You have certainly not been “born too late”; you came at the right time and stand
where it is hardest.
With loving greetings and wishing you all the best, your mother.’