THE RELIEF OF MOSCOW 101
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In late September 1941, Hitler had aimed to take Moscow before the start of the bitter Russian winter (see pp.96–97). Despite German successes at Vyazma and Bryansk on the way to the capital, Soviet opposition forced the German armies to stall and dig in for the winter around Moscow. The German commanders assumed that
the Red Army was as depleted as their own. Stalin, however, had
armies in reserve in Siberia, most of which he brought forward
to bolster the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front.From December 5, the Soviet commanders launched a huge
counteroffensive against the Germans, with operations running along the whole front. To the north, the Volkhov Front managed to regain the strategically important town of Tikhvin, which eased the supply routes to besieged Leningrad (see pp.94–95). Near Moscow,the German salients around Klin and Tula were quickly pushed back, but it took longer to shift the Germans away from the center
of the front. To the south, the Red Army re-took Kerch in Crimea and created a substantial salient at Izyum. The Germans, under orders to defend their positions, continued to fight and made several assaults in March; by April the Soviet counteroffensive had all but ground to a halt. Both sides had suffered huge casualties. The Soviet forces had advanced more than 62 miles (100km) in some places, but
they had not been able to force the Germans into a general retreat
or re-take the German communications centers at Vyazma and Kharkov. The Soviet failure to follow through their counteroffensive ultimately led to a successful German offensive in the south, and to the Battle of Stalingrad (see pp.148–153).THE RELIEF OF MOSCOWThe Soviets launched a counteroffensive against the German invaders in December 1941, making early gains at several points along the vast Eastern Front and freeing Moscow from immediate danger. However, they could not force a full retreat, and the front remained largely static from February 1942 until a new German offensive began in June.
Soviet naval forcesSoviet counteroffensive
in CrimeaSoviet gains
in CrimeaRECOVERY IN CRIMEA DECEMBER 26, 1941–APRIL 30, 1942In late December, Soviet troops, supported by naval forces, landed at Kerch and Feodosiya on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula. Further Soviet landings at Eupatoria only increased the pressure on the German occupiers. The Germans fought back and, after two days of heavy fighting, defeated the Soviets and executed more than 1,200 partisans; however, they could not dislodge the Soviet forces dug in around Kerch and Feodosiya.
5Jan 5, 1942Sovietforces land atEupatoria, hoping tolink up with the besieged forcesin Sevastopol.MARSHAL GEORGY ZHUKOV1896–1974 One of Stalin’s most capable commanders, Zhukov organized the defense of Leningrad and Moscow, and led the counterattack at Moscow in December 1941. At Stalingrad, his counteroffensive destroyed the German 6th Army in the city. It was Zhukov who accepted the German surrender in Berlin in 1945. He was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1943, but was sidelined after the war because Stalin saw him as a threat.
◁A call to arms
Thousands of Soviet resistance fighters—or partisans—fought a guerrilla war in the German-occupied areas of the USSR, encouraged by propaganda posters such as this.US_100-101_Moscow_saved.indd 101 19/03/19 5:39 PM