Battle of Moscow

The Battle of Moscow was the battle which proved to be the tipping point of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.

History
Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, was launched by Nazi Germany in June 1941. Making Earth-shattering progress, the Germans very rapidly captured the Baltic States, won a series of huge victories at the Battles of Bialystock, Kiev and Vyazma-Briansk, (PROSE: Just War) and laid siege to Leningrad. (PROSE: Cabinets of Curiosities)

With Russia's capital city of Moscow as their ultimate objective, the Germans advanced 1,000 miles into Russia along a 2,000 mile front. Moscow became increasingly vulnerable as it came within view of the invaders. However, thereafter, the winter set in. The Wehrmacht, already struggling to maintain its logistics, was unprepared for winter fighting and the advanced came to a halt. The Red Army, who were far more prepared for winter warfare, launched a counterattack and pushed the enemy back from the advanced to the city.

The defeat threw the seemingly-unstoppable Germans into crisis as they scrambled to reorganise. Oberst Oskar Steinmann and the Luftwaffe zbV were called into Russia from Guernsey to help stabilise the situation. Steinmann's Luftwaffe unit proved effective at halting Russian tanks, disrupting Russian supply lines, aiding in the fortification of strategic towns and providing supplies for the occupying German forces. However, the Barbarossa offensive was ended and the Germans were forced onto the defensive.

The setbacks outside Moscow coincided with the entry of the United States of America into the war, (PROSE: Just War) following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on 7 December 1941. (PROSE: Only Connect) The US mobilised its bountiful industrial resources to aid the efforts of Britain and the Soviet Union against the Nazis. Consequently, Germany had to call off the Blitz and shelve Operation Sealion as the nation found itself in the middle of another two-front war with no notable allies to call upon for aid.

News of the defeat spread panic through Berlin, with officers and civilians beginning to consider the possibility of Germany losing the war. Anyone caught by the authorities of discussing this possibility were punished and purged for defeatism. (PROSE: Just War)

Aftermath
Into 1942, the Germans continued to reorganise and instead began pushing for Stalingrad. (AUDIO: The Night Witches) Reaching the city in the autumn, the ensuing battle was far harsher and more infamous, with conditioned worsened after the bitter winter set in once more. (PROSE: The Beast of Stalingrad) Turing the tide of the war, Stalingrad taught the Soviets many valuable lessons about close-quarter city fighting which was put to deadly use in the offensive against Berlin, Germany's own capital, in April 1945. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)