“I had but one such spring in all my life…”

Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz

The First Attempt at a Knockout

More than a century later, Joseph Stalin could almost have repeated the Polish poet’s words, first published in 1834. He would only have needed to replace the word “spring” with “summer” – and the result would have been an apt description of the situation on the Eastern Front in 1941. For the Soviet dictator, however, unlike Mickiewicz, those words would have carried a very different meaning.

On 22 June 1941, the Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union. The former allies had become enemies locked in a struggle to the death. What unfolded in the Soviet Union can be summed up in a single word: catastrophe. Everyone was dying – Soviet and German soldiers alike, civilians, men, women, and children. Total war and Blitzkrieg once again revealed their true nature.

During the first weeks of the campaign, German forces advanced deep into Soviet territory, at times covering dozens of kilometres in a single day. It seemed that the momentum of the Wehrmacht was unstoppable. German armoured formations and infantry advanced relentlessly towards the Soviet capital. The fall of Moscow would have dealt Stalin a blow from which neither he nor his state might ever have recovered.

Yet warfare in the East has always been shaped by two powerful allies of the defenders – and formidable enemies of any invading army: the vastness of the land and the harshness of the climate. In previous centuries, both the Swedes and the French had learned this lesson. In 1941, it was Germany’s turn.

A Wet and Freezing Autumn

Rasputitsa – a single word that encompasses a host of challenges. Heavy rain and melting snow, endless mud, roads that suddenly become impassable, tanks and lorries bogged down at every turn… The blow that struck the German Army in the autumn of 1941 brought the Wehrmacht’s rapid advance to a dramatic halt. Even so, the German forces continued their drive eastwards, albeit at a much slower pace, pressing towards Moscow. The prospect of the rasputitsa ending in mid-November might at first have seemed encouraging to German troops. In reality, however, it signalled the arrival of an even greater challenge: the winter frost. Temperatures fell below –30°C. From the German perspective, the situation was becoming increasingly bleak.

What hindered the Wehrmacht, however, worked to the advantage of the Red Army. The Soviet forces gained valuable time to strengthen their defensive positions, secure the capital, and prepare a counter-offensive.

By November 1941, the easternmost German units had advanced to within just 30 kilometres of the Kremlin, bringing them to the very outskirts of Moscow. However, worsening weather conditions and mounting logistical difficulties – the age-old problem of warfare, whereby supply lines become ever longer as an army advances deeper into enemy territory – forced the Germans to halt their offensive and prepare for a renewed assault. Further attacks launched along several sectors of the front during the second half of November also failed to achieve a breakthrough. On 1 December, the Germans made one final attempt to launch a direct assault on Moscow, but their offensive lacked the strength needed to break through the Soviet defences. It was at this point that the tide began to turn.

Fast Blows

In the “ring outside Moscow”, two formidable opponents faced each other. In the “brown corner” stood the Wehrmacht, buoyed by its summer victories but worn down by the demoralising weeks of rasputitsa and bitter frost. Opposite, in the red corner, stood the Soviet forces. For them, the opening weeks of the campaign had been nothing short of disastrous. Now, however, encouraged by their opponent’s increasingly difficult situation, they were ready to seize the initiative and dictate the course of the battle.

Three Soviet fronts were assigned to launch the counter-offensive in the Moscow sector: the Kalinin Front, the Western Front, and the South-Western Front. The first blows fell on the Germans on 5 December. The opening punch came from the Kalinin Front, striking like a powerful right hook. The following day, two decisive blows landed on the “German fighter”. A left hook delivered by the South-Western Front was followed by a swift straight punch from the Western Front. The combination had a devastating effect on the Wehrmacht. The first knockdown – the first time the German forces had been knocked to the canvas on the Eastern Front – had become a reality.

Over the following weeks, the “brown fighter” was driven back some 150–200 kilometres from Moscow. The “red boxer”, however, seems to have become overconfident. Acting on Stalin’s orders, the Soviet forces launched a general offensive in the spring of 1942. What followed was a series of clinches, as it became clear that the Wehrmacht was not as weakened as the Kremlin had believed. Nor, however, was it strong enough to tip the balance decisively in its own favour. Despite repeated attempts, it failed to force the Soviet Union into surrender. The towel was never thrown into the ring, and the “red fighter” remained on his feet.

More Years, More Rounds

The Soviet counter-offensive before Moscow was the first major successful attempt to halt the German advance. It brought the Red Army a significant victory, although one achieved at an enormous cost: almost 140,000 killed or missing and more than 230,000 wounded. These figures relate to the counter-offensive alone. If the losses sustained during the earlier defence of Moscow are also taken into account – more than 514,000 killed or missing and nearly 144,000 wounded – the total number of casualties in the Battle of Moscow exceeds one million. German casualties amounted to more than 174,000 killed, missing, and wounded, although Soviet sources put the figure at almost 600,000.

Despite these immense losses, the battle did not produce a decisive victory, as German forces continued to pose a threat to Moscow in both 1942 and 1943. The months that followed brought further rounds in the contest between the two opponents, with first one side and then the other gaining the upper hand. Nevertheless, the events of the winter of 1941–42 marked a genuine turning point. They left the “German fighter” badly weakened and profoundly influenced the subsequent course of the Second World War.

Piotr Bosko

Translated from Polish by Małgorzata Giełzakowska