Battle of Moscow | Animated History

help fight D monetization by visiting the armchair historian calm hi I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair historian today watch me freeze in real time on the Eastern Front oh and we're covering the Battle of Moscow too [Music] [Music] before we start today's video I'd like to thank our sponsor Squarespace Squarespace is a robust intuitive all-in-one website and online store builder that could be useful to just about anybody in researching today's video I discovered a famous general once exclaimed uncanny isn't it whether you're looking to start a business create an online portfolio or just to make a website for fun Squarespace has got you covered Squarespace includes integrated analytics built in social media sharing buttons and personalized email campaigns for when you really need to inform your comrades of the 1,612 tanks you took out in the battle of kursk go to squarespace.com slash armchair historian for 10% off of your first purchase of a website or domain on November 7th 1941 a great military parade was held in Moscow overseen by Stalin himself hundreds of Soviet soldiers marched through Red Square celebrating the 24th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution this year it held a special significance it was a show of defiance Stalin's desperate attempt to bolster the sinking morale of his people that defiance was cast in the face of nearly 2 million German soldiers a mere 40 kilometers away who were preparing for an all-out offensive to take Moscow and [ __ ] the Soviet Union the ensuing battle was fought on a scale that was unprecedented this was total war a war of annihilation you often hear that the Soviets only won due to their numerical advantage however in this battle over a million Soviet defenders faced off against nearly two million battle-hardened German soldiers trapped in the middle of this conflict were tens of thousands of Soviet civilians some fought bravely as partisans but most were simply engaged in a desperate struggle to survive while they're relentless forces of to military juggernauts clashed around them before we discuss the events of the battle let's establish some context the German invasion of the Soviet Union codenamed Operation Barbarossa began in late June 1941 Hitler and his generals hoped to overwhelm the unprepared Soviets with the same concentrated coordinated attacks that had brought them so much success elsewhere in this way they hope to secure a speedy victory before winter arrived a phrase you've heard uttered before every failed military campaign initially though Operation Barbarossa went according to plan the invasion caught the Soviets off guard and within a month the Army Group center had driven deep into Soviet territory capturing the city of Smolensk among many others on the road to Moscow three Soviet armies were encircled and destroyed at Smolensk alone and the Russians sustained over 700,000 casualties not since the days of Napoleon had Moscow been so vulnerable to a foreign foe and if you're wondering at this point why the Soviets lost so much ground so quickly we have a video covering why Soviet performance was so poor at the beginning of the war rather than seizing the initiative and striking Moscow Hitler redirected his centre forces elsewhere toward the Ukraine in the south and Leningrad in the north while many of his generals including the commander-in-chief of the army falter Fon brauch advised carrying the invasions momentum forward to the Soviet capital emphasizing its strategic and symbolic importance Hitler was more concerned with securing his flanks and supporting the goals of army groups north and south crippling the Soviet economy by capturing Leningrad and perhaps most importantly seizing the oil fields of the Caucasus in what surely must have given the Fuehrer some sense of validation his decision did lead to short-term success as support from Army Group center our move north to advance and cut off most of the supply routes to Leningrad and armored units from Center allowed group South to fully encircle and crushed the Soviet defenders of Kiev again inflicting over 700,000 casualties following this strategic victory much of the mineral-rich Ukraine was seized and the path to the Caucasus oil fields lay open as the summer drew to a close Army Group centers flanks were secured and Hitler returned his attention to Moscow on October 2nd the ver moshed initiated their attack codenamed Operation typhoon the plan was for German forces to push eastward while separating into two pincers that would clamp down on Moscow from the north and south with the massive force the Germans were bringing to bear on the city Hitler clung to his hopes for a swift victory but those hopes were quickly dashed as the German advance was bogged down by logistical issues the continued resistance of Soviet forces and an unpredictable change in the weather the first snow came early that year on October 6 when it melted it transformed the Russian terrain into a muddy swamp like morass a phenomenon known as rasberry itza past invaders like Napoleon were stymied by wrasse butit's a-- but the German war machine was especially devastated tank treads were clogged vehicles were stuck in infantry and horses were bogged down while the mug did not [ __ ] the Germans single-handedly it did certainly add to their already mounting troubles in spite of the difficult conditions the Germans pressed on battling the Soviets at the cities of Bryon's and V ESMA although the Ukrainian detour had given the Soviets time to prepare the Germans won these engagements and shrugged off Soviet counter-attacks although not without losses in particular they were harried by the arrival of newly constructed Soviet t-34 tanks which were so heavily armored that German tank guns and anti-tank guns could barely damage no German forces were victorious in every engagement along this advance they continued to take losses that they could not afford October 6 Stalin recalled his top General Georgy Zhukov from Leningrad to assume command of Moscow's defense Zhukov was one of the Soviets most skilled military leaders while he was removed from his position as chief of the General Staff in July 1941 for suggesting that Soviet forces abandoned Kiev to avoid being encircled by the Germans which as we mentioned is exactly what happened Stalin called him back to lend his expertise to Moscow's defense upon arrival on October 10th shukoff immediately said about fortifying the city conscripted a quarter million women elders and teenagers to dig trenches and build fortifications moving three million tons of Earth in the process he then set up a defensive line outside the capital stretching from Kalinin in the north to Kaluga in the south which was manned by newly raised reserve armies from the east the center of his line was the city of mosses the mosaic line slowed the invaders down rather than attack it directly the German forces split into two pincers began advancing on the north Souths this approach while slower than a frontal assault was successful and by October 27th the defensive line had fallen with the Germans advancing shukoff was forced to fall back further east in order to avoid being outflanked at this point the German advance had been severely stalled the muddy terrain continued to pose an issue fuel reserves were low and logistical issues with German supply lines prevented the effective delivery of warm clothing and other winter gear to the front on October 31st the offensive was officially halted until the supply lines could be fixed and the muddy ground was frozen even stalled the massive German army still presented a very real and terrifying threat to Moscow Metro tunnels quickly became crowded with civilians desperate to escape the impending carnage and large-scale looting plagued the city stalin had ordered the evacuation of most of the soviet government and military officials to qui be shoved on october 13th but chose to remain himself in hopes of keeping the faltering morale of his people from failing entirely in a further effort to bolster morale he chose to hold the traditional revolution day military parade on november 7th in defiance of the german army lurking outside his city this piece of morale-boosting theater was well timed as just one week later the ground finally froze we're moving to problem so the German attack resumed with only 40 kilometers where 25 miles left between them and Moscow unfortunately for the Germans with the passing of the muddy fall the brutal winter had come this year would be the coldest of the 20th century according to some weather reports although these reports vary wildly with German sources tending to report colder temperatures and the Soviets however cold it really was the Germans were certainly unprepared for it as they previously mentioned to logistical failures had left them severely lacking in winter gear frostbite gangrene and cold induced mechanical failures devastated the German army despite these horrendous conditions the army continued its attack with the northern pincer making it within 35 kilometers or 20 miles of Moscow before being repelled by a Soviet counter-attack the southern attack force fared worse failing to take or circumvent the well defended city of Tula and halting their advance there with the German attack stalled and the winter taking a brutal toll the offensive was called off and German troops pulled back on December 5th as the Germans withdrew the Soviets began a concerted counter-attack the Germans thought that these Soviets were too battered and depleted to put up a fight but the Russian reserves were more than many Germans realized by the time the German advance was called off Stalin had accumulated a reserve of over 1 million men and on the same day the Germans stopped their assault December 5th the Soviets launched their counter-offensive although they only barely outnumber to the Germans the Soviets were now far more organized and prepared than they had been at the start of the invasion and fought back with an effectiveness that surprise to the Germany's already suffering from supply shortages and the effects of the weather the Germans quickly lost ground Hitler wanted his forces to form a defensive line across the entire front however his generals in the field determined that such a defense was impossible and German forces continued to withdrawal three separate times during this retreat pockets of German forces were nearly encircled and wiped out air support provided by the Luftwaffe was instrumental in preventing a total collapse of Army Group center during this retreat by early January the Soviets had managed to push the Germans back 100 kilometers for 60 miles before stopping due to over extension and supply shortages even still the German invasion of the USSR would continue but the battle for Moscow was over [Music] while the Germans were well-armed and numerically superior the Soviets had several advantages in the Battle of Moscow that secured their victory the most prominent of these can be summed up as home-field advantage shorter supply and communication lines more plentiful manpower reserves to draw from for the purposes of fighting and setting up defenses as well as the added morale benefits associated with fighting for your homeland the Soviets took much heavier losses throughout the invasion especially in the beginning but they could replace those losses far more easily than the Germans could the long and ineffective supply lines of German forces just couldn't support the logistical demands of their massive armies and their effectiveness offered greatly as a result additionally although its role has been over exaggerated in modern times the weather was undoubtedly on the Soviet side with the rasp boot itzá bogging down the Germans until the brutal winter set in which the Soviets were far better prepared for it's certainly an exaggeration to claim that winning the Battle of Moscow would have meant a German victory on the Eastern Front it may have increased their chances but even if they had seized the capital they would have still needed to solve their logistical problems that had been plaguing them since the start of the campaign the only way that Operation Barbarossa could have ever truly succeeded was if the USSR and its inhabitants had chosen to submit but any student of history will know that submission was never a word in Stalin's vocabulary we found the dog on the eastern front we named inflates but we're going to eat him help fight de monetization by visiting the armchair historian calm

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 1,314,269

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Keywords: the battle of moscow, the eastern front, invasion of the ussr, military history, world war two, second world war, invasion of russia, attack on moscow, operation typhoon, battle of leningrad, battle of stalingrad, 1941, georgy zhukov, educational content

Id: yus9N3AG_WE

Length: 14min 51sec (891 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 29 2019