1941 Soviet Winter Offensive

On December 6, 1941, the Soviet Winter offensive to save Moscow was set in motion. The German Army was caught by surprise as they had not expected such a powerful counterattack on their positions; they had reached the gates of the capital of Russia and they were preparing for the final assault. While the Wehrmacht outran their supply lines and their howitzer breeches got frozen, the Red Army beefed up their reserve units and amassed new armored divisions, with large number of Siberian soldiers brought over from the Far East. In this Soviet counterattack, the Germans would also witness the emergence of the most mechanically reliable tank of World War II; the T-34.

Hitler had thought that the Soviet Union would crumble down with his massive Summer offensive, which had been launched on June 22. However, little did he know that Operation Barbarossa would end on the outskirts of Moscow, as the Russian winter made the German war machine grind to a halt at the beginning of December, 1941. Although the Red Army had lost 200 divisions during the powerful German offensive of the Summer, the Soviet Union managed to sharply increase the number of soldiers and armored divisions as they got ready for a powerful counterattack.

By December 5, -18° C had been recorded on the front line, the coldest temperature until then, with thousands of German soldiers suffering from frostbite. In these harsh weather conditions, with overstretched supply lines, the Wehrmacht units lay dangerously exposed to a Soviet counteroffensive. By then, the Red Army had managed to build up a force composed of 8 tank brigades, 15 rifles divisions, and 3 cavalry divisions; all of which were organized around the Kalinin Front. Some of these units had been transferred from the Far East.

The Soviet offensive began on December 5, 1941. It was carried out by the Kalinin Front, under Ivan Konev, and the direction of the attack went by north of Moscow. It started suddenly, catching the Germans by surprise. The Wehrmacht divisions were thrown back about 50 km in the first week, liberating Kalinin and Klin. Meanwhile other Soviet offensives were initiated by the Western and Bryansk Front south of Moscow. However, by January 7, 1942, the Red Army counterattack had stopped as they had exhausted their reserves and the Germans were able to stabilize the front line. Nevertheless, the counteroffensive was a success, as Moscow was saved and the Wehrmacht forces had fallen back and average of 200 km.