A. The strength of the Soviet Union
Moscow's defense is actually not strong. According to the thinking of the Soviet high command, they plan to build three lines of defense around Moscow. The first line of defense is zhezev? Viazma? Bryansk, the second line of defense is in Moskovski, between Kalinin and Kaluga. It is a double line of defense, and the last line of defense is built along the periphery of Moscow. This is the Moscow defense zone composed of three defense lines, and it is the last barrier in Moscow.
However, contrary to expectations, none of the three lines of defense was actually completed. This is mainly because the German attack speed is too fast, and the Soviet army is tired of coping. At the same time, the troops were repeatedly wiped out and could not be carried out according to the established plan. On the other hand, the bad war situation greatly reduced the judgment ability of the Soviet high command, which led to the fact that when the Soviet army began to build fortifications in Moscow, the progress was far behind the approaching speed of the war.
The losses of the Soviet army are also amazing. Although there are more than one million Soviet troops defending Moscow now, most of them are from scattered troops. In order to break through the encirclement of the Germans, they were already exhausted. Although reorganized, the morale of the troops is poor and the equipment is seriously worn out. The troops are filled with many new recruits, and their combat effectiveness has dropped a lot compared with the beginning of the war. Although the militia forces recruited temporarily have commendable fighting enthusiasm, good or bad members and good defense, it is hard to say that they can be of great use.
At this time, the Soviet Union's technical weapons, the decline is very serious. The troops used to defend Moscow have the following technical equipment: 1000 tanks and 936 aircraft, of which 578 are bombers and the rest are fighters, with 7,400 guns of various kinds. It should be pointed out that at this time, many tanks owned by the Soviets are already backward tanks, and their performance is not superior to that of German tanks, while there are not many new T34 and KV series tanks left. On the artillery, the Soviet losses are also very serious. In the constant retreat and encirclement, the Soviet army has lost most of its own artillery. In infantry, they also lack anti-tank weapons that can be used to resist the attack of German armored forces.
So strictly speaking, the Soviet army is not ready for the battle of Moscow. When the Germans carried out the typhoon plan and wanted to conquer Moscow, the Soviets actually rushed to defend themselves. Soviet troops must send more troops from the Far East when defending. In other words, the Soviets are racing against time.
2. The strength of the German army
Practically speaking, not only the Soviets want to race against time, but also the Germans want to. In fact, after a brutal battle, the strength of the German army also declined seriously. According to the requirements of the Barbarossa Plan, the Germans should capture Moscow within four months. Although the Germans made great progress in the early stage, as the Soviets began to organize strong resistance and more counter-shocks, the German advance speed inevitably slowed down.
Take the Battle of Smolensk as an example, which hindered the German attack for two months. Although the Germans annihilated a large number of Soviet effective forces in uninterrupted battles, they inevitably caused losses to the Germans themselves. After the capture of Smolensk, the Germans moved their troops to Leningrad and Kiev. Despite the great success, there were some serious hidden dangers at that time.
As far as the battle of Leningrad is concerned, the northern army group was mired in the quagmire and failed to capture Leningrad in time, which led to the German army wasting its military power for no reason. Most importantly, most of the entire northern army group was pinned down in the direction of Leningrad. Although the battle of Kiev destroyed the Soviet effective forces, the losses of the Germans themselves were not light, especially the losses of technical weapons and army fighters, which were very unfavorable to the subsequent battle of Moscow.
The troops that attacked Moscow were the second, fourth and ninety-third German army groups, the second, third and fourth armored clusters and the second air force. The total force is over one million, 1.700 tanks, 1.400 guns, and the number of aircraft is even less. Although the Second Air Force is nominally strong, now they only have 549 planes available, because other planes are either repaired in the rear or damaged.
To make matters worse, there are insufficient fighters and logistics in the army. The number of fighters in each unit has dropped seriously, and each company has only about 50 fighters on average, which seriously compromises the offensive ability of each unit. On the other hand, Germany has not entered a state of full mobilization, and there are loopholes in the replenishment of the front line, which is even worse with the poor traffic environment in the Soviet Union. In addition, the long traffic lines also need German protection to avoid being destroyed by Soviet guerrillas, which makes the situation even worse.
From this point of view, the Germans are actually unable to capture Moscow, so there is really no way to capture Moscow?
How do you think to conquer Moscow?
In fact, as far as 194 1 is concerned, the Germans failed to capture Moscow. At this time, the situation of the Germans is better than that of the Soviet army, but it is also limited. Although the Germans have won successively, the front is getting farther and farther, the troops are too scattered, and it is difficult to transport in the rear. On the other hand, Soviet troops are fighting on interior lines. According to the favorable policy of the interior, the Soviet army can mobilize troops and supply troops faster than the German army. At this time, the Soviets can launch a powerful attack, and after gathering their troops, they will respond to the German attacks one by one.
A typical example is the battle of Moza isco defense. Zhukov deployed rokossovsky's 16 Army in Volokoramsk, Leryushenko's Fifth Army in Moza isco, Golubev's 43rd Army in Roslavets, Xiaoya, and Lieutenant General Zakharkin's 49th Army in Kaluga. In this way, he can effectively delay the German attack. This deployment is very effective. The defensive war went from 10 in October to 10 in October, and continued until 10 on October 30th, when the actual strength of the four group armies was only 90,000, and it continued to/kloc-0.
Obviously, it is not a good thing to take the initiative to attack Moscow. But that doesn't mean that the Germans can't conquer it. The correct way is to gain a foothold in Viarima-Jakov-orel area, build fortifications, shorten their own logistics distance, and instead pull the Soviet troops with poor mobility and transportation capacity to the offensive position. The Soviets will never sit idly by and confront the Germans, because at this time, this area will become the bridgehead for the Germans to threaten Moscow. If we can't win, the situation of the Soviets will be even worse.
On the other hand, although the Soviet army is expanding wildly at this time, as a country with a large population and a vast territory, the human resources of the Soviet army are very strong. Although the Germans can be consumed by the constant output of troops, the training of soldiers takes three months, even the most ordinary infantry. If we are forced to keep attacking, then this strategy of bone marrow hematopoiesis is meaningless.
The Germans just need to stay quietly in the defense line and wait for the Soviet attack. At this time, it has reached the edge of winter, and the Soviet army is unable to launch a large-scale attack. They lack technical equipment and vehicles, and launching an attack is tantamount to suicide. Even with such courage, the cold winter, muddy roads and poor supplies will turn this attack into a complete suicide. The Soviet army's own ability and poor logistics will put them in a very terrible situation. The Germans just need to wait and kill the Soviet army.
At the same time, the Germans can seize the opportunity to concentrate on taking Leningrad and the transportation hub of the Soviet Union, thus ensuring the enhancement and stability of their own transportation capacity. Once Leningrad is captured, the Germans can threaten Moscow from another direction, because Leningrad, which is holding back the northern army group, no longer exists. The whole northern army group can now attack the Soviet Union with its hands and feet open. Once the situation dragged on to the summer of 1942, the Germans had been supplemented and could launch a powerful attack on Moscow, which was geographically unsuitable for defense, thus completely ending the Soviet Union's fighting on European soil.
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Fortunately, this is just a hypothesis, a guess. In fact, the Germans did not do this, but put all their eggs in one basket, unrealistically hoping to win Moscow before winter comes. The fanatical Nazi Germany ignored the actual situation they faced and failed to make a correct judgment. If they calm down and carry out a more pragmatic and practical strategic plan, the outcome of the Soviet-German war is still unknown.