On October 2, 1941, the German Army Group "Center" began the main phase of Operation "Typhoon" - the offensive towards Moscow. The goal was to encircle and destroy the Soviet troops west of the capital before the autumn rains and winter turned the roads into mud fields. The first strike on the southern flank of the Soviet defense was delivered on September 30 in the direction of Orel and Bryansk, but on October 2, the general offensive of the German forces towards Vyazma and Moscow began.
The German command concentrated tank and motorized formations north and south of the Soviet positions. Breakthroughs were achieved on the flanks of the Western Front, while the Soviet command expected the main blow to pass along the Smolensk-Vyazma direction. Thus, the German columns began to close the ring around four armies - the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd.
Vyazma becomes a trap
The Vyazma defensive operation of the Western and Reserve Fronts lasted from October 2 to 13, 1941. Part of the Soviet troops were cut off from their main forces, but continued to fight in the encirclement. This forced the Germans to allocate significant forces to the liquidation of the so-called. Vyazemsky Cauldron.
According to the Smolensk State Museum-Reserve, the encircled units paralyzed the actions of 28 German divisions, 14 of which could not immediately join the continuation of the offensive towards Moscow. It was this delay that gave the Soviet command time to organize the defense along the Mozhaisk Line west of the capital.
The cost to the Red Army was enormous. The four armies suffered heavy losses, many soldiers were taken prisoner, and the exact number of those killed and those who managed to escape remains the subject of different historical estimates. The Smolensk Museum lists 663,000 captured Soviet soldiers, but notes that the exact number of dead is unknown.
The plan for a quick victory fails
After the fall of Kiev, the German leadership believed that the Soviet resistance was on the verge of collapse. According to the historical review of History.com, Adolf Hitler declared: “The enemy is defeated and will never be able to rise again.“ The assessment turned out to be premature - the Soviet troops continued to resist, and the German army moved away from its supply bases.
On October 10, Georgy Zhukov took command of the combined Western and Reserve Fronts. In the following weeks, the Germans came dangerously close to Moscow, but failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough. Fuel shortages, poor roads, autumn mud, and the onset of cold weather slowed the advance. In early December, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and pushed the German forces away from the capital.
The Vyazma operation remains both a symbol of the heavy defeat of the Soviet army and of the time gained at the cost of enormous casualties. Germany managed to break through the front, but failed to turn the breakthrough into victory. Moscow remained out of reach of the “Typhoon“, and the battle for the capital became the first major strategic setback of the German offensive on the Eastern Front.
Sources: History.com