The Defense of Moscow 1941

The little-known story of the Battle of Kalinin on the eastern front, and how it shaped the course of WWII—based on archival records from both sides.   There was only one point in the Second World War when Nazi Germany had a chance of winning. That point was October 1941, when most of the Red Army's forces before Moscow had been smashed or encircled, and no reserves were available to defend the capital. All that stood in Hitler's way were a handful of Soviet rifle divisions, tank brigades, and hastily assembled militia.   According to German accounts, their spearheads were stopped by the mud—but a close examination of German records shows this was not so. Instead, it is clear that it was the resistance of the Red Army, and bad, arrogant planning, that halted the Wehrmacht. This is the dramatic story that Jack Radey and Charles Sharp tell in this compelling study of a previously unknown part of the Battle of Moscow. Using archival records from both sides, they reveal how the Soviets inflicted a stunning defeat on a German plan to encircle six Soviet armies in the middle of October 1941.