The Battle for Moscow

A major new account of Germany's drive on Moscow in November 1941, one of the key battles of World War II.

David Stahel (Author)

9781107087606, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 January 2015

480 pages, 25 b/w illus. 18 maps 3 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.86 kg

'The Battle for Moscow establishes David Stahel alongside Robert Citino as the leading historians of the German Army and the war in the east. This is a superbly argued and crisply presented account of German operational warfare that exposes the strategic bankruptcy of 'Hitler's generals' and lays bare the dire effects of a Nazi 'ethos' on Wehrmacht operations in the east.' Edward Westermann, The Journal of Modern History

In November 1941 Hitler ordered German forces to complete the final drive on the Soviet capital, now less than 100 kilometres away. Army Group Centre was pressed into the attack for one last attempt to break Soviet resistance before the onset of winter. From the German perspective the final drive on Moscow had all the ingredients of a dramatic final battle in the east, which, according to previous accounts, only failed at the gates of Moscow. David Stahel challenges this well-established narrative by demonstrating that the last German offensive of 1941 was a forlorn effort, undermined by operational weakness and poor logistics and driven forward by what he identifies as National Socialist military thinking. With unparalleled research from previously undocumented army files and soldiers' letters, Stahel takes a fresh look at the battle for Moscow, which even before the Soviet winter offensive, threatened disaster for Germany's war in the east.

1. Parallel wars
2. The stalled offensive
3. Preparing the final showdown
4. The Orsha conference
5. Typhoon re-launched
6. The long road to Moscow
7. Victory at any price
8. The frozen offensive
9. Down to the wire
10. To the gates of Moscow
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]