"They did not calculate the strength of our resistance": 80 years ago the Germans moved in Moscow's direction

Sergey Baimukhametov

On October 12, Hitler gave an order in which he forbade accepting the surrender of our capital. The city was supposed to be destroyed, flooded, and a monument with the inscription "Es war Moskau" - "Here was Moscow" to be erected over the desert waters.

It should be noted that the attack on the USSR was planned in May. But in April an anti-Hitler uprising broke out in Yugoslavia, the situation of Mussolini in Greece became complicated - and Hitler had to adjust his plans, start, albeit a short-term, military operation in the Balkans. Thus, the eastern campaign was postponed for a month. The autumn thaw and winter with frosts, unusual for the Germans, made it difficult to start a swift offensive. Now it is scary to imagine what could have happened if the Wehrmacht divisions appeared near Moscow not in October, but in early September.

Nevertheless, the onslaught of the Nazis was so rapid, and the panic and confusion in the Soviet military leadership such that in early October 1941 Moscow was completely open from the western and southwestern directions.

In the book "Memories and Reflections" Marshal Zhukov wrote:

“The Bryansk front was cut. By the end of October 6, a significant part of the troops of the Western and Reserve fronts was surrounded west of Vyazma ... gaping gaps formed, which there was nothing to close, since there were no reserves left in the hands of the command . By the end of October 7, all roads to Moscow were essentially open". (Emphasis added. - S. B.)

During these terrible days, Moscow was closed only by three divisions - the 312th under the command of Colonel Naumov, formed in Aktyubinsk (Kazakhstan), the 316th under the command of General Panfilov, formed in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), and the 32nd Far East under the command of Colonel Polosukhina.

Three divisions with a total number of just over 30 thousand soldiers and officers.

Three divisions against Army Group Center.

The 1939 field regulations of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army determined:

"On a normal front, a rifle division can successfully defend a zone 8 to 12 km wide along the front".

Each of these three divisions held a defensive line of 40-60 kilometers.

How, how? In their own way, using pinpoint defense, partisan methods that do not fit into the minds of German generals. Thus, the commander of the 4th Panzer Group, Colonel-General Göpner, recalled the battles against the Panfilovites: "A wild division, fighting in violation of all regulations and rules of conduct of a battle, whose soldiers do not surrender, are extremely fanatical and are not afraid of death".

From conversations between Marshal Zhukov and the writer Konstantin Simonov:

“The main directions are Volokolamskoye, Mozhaiskoye, Maloyaroslavetskoye ... All the moments were dangerous. But the most dangerous moment, I believe, is the period from October 6 to 13, when the Mozhaisk line of defense did not represent a reliable defense. This was, I think, the most crucial moment when the enemy had the opportunity to reach Moscow without any special obstacles".

In the Mozhaisk direction, the 32nd division under the command of Colonel Polosukhin fought against the 40th motorized corps, which had 400 tanks, the SS Reich division, the 10th tank and 7th infantry divisions with a total number of over 50 thousand soldiers. From the air, the Nazis were supported by the aviation corps.

In the Maloyaroslavets direction, the 312th division of Colonel Naumov held a front 60 kilometers long, repelling the attacks of the 12th army and 57th motorized corps of the enemy.

Unfortunately, the exploits of the 32nd Far Eastern and 312th Aktobe divisions were not reflected in the military literature and the press as widely as the heroic actions of the 316th division. The German historian Paul Karel wrote about the battles near Maloyaroslavets in his book "Hitler Goes East": “At Detchino, the Germans had to fight their way through cleverly arranged defensive positions from lines of pillboxes lined up in deep echelons. These positions were defended by Mongol (? - SB) and Siberian divisions. These people did not surrender ... A fierce battle raged for five days. The German battalions suffered heavy losses ... Every centimeter of territory had to be conquered in bloody hand-to-hand combat".

In the Volokolamsk direction, the 316th division fought with four Nazi divisions - three infantry and one tank.

On October 12, by the beginning of the fighting in the Mozhaisk direction, the 32nd division consisted of 10,023 ordinary fighters. By October 27, 2,108 soldiers remained.

On October 12, by the beginning of the battles in the Maloyaroslavets direction, the 312th division numbered 11,347 people. After ten days of fighting, by October 22, 1096 people remained in it.

These three divisions held out, losing almost all of their personnel, but giving time to bring up reserves to Moscow.

Meanwhile, on October 15, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution "On the evacuation of the capital of the USSR, Moscow".

“In view of the unfavorable situation in the area of the Mozhaisk defensive line, the State Defense Committee decided:

1. Instruct Comrade Molotov to tell the foreign missions that they should evacuate to Kuibyshev today (NKPS - Comrade Kaganovich ensures the timely delivery of trains for the missions, and the NKVD - Comrade Beria organizes their protection.)
2. Today, evacuate the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as well as the Government headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Comrade Molotov (Comrade Stalin will be evacuated tomorrow or later, depending on the situation).
3. To evacuate immediately to the organs of the People's Commissariat of Defense in the city of Kuibyshev, and the main group of the General Staff to Arzamas.
4. In the event that enemy troops appear at the gates of Moscow, instruct the NKVD - Comrade Beria and Comrade Shcherbakov to blow up enterprises, warehouses and institutions that cannot be evacuated, as well as all the electrical equipment of the metro (excluding water supply and sewerage).

Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the USSR

I. STALIN"

Moscow was already filled with rumors about the surrender of the capital to the Germans. When the metro and factories did not open in the morning on October 16, and trams and trolleybuses stopped in the afternoon, panic seized the city. In the organizations, documents were burned, a general flight began, the party and Soviet nomenklatura left in cars, the common people stormed the trains. Marauders looted shops and warehouses. From the reports of the Moscow administration of the NKVD on October 18:

“A group of workers at plant No. 219 attacked vehicles driving along the Entuziastov highway. They dumped 6 cars into the ravine and plundered the belongings of those who rode in them ... The workers of the sausage plant of the Moscow Mikoyan meat-packing plant on October 16 plundered about 5 tons of meat products ... The workers of the Tochizmeritel plant attacked the cars loaded with personal belongings of the workers of the People's Commissariat aviation industry, and looted them ... Director of the factory "Rot-Front" Buzanov allowed to give out cookies and sweets to the workers. A massive fight broke out between the drunken workers in the process of dividing the products ... A crowd of workers at the ZIS automobile plant demanded to let them into the territory of the enterprise and immediately give them their wages. "

On October 19, a state of siege was declared in Moscow. Marauders and alarmists were shot on the spot.

The panic stopped, life entered the usual channel of the front-line city.

On November 7, the famous military parade took place on Red Square, the participants of which marched to the close front line of the front.

From conversations between Marshal Zhukov and the writer Konstantin Simonov:

“The last German offensive began on November 15-16... On the main Volokolamsk-Nara axis, they had 25-27 divisions on their left flank ... But during the battles, their forces were at their limit. And when they had already approached the canal, to Kryukov, it became clear that they had not calculated. They walked on their last breath. They approached, but not a single division was in reserve.... In order to win the battle, they still needed to have 10-12 divisions in the second echelon in the direction of the main attack... Then they could break through to Moscow. But they didn't have that. They have already spent everything they had, because they did not calculate the strength of our resistance". (Emphasis added. - S. B.)

At Kryukov, 30 kilometers from Moscow, the 19th Guards Regiment under the command of Senior Lieutenant Baurdzhan Momysh-uly, 316th Infantry Division, held the defenses. 350 soldiers of the Moscow militia came to reinforce him. In the literature about the war, an episode is more or less widely known when Baurjan Momysh-uly cut off a part of the map and ordered it to be burned, saying: "We will no longer need to navigate and study the area east of Kryukov".

In those months, only 450 thousand Muscovites went to the construction of fortifications. Two thirds of them are women.

Their husbands and children went into the militia.

We won a victory in retreat, in defense. At the cost of huge sacrifices. For 20 days of defensive battles from November 16 to December 5, Hitler's troops lost 145 thousand people killed near Moscow, about 800 tanks, 300 guns and up to 1,500 aircraft.

Our losses were much more significant - 514,338 soldiers and officers of the regular army alone. Apart from the people's militia. The losses there were catastrophic, continuous. And because the rank and file were untrained, and because there was not enough weapons. Militia Anatoly Chernyaev, Assistant to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev said: “In the first attacks, the soldiers went about without weapons at all. The calculation was simple: either you take it from our murdered man, or you take it away from the German. "

Moscow sent 16 divisions of the people's militia to the front.

On December 5, 1941, our troops launched an offensive.

During the strategic scale of the Moscow battle, within the time frame from September 30, 1941 to April 20, 1942, the Red Army lost 937 thousand soldiers and officers, the Hitlerite Wehrmacht - 500 thousand.

There were still three years of war ahead.