Hello and thank you for listening to the history of World War II podcast episode 482 Stalin's

dreams almost come true. Last time on December 5th, Stalin launched his counterattack around Moscow, which just

happened to dovetail nicely with Operation Typhoon grinding to a halt.

And it's not like the Panzer armies wanted to stop, but as they were low on everything from spare parts to winter clothing, they had little choice. So went over to a defensive stance. The question now was, were they as good at defense as they were offense?

And at first, with the limited success of the Soviet 29th Army on December 5th, pushing back against the

German 9th Army some 6 miles to the north of Moscow, the answer seemed to be yes.

On the other hand hand that limited success after so many defeats

was enough for Stalin who would order Jukov to activate the other forces to the

north and south of Moscow. And Marshall Zukoff would order the other armies

to engage, but he also tried to temper Stalin's expectations. Why? Because the Russians weren't ready for an all-out offensive. An example for this was given on the second day of the offensive, December 6th. Yes, the Soviet 29th Army had done well its first day, but then became stalled.

The Germans had been caught off guard, but rallied quickly, making the Soviets pay dearly

for their advance.

Proving Zucov's point, though,

the Soviet 31st Army joined the frustrated 29th Army,

but little new territory was gained.

Still, the enemy had been engaged which Stalin wanted and the men of

those two Soviet armies saw more enemy corpses than ever before. Of course to rack up such enemy casualties, the Soviets had to sacrifice many

more of their own, but Stalin was willing to pay that price. But again, as Jukoff kept reminding his master, the Germans were being pushed back, not destroyed, and they would not be destroyed anytime soon.

Yet the larger picture must be remembered. The German 9th

Army was more or less holding for the moment on that December 6th, but this allowed the Soviet 30th Army, attacking just to the northeast of

Clint and northeast of the Soviet counterattack, to advance some 12 kilometers against Hanser Group 3.

And Von Bach, Army Group Centres Commander, could do little about it.

...