And how will it work in HOI4 ?
This thread has two parts. First, whether Germany could have taken Moscow. Second, whether the fall of Moscow means the USSR comes to the negotiating table or keeps on fighting.
The German Army had two heads, the OKW, led by Hitler himself which was the high command of the armed forces, and the OKH or high command of the Army, presided by Franz Halder. This dual structure would have fatal consequences for the Reich later on the war effort. Both men could not be more different than the other. One came from a poor background, was a foreigner and had limited strategic knowledge of military affairs. The other was a product of the prestigious prussian high command of the old guard and defended the interests of the Army with a cold and astute logic. Very sober and professorial in both manners and appearance, Hitler once referred to Halder as the "chronic know-it-all".
Halder ordered three separate military studies of how to invade the USSR. After analyzing the research, he concluded that Moscow had to be the main objective of the Wehrmacht. Him and many in the chief of staff believed that the capture of the capital not only would deny the Soviets the seat of their goverment but also an important center of armament industries and communications. In his opinion, only the real threat of losing Moscow would drive the Soviets to concentrate most their forces around it, giving Germany the opportunity to encircle and destroy them.
But for many reasons, Hitler was very interested in the flanks of the USSR towards Leningrad and to Ukraine and beyond. In the north lay the vital baltic ports and the craddle of bolshevism and in the south the granary of the USSR and the Donetz basin, rich in resources. Hitler even told his generals that the capture of the Soviet capital ''is not that important''. He cited, after all, that the Napoleonic campaign in Russia launched only 120+ years before him had failed in Moscow. He boasted that "only completely old brains, stuck in ideas of the last century, could have any interest in taking the capital".
Fuhrer Directive 21, also called Operation Barbarossa, meant that the Wehrmacht would launch three simultaneous axis of attack headed toward Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. However, Moscow was a secondary objective. When Army Group Center reached their first main objective, Smolensk, two thirds of the way to Moscow from the german border, they would stop and send their panzers to the north and south. Only after the flank regions were secured, the offensive against Moscow could start again.
The Wehrmacht captured Smolensk 24 days after Barbarossa began in June, on the 16 of July. It was a fast and deep penetration of almost 750 km from the german border into the soviet heartlands. And exactly one month after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht attacked for the first time Moscow, by air, deploying the Luftwaffe. It was due to Hitler's calling that the Soviet capital be razed to the ground. For this mission, high command sent to the frontlines 127 bombers with 104 tonnes of highly explosive bombs and 46,000 incendiary bombs.
While Hitler was thrilled that his armored panzer spearheads were almost 800 km deep within the USSR, the further they advanced, the more uneasy he became. He was extremely worried about his flanks and was scared that the long gaps that were opened between the panzers and the infantry - in some sectors of Army Group Center they were as big as 160 km wide! - would be the end of the encirclement maneuvers performed by his forces. In light of this, he signed Fuhrer Directive 33 on the 19 of July and four days later, a complementary Directive 33A. In them, he called for the bombing of Moscow and a complete halt to the land offensive over the Soviet capital. The rush for Moscow, was essentially over. It wasn't a complete surprise for many as the original plan called for a temporary halt to the operations of Army Group Center on the way to Moscow. But until then, Halder and the rest of the german high command wrongly believed that once the time came, they would be able to convince the Fuhrer otherwise to abandon this idea. It was a gross miscalculation.
To be continued later...
The moment had finally arrived. Army Group Center reached Smolensk on the 16th of July, their first main objective in Barbarossa. Panzer Group 3 led by Hoth headed to the north of the city and then turned to the right in an attempt to encircle the soviet armies around the city. Panzer Group 2 led by Guderian was supposed to head north too and then turn left to link up with Hoth and complete the encirclement. However, he was fixated on an advance over Moscow and instead headed north to Yelnia, the highlands before the capital. This gap meant that about 100,000 soviet troops managed to escape the trap. Hitler, who was updated continously on the breach, was furious and this had great weight in his decision to put a brake on the offensive against Moscow. He scolded Fedor Von Bock, head of Army Group Centre by phone and sent Keitel to his headquarters on the Eastern Front to make sure the encirclement was executed. Still, by the time Hoth closed the ring on Smolensk on the 26th of July, 310,000 communist soldiers were taken prisoners and 3205 tanks and 3120 artillery pieces were captured: the results impressed even the Fuhrer.
Now, the classic debate of "Moscow in the center or Leningrad and Ukraine in the flanks" was started again between Hitler and Halder. The general wrote "the constant interferences of the Fuhrer are becoming a permanent annoyance. Once again he is playing as Lord of War and bothering us with absurd ideas". Still, Halder agreed in part with Hitler's position. He recognized that the flanks of AGC had to be secured and even recommended to Hitler that the panzer spearheads stop to let the infantry catch up to them. However, he believed that Hitler's idea to send the panzers of the center to the north and southern flanks was a disaster of a plan. His many protests finally managed to convince the Fuhrer on the 28th of July to postpone the deployment of the panzers to the flanks but Hitler still mantained AGC on standby on the road to Moscow.
To be continued later...
This thread has two parts. First, whether Germany could have taken Moscow. Second, whether the fall of Moscow means the USSR comes to the negotiating table or keeps on fighting.
The German Army had two heads, the OKW, led by Hitler himself which was the high command of the armed forces, and the OKH or high command of the Army, presided by Franz Halder. This dual structure would have fatal consequences for the Reich later on the war effort. Both men could not be more different than the other. One came from a poor background, was a foreigner and had limited strategic knowledge of military affairs. The other was a product of the prestigious prussian high command of the old guard and defended the interests of the Army with a cold and astute logic. Very sober and professorial in both manners and appearance, Hitler once referred to Halder as the "chronic know-it-all".
Halder ordered three separate military studies of how to invade the USSR. After analyzing the research, he concluded that Moscow had to be the main objective of the Wehrmacht. Him and many in the chief of staff believed that the capture of the capital not only would deny the Soviets the seat of their goverment but also an important center of armament industries and communications. In his opinion, only the real threat of losing Moscow would drive the Soviets to concentrate most their forces around it, giving Germany the opportunity to encircle and destroy them.
But for many reasons, Hitler was very interested in the flanks of the USSR towards Leningrad and to Ukraine and beyond. In the north lay the vital baltic ports and the craddle of bolshevism and in the south the granary of the USSR and the Donetz basin, rich in resources. Hitler even told his generals that the capture of the Soviet capital ''is not that important''. He cited, after all, that the Napoleonic campaign in Russia launched only 120+ years before him had failed in Moscow. He boasted that "only completely old brains, stuck in ideas of the last century, could have any interest in taking the capital".
Fuhrer Directive 21, also called Operation Barbarossa, meant that the Wehrmacht would launch three simultaneous axis of attack headed toward Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. However, Moscow was a secondary objective. When Army Group Center reached their first main objective, Smolensk, two thirds of the way to Moscow from the german border, they would stop and send their panzers to the north and south. Only after the flank regions were secured, the offensive against Moscow could start again.
The Wehrmacht captured Smolensk 24 days after Barbarossa began in June, on the 16 of July. It was a fast and deep penetration of almost 750 km from the german border into the soviet heartlands. And exactly one month after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht attacked for the first time Moscow, by air, deploying the Luftwaffe. It was due to Hitler's calling that the Soviet capital be razed to the ground. For this mission, high command sent to the frontlines 127 bombers with 104 tonnes of highly explosive bombs and 46,000 incendiary bombs.
While Hitler was thrilled that his armored panzer spearheads were almost 800 km deep within the USSR, the further they advanced, the more uneasy he became. He was extremely worried about his flanks and was scared that the long gaps that were opened between the panzers and the infantry - in some sectors of Army Group Center they were as big as 160 km wide! - would be the end of the encirclement maneuvers performed by his forces. In light of this, he signed Fuhrer Directive 33 on the 19 of July and four days later, a complementary Directive 33A. In them, he called for the bombing of Moscow and a complete halt to the land offensive over the Soviet capital. The rush for Moscow, was essentially over. It wasn't a complete surprise for many as the original plan called for a temporary halt to the operations of Army Group Center on the way to Moscow. But until then, Halder and the rest of the german high command wrongly believed that once the time came, they would be able to convince the Fuhrer otherwise to abandon this idea. It was a gross miscalculation.
To be continued later...
The moment had finally arrived. Army Group Center reached Smolensk on the 16th of July, their first main objective in Barbarossa. Panzer Group 3 led by Hoth headed to the north of the city and then turned to the right in an attempt to encircle the soviet armies around the city. Panzer Group 2 led by Guderian was supposed to head north too and then turn left to link up with Hoth and complete the encirclement. However, he was fixated on an advance over Moscow and instead headed north to Yelnia, the highlands before the capital. This gap meant that about 100,000 soviet troops managed to escape the trap. Hitler, who was updated continously on the breach, was furious and this had great weight in his decision to put a brake on the offensive against Moscow. He scolded Fedor Von Bock, head of Army Group Centre by phone and sent Keitel to his headquarters on the Eastern Front to make sure the encirclement was executed. Still, by the time Hoth closed the ring on Smolensk on the 26th of July, 310,000 communist soldiers were taken prisoners and 3205 tanks and 3120 artillery pieces were captured: the results impressed even the Fuhrer.
Now, the classic debate of "Moscow in the center or Leningrad and Ukraine in the flanks" was started again between Hitler and Halder. The general wrote "the constant interferences of the Fuhrer are becoming a permanent annoyance. Once again he is playing as Lord of War and bothering us with absurd ideas". Still, Halder agreed in part with Hitler's position. He recognized that the flanks of AGC had to be secured and even recommended to Hitler that the panzer spearheads stop to let the infantry catch up to them. However, he believed that Hitler's idea to send the panzers of the center to the north and southern flanks was a disaster of a plan. His many protests finally managed to convince the Fuhrer on the 28th of July to postpone the deployment of the panzers to the flanks but Hitler still mantained AGC on standby on the road to Moscow.
To be continued later...
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