October 1941

Eastern Front

As the temperature in the central region dropped and incessant rain falls, tanks of the LVI Panzer Corps moving from the north link up near Vyazma with elements of the XLVI and XL Panzer Corps pushing up from Spas Demensk. The Germans put up blocking positions to prevent the break out of Soviet forces. Inside the tenuous pocket, the 19th and 20th Armies pull back in relatively good order, but the 24th Army is partially encircled and destroyed in heavy fighting northeast of Elnya. The Germans have effectively trapped the 16th, 20th and 24th Armies and part of the 32nd Army west of Vyazma.

There is heavy fighting near Kamenevo as the I Guards Rifle Corps attacks the XXIV Panzer Corps. The 18th Panzer Division links up with elements of the 2nd Army near Zhizdra, isolating the 3rd and 13th Armies south of Bryansk and the 50th Army to the north.

Having returned from Leningrad, Zhukov is appointed to command the defense of the Soviet capital. As he takes command, he finds the West and Reserve Fronts out of touch with Moscow and therefore sets out to discover the true picture.

The South Front tries to break out of its encirclement to the east. Repeated attacks fail to punch a hole through the German line, the 1st Panzer and 11th Armies exacting a terrible price on the Red Army divisions. Manstein's 11th pushes the XLIX Mountain Corps along the coast, linking up with Kleist at Osipenko and denying the Soviet forces access to the sea. At this point the 11th Army hand operational control of the XLIX Mountain Corps to the 1st Panzer Army and brings the XXX Corps back to the Ishun defenses, in preparation for the offensive into the Crimea. The XXX will support the attack by the weakened LIV Corps. The XXX Corps has at its disposal the 22nd, 72nd and 170th Infantry Divisions while the LIV Corps has the 46th, 73rd and 50th Infantry Divisions.

Yet again the Red Army had been outmaneuvered by the Ostheer and was reduced to fighting desperate battles in encirclement. In the center and south, the Wehrmacht had sliced away huge portions of the Soviet field armies with impunity. However, while the Soviets had stood hundreds of miles west of Moscow, they had had the opportunity to throw new armies into the field, before the Germans could resume their puch east. Now, with Moscow scant miles to the rear, the Stavka was faced with the prospect of defending the capital with a decimated force. Only skill and tenacity, and a little help from the weather, would keep total defeat at bay.