Report That Red Army Reserves Were Totally Exhausted
Despite such clear warning signs of an inability to compete in a protracted industrial war, solace was taken by Hitler and the OKW from a spectacularly erroneous Abwehr report of December 4, 1941, asserting that Red Army reserves were totally exhausted and therefore that the Soviets were incapable of launching any significant military operation.
The first blow of an exquisitely timed Soviet counteroffensive that ended the BARBAROSSA campaign fell northwest of Moscow the very next day, with a thunderclap of shock on the German side. General Ivan S. Konev struck hard into Army Group Center with Kalinin Front.