On the best day with great weather conditions any soldier would still describe war as hell. But there were no words to describe the misery faced by those who fought along the Eastern Front during World War II.

The most infamous of those battles would occur between October 1941 and January 1942. It would be known as the Battle of Moscow. From the beginning of the war, Adolph Hitler would consider Moscow to be the primary military and political objective for the Eastern Theatre.

The original plan, Operation Barbarossa, had called for the capture of Moscow within thee or four months. By the time they retreated, the German forces were wishing they had never entered the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the conflict, the blitzkrieg could do no wrong. They were moving toward Moscow so fast, that russian soldiers would leave tanks and supplies behing to escape the German onslaught. Before they were stopped, the germans had come to within
75 miles of the capital. But what the Russian soldiers were not able to do, the winter weather of Russia was able to accomplish.

By early December, the lead German Panzer groups were within 30 miles of the Kremlin. Trying to move forward, they were soon hampered by exhaustion and the freezing cold. On December 5th, 1941, fresh siberian soldiers trained for winter warfare hit the German forces and by January had driven them back 150 miles. It has been reported that the casulaties from this one offensive could number as many as one million dead or wounded.

Certainly this was one of the bloodiest and most intently fought battles within the Eastern Front, if not the entire span of World
War II. And the most powerful weapon used was the cold weather of a Russian winter.

Learn more about this author, C. A. Pruit.
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