This early 1940s black and white propaganda film of Soviet war footage, “Defenders of Moscow” opens with a shot of a downed German plane (:11). Men and women use sledge hammers and shovels to strengthen the Moscow defensive earthworks (:13-:43). With the men fighting, women make shells in an ammunition factory (:44-1:30). They also make skis for the soldiers (1:32-2:03). Men in a munitions factory assemble the Tommy guns / machineguns and Kalashnikovs and AK-47s carried by ski troops (2:05-2:48). Tanks are made in another factory (2:50-3:48). The first armored train, painted white for camouflage, is completed and shown traveling through the snowy countryside (3:50-5:03). A far away view of the front line of soldiers defending Moscow zooms in on a group listening to a soldier read a speech by Stalin in Red Square on November 7, 1941 (5:06-5:54). Military commanders for the first Soviet Cavalry Guard disembark from their horses for a discussion (5:56-6:32). The snow-covered forest is panned until we see soldiers and camouflaged Howitzer cannons firing (6:33-7:10), after which the cavalry forces with raised swords charge forward (7:11-7:52), followed by soldiers on foot (7:53-8:06). The victory of damaged buildings, vehicles, and dead soldiers are shown (8:07-8:30). Individual soldiers and civilians are rewarded for heroism with medals (8:36-9:35). A Tupolev Tu-2 bomber is loaded with bombs and ammunition before it and others take off in a snowstorm (9:38-11:05). Multiple bombers drop bombs on Nazi tanks, spotted due to their tracks in the snow, before searching for more (11:06-12:12). Major General Rokossovsky makes plans from horseback to retake a village from the Germans (12:16-12:33). The Soviet soldiers wait within the trees (12:35-12:42) and a barbed wire obstacle is shown, blocking their way (12:44). The soldiers scramble to their camouflaged tanks and take off, busting through the barbed wire obstacles, and a tank confrontation occurs before the village is retaken (12:45-14:13). Success is again shown through damaged buildings, vehicles, and dead soldiers (14:16-14:52). Nazi prisoners are marched up a hill and shown shivering (14:54-16:05). Various views of Moscow are shown (16:06-16:30), and it closes with a poster encouraging citizens to never give up Moscow (16:33-16:38).
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a 600 km (370 mi) sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler’s attack on Moscow, the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Soviet Union’s largest city. Moscow was one of the primary military and political objectives for Axis forces in their invasion of the Soviet Union.
The German strategic offensive, named Operation Typhoon called for two pincer offensives, one to the north of Moscow against the Kalinin Front by the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies, simultaneously severing the Moscow–Leningrad railway, and another to the south of Moscow Oblast against the Western Front south of Tula, by the 2nd Panzer Army, while the 4th Army advanced directly towards Moscow from the west. According to Andrew Roberts, Hitler’s offensive towards the Soviet capital was nothing less than an ‘all-out attack’: “It is no exaggeration to state that the outcome of the Second World War hung in the balance during this massive attack”.
Initially, the Soviet forces conducted a strategic defence of the Moscow Oblast by constructing three defensive belts, deploying newly raised reserve armies, and bringing troops from the Siberian and Far Eastern Military Districts. As the German offensives were halted, a Soviet strategic counter-offensive and smaller-scale offensive operations forced the German armies back to the positions around the cities of Oryol, Vyazma and Vitebsk, and nearly surrounded three German armies. It was a major setback for the Germans, the end of the idea of a fast German victory in the USSR. Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch was excused as commander of OKH, with Hitler appointing himself as Germany’s supreme military commander.
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