Just something on the battle of Moscow 1941 from Robert Forczyk " Moscow 1941 "

At the start of Typhoon, the Reserve of the Supreme High Command ( RVGK) was virtually depleted, since three new armies has just been formed on the Volkhov Front near Leningrad and many other divisions were sent to Ukraine to rebuild the shattered Southern Front.At the start of October 1941, Stalin and Stavka felt that Moscow was well protected and kept few regular units actually near the capital. However once the front fell apart in a matter of days, the Stavka had to scramble to find stable reinforcements that would not merely join the stampede to the rear.

Zhukov arrived in Moscow at dusk on 7 October and met with Stalin. The mood was grim. Stalin said " ..just like Pavlov at the beginning of war, Konev has opened up the front to the enemy".

By 15 October, when AGC finally had sufficient forces to begin its assault on the Volokolamsk-Mozhaisk-Maloyaroslavets fortified areas, Zhukov had been able to assemble elements of 18 rifle divisions and 11 tank brigades along the 50 km front- an amazing achievement in only five days. However, most of these units were either decimated remnants or partly equipped and their actual combat strength was only about 90,000.

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