8 Most Brutal World War II Battles

3. Battle Of Moscow

This proved to be critical on the Eastern Front. It looked, for a few weeks at least, like the Germans would overrun the Russian capital and the Soviet Union would capitulate. If this had happened, very few would have doubted that the Germans would have gone on to win the war. But multiple factors, such as poor supply lines, the notorious Russian winter, and determined and ferocious Russian fighting led to the famous Battle of Moscow. Codenamed 'Operation Typhoon' by the Nazis, the battle began on the 2nd October 1941. Starting off in ironically clear weather conditions, one million soldiers advanced towards the city, and its collection of 500,000 toughened and patriotic Soviet soldiers. Initially, advances were rapid and yet more Russians were killed or taken prisoner, but as November and December turned colder and the ground, men and horses froze, it became clear that this battle would be the hardest yet for the Germans. The Russians held out, and the civilians of the city built anti-tank traps, trenches and other defences should the Germans get into the city streets, as was feared. But the Wehrmahct ran out of steam at just the wrong time, and, on 5th December in temperatures of -20 F, the Soviet Union launched a counter-attack with fresh troops bought from the Siberian regions and used to winter warfare, and the Germans were pushed back almost 155 miles from the capital. In this battle, it was the Russians who had huge losses to show for their heroic defensive effort. Between 650,000 and 1.2 million Russian soldiers and civilians were lost, but the figure could be significantly higher due to the effects of winter and war. On the German side, between 100,000 and 800,000 soldiers were lost, proving to be a dent in the German advance on the USSR, and dismissing Hitler's boastful dismissal of the Soviet Union as a 'crumbling edifice'. The war was now finely poised.