Afiero, Massimiliano Operazione Tifone. La SS Division "Reich" in Marcia verso Mosca Ottobre 1941 - Febbraio 1942

The 2nd SS Division "Das Reich" during the fighting before Moscow in October 1941 to February 1942. On 30 September 1941, Heeresgruppe Mitte under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock launched Operation "Typhoon", the attack on Moscow that Hitler himself announced as "the last decisive battle of the year". The German forces trapped two Soviet army groups in a stranglehold. Six Soviet armies in the west and three more in the Briansk area. Von Bock's soldiers took about 700000 prisoners and destroyed 1200 tanks and 4000 artillery pieces.

As the German army prepared to launch its final attack, Hitler's orders came to change strategy, considering Moscow an unimportant target. He had not counted on the weather being favourable to the Soviets. With the onset of rain, the roads turned into a horrible quagmire that slowed the advance of the German troops considerably. With the onset of ice, the German advance continued, and in November the Soviets fell back again. This allowed a new approach of German units to Moscow, which advanced to a few dozen kilometres from the Moscow Kremlin. When all seemed to be over, a desperate Soviet counter-offensive combined with the terrible climatic conditions of the Russian winter put a final end to the German advance.