Hello and thank you for listening to the history of World War II podcast episode 449

killing their way to Moscow. Last time the Germans were forced to abandon the town

of Yelnia just southeast of the recently taken Smolensk.

The area was to have been used to launch limited raids, enough to keep the Russians weak.

So when Hitler allowed the advance on Moscow to continue,

the Russians would have little left in their cupboard

to defend themselves.

But as the last few weeks had shown, Stollin had more reserve units than Berlin could

have possibly predicted, and apparently better organizational skills than expected.

No matter that chaff would be cut through, Moscow would be taken.

This was evidenced by Hitler's Directive Number 35 on September 6th, which ended with,

after destroying the main mass of Tim O'Shanko's group of forces and encirclement operations,

Army Group Center will begin pursuing enemy forces along the Moscow axis.

Or as all this was known to the Germans, Operation Typhoon, which would see the destruction of the West, Reserve, and Briansk fronts.

In other words, all Russian units that the Germans knew about between themselves and Moscow would be destroyed. This combined with the recently

captured 65,000 Russian troops, 250 tanks, and 713 guns resulting from the Battle of Smolensk, Berlin could not see how Moscow could not be open to attack.

Things had been touch and go for a while and many German men had been lost, but this was all about to be over.

With Directive 35 on paper, Von Bach ordered Guderian and his Panzers to return to him once Kyiv had fallen,

which it soon would.

An Army Group Center would also receive Colonel General Hotmer's fourth Panzer Group.

Von Bach was getting the band back together and together they would crush everything

defending the Soviet capital.

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