"Winter huffs and puffs."

The Germans lost the 1941 campaign due to frosts, becoming another victim of the Russian winter which they had not prepared for, just like Napoleon's Great Army. Truth as old as the hills. However, it's not true.

The Germans understood the seasons. Although they hoped that the campaign would end before winter, they had to prepare equipment for the occupation forces. The first instructions regarding preparations for winter were issued as early as in August. When Operation Typhoon, aimed at conquering Moscow, gets bogged down after the first successes (in mud rather than snow), uniforms and equipment will be prepared in warehouses for at least several dozen divisions. However, only a small part will reach the front.

Why? Because the main problem of the Germans on the Eastern Front was the issue of logistics. It was caused by insufficient railway capacity, insufficient number of wheeled vehicles and many other factors. There simply will be no means available to send more winter equipment to the front in time, priorities being ammunition, refills, etc. The weather, mud, will only highlight German shortcomings. The generals will ask for frost. But when the frost hardens the ground, the final attempt to conquer Moscow, made after November 15, will barely shuffle. Chasing the leftovers, the leaders will reach the town of Chimki. But the alleged observation of the Kremlin through binoculars will remain a myth – it was impossible at such distance and the prevailing conditions. The temperature, though negative, will not be as severe during the second half of November. Real frosts, reaching -25 and -30 in December, will occur only when the memory of the German attack remains.