Word: mozhaisk
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Leak in the Center. Three weeks ago Russia claimed that 100,000 Germans were encircled at Mozhaisk, 57 miles west of Moscow, and had been ordered to surrender or die. The beleaguered invaders chose to fight, and for several days Russian communiqués dwelt lovingly on 100,000 Nazis facing annihilation. After fierce street fighting, the Red Armies entered a blazing Mozhaisk last week. But the fabulous 100,000 birds had apparently flown. The Red Army organ Krasnaya Zvedzda mentioned prisoners only once ("more than 100" captured by cavalry-supported ski troops), referred glibly to an unspecified number...
Glorying in the bitter weather that Germans found nearly unbearable, the Russians continued their systematic pressure against Novgorod and the siege of Leningrad. Encircled and facing annihilation were German defenders of Mozhaisk, last Nazi stand within Moscow's defense area. A "surrender or die" ultimatum was tendered to them and rejected. The Russians recaptured Maloyaroslavets, where Tsar Alexander's Imperial Army almost captured Napoleon. An offensive on the Oka River cut down the crack tank Army of Colonel General Heinz Guderian, broodingly handsome pioneer of modern mechanized warfare. Russian forces cut his Panzers to shreds, took vast supplies...
Even when this alphabet soup ceased to be dished up, and names emerged, the outside world was not sure just what was going on before Moscow. The Germans, it seemed, had reached Tula, Kalinin, Serpukhov, Maloyaroslavets, Volokolamsk, Mozhaisk. This was as obscure as the alphabet: what did it mean? It meant that the Germans had reached points no miles, 95, 70, 65, 62, 60 miles from the capital. They were edging. The closer they got to the city, the harder the going was. Still, they got closer...