"Comrade Zhukov, the Germans had deployed a large number of Armored Forces to attack our positions. The suburban positions south, west, and north of Moscow had all fallen. Every unit had suffered grievous losses and had no choice but to withdraw into the city for defense," reported Major General Lyapin, the former chief of staff of the Reserve Front Army and current chief of staff of the Moscow Garrison District.
General Zhukov nodded grimly. He had not expected the German offensive to be so fierce. Fifteen Armored Divisions and thirty Mechanized Infantry Divisions had formed a Steel Torrent of tanks and armored vehicles, smashing through the Russian defenses outside Moscow. This once again showed Russian commanders, including General Zhukov, just how formidable the German military was. Clearly, in field warfare, the Russians were no longer a match for the Germans. They no longer even had the ability to slow the Germans down slightly in open terrain. The German armored forces would drown every enemy in their path.
"I had not expected the Germans to deploy such an enormous armored force for this attack. Nor had I expected our troops to collapse so quickly!" General Zhukov said helplessly.
"Comrade Commander, the Kremlin had probably learned of the situation at the front as well. How should we explain this?" Lieutenant General Krugnov, the former Political Commissar of the Reserve Front Army and current Political Commissar of the Moscow Garrison District, asked worriedly.
Joseph had been closely watching this battle all along. The reason he had remained in Moscow, which was surrounded by heavy German forces, rather than fleeing somewhere safer, was to supervise the Russians and make them hold back the German offensive. He had even hoped the Russians could defeat the Germans in one stroke. Now that the front had turned