Chapter Summaries

Joseph ordered the Party and government offices to evacuate Moscow to Yekaterinburg and arranged to leave three days later under the protection of the 4th Guards Infantry Division. As German intelligence detected hints of the evacuation, Joseph’s train and an escort regiment departed Moscow on the night of June 17.

• Joseph ordered Zhukov to organize the evacuation of the Party and government offices and asked whether Zhukov could keep Moscow’s defenders fighting after he left.
• Zhukov promised to hold Moscow, and Joseph set his departure for three days later.
• Zhukov presented a plan for the 4th Guards Infantry Division to escort Joseph east by train and truck toward Ufa and Chelyabinsk, with Yekaterinburg as a possible destination.
• Party and government officials left Moscow in small groups while German intelligence searched for signs that Joseph was evacuating.
• On the night of June 17, Joseph’s train left Moscow for Vladimir with armed infantrymen aboard, followed by an infantry regiment traveling by truck.

At a Berlin strategy meeting, Oscar and Germany’s commanders abandoned their plan to draw Russian reinforcements into Moscow and Yuzefgrad after Russia stopped sending troops. Oscar ordered a general offensive to seize both cities, while Germany planned to leave allied forces to contain Russia and redeploy its main army against the United States.

• Field Marshal Manstein explained that Russia had seen through Germany’s plan and stopped reinforcing Moscow and Yuzefgrad.
• Marshal Guderian warned that failing to destroy Russia’s forces in the cities would prolong the war and tie down German troops.
• Marshal Blomberg proposed relying on puppet-state forces and leaving a few army groups in Russia while the main forces rested and prepared to attack the United States.
• Marshal Rommel and Field Marshal Manstein argued that capturing or killing Joseph could weaken Russian resistance.
• Oscar ordered a general offensive to destroy the Russian forces in Moscow and Yuzefgrad and take both cities.

Oscar ordered German forces to encircle Moscow and Yuzefgrad and destroy the Russian forces there while minimizing German casualties. The plan changed when General Heidrich reported that Joseph had fled Moscow, and Oscar ordered the army to hunt him down before he crossed east of the Ural Mountains.

• Oscar told Field Marshal Manstein to prepare an offensive against Moscow and Yuzefgrad that would minimize German losses.
• Oscar said the commanders should capture Joseph alive if possible, but not force the attempt if he could not be taken alive.
• General Heidrich reported that Joseph had fled Moscow, shocking Oscar and the German commanders.
• General Heinrich said Joseph's route ran through Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, and Ufa toward Chelyabinsk.
• Oscar ordered the German commanders to hunt Joseph and prevent him from escaping east of the Ural Mountains.

Oscar ordered the German commanders to hunt down Joseph as he fled by train toward Nizhny Novgorod, while also tightening the encirclement around Moscow. The chapter ends with the commanders finalizing a plan to bomb Joseph’s train and advance on his route, while Germany prepared to claim he was dead even if he escaped.

• Oscar ordered General Heidrich to inform frontline troops of Joseph’s escape route and hunt him down.
• Rommel, Kesselring, Manstein, Blomberg, Brauchitsch, and Guderian discussed bombing Joseph’s train and pursuing him if he changed transport or fled back to Moscow.
• Heinrich pledged that German intelligence would seek Joseph’s exact whereabouts, while Oscar ordered the forces around Moscow to tighten the encirclement.
• Oscar told the commanders Germany could declare Joseph dead even if he escaped, undermining his authority and encouraging Russian rivals to reject him.
• The commanders planned an air raid on Joseph’s train and deployed armored and mechanized divisions toward Nizhny Novgorod as Army Groups C and A attacked east of Moscow.

German aircraft searched for a Russian train carrying Joseph and found it east of Vladimir. As the German formations converged to attack, Joseph and his companions remained unaware of the danger.

• A German major general ordered pilots to find and destroy a train carrying an important Russian target, and to attack anyone who escaped.
• Joseph refused to stop in Vladimir, while Marshal Voroshilov reassured him that their whereabouts were secret.
• Marshal Shaposhnikov left Moscow by a separate route to avoid concentrating the Russian leaders in one target.
• On June 18, German formations of FW-190 fighters, Stuka dive bombers, and ground-attack aircraft took off to search the railway.
• An FW-190 pilot spotted Joseph's train east of Vladimir, and the German formations began converging to attack.

German aircraft attacked Joseph's train, forcing it off the tracks and devastating the Russian troops aboard. Joseph was injured in the crash as German planes continued their assault.

• Russian soldiers spotted German aircraft, and Marshal Voroshilov warned Joseph that the train had been exposed.
• Joseph suspected traitors as Russian anti-aircraft guns and machine guns opened fire on the German planes.
• A German pilot bombed and strafed the train, destroying an anti-aircraft gun and killing Russian soldiers.
• Twelve FW-190 fighters, twelve Stuka dive bombers, and twelve ground-attack aircraft arrived and attacked the train.
• A dive bomber cratered the tracks, causing the train to overturn and throwing Joseph to the ground with a bleeding head wound.
• German aircraft bombed and strafed the overturned train, inflicting devastating casualties on the Russian troops.

German aircraft destroyed Joseph’s train and attacked the Russian regiments sent to protect him, but Joseph and Marshal Voroshilov survived by hiding in a ditch. With their vehicles gone and fearing another air raid, Joseph set out on foot for Nizhny Novgorod while vowing to punish whoever had leaked his whereabouts.

• The 2nd Regiment and 3rd Regiment turned back to reach Joseph’s train, but German aircraft attacked both units and destroyed their trucks.
• Joseph, Marshal Voroshilov, and Colonel Karlov escaped the wrecked train by hiding in a ditch until the planes left.
• Joseph demanded to know who had betrayed him, while Voroshilov urged him to leave before another raid.
• Colonel Karlov reported that both regiments had suffered severe losses and all their trucks had been destroyed.
• Joseph refused to contact Nizhny Novgorod, fearing another leak, and chose to travel there on foot by back roads.
• Joseph and the surviving soldiers left the railway and began their slow march toward Nizhny Novgorod.

After receiving Marshal Rommel’s orders, Lieutenant General Erich Hoepner mobilized six armored and mechanized divisions to pursue Joseph, who had fled Moscow by train. The German force set out at dawn to intercept and capture or kill him.

• Lieutenant General Erich Hoepner received Marshal Rommel’s telegram ordering him to pursue Joseph toward Nizhny Novgorod.
• Hoepner summoned the commanders of the 9th Armored Division, 99th Armored Division, and four mechanized infantry divisions, and ordered their units to prepare for battle.
• Hoepner told the division commanders that Joseph had escaped Moscow by train and that the air force would bomb the train before their forces moved in.
• The division commanders agreed to pursue Joseph and claim the military achievement for themselves.
• At six in the morning, the six divisions left their garrisons and attacked toward the northeast.

Germany sent a huge armored force to hunt down Joseph after German air raids struck his train and the 4th Guards Infantry Division. In Moscow, Zhukov feared Joseph was in danger and ordered Russian forces in the east to delay the Germans, though he could not contact Joseph to warn him.

• Germany dispatched more than a hundred thousand armored and mechanized troops to intercept Joseph near Nizhny Novgorod.
• A general told Zhukov that German air raids had struck Joseph’s train and devastated the 4th Guards Infantry Division.
• Zhukov suspected Joseph had cut communications to protect himself and might also distrust Zhukov.
• After learning German armored forces were advancing northeast, Zhukov ordered his forces to warn Joseph and then to delay the Germans, but they could not reach Joseph’s group.

Marshal Rommel ordered a general offensive to seize Moscow quickly and close its eastern escape and supply routes. German forces began the attack on June 19, encircling Moscow and cutting off Russian troops in Yuzefgrad after capturing Volzhsky.

• Marshal Rommel returned to headquarters and learned that Lieutenant General Erich Hoepner had taken two Armored Divisions and four Mechanized Infantry Divisions to pursue Joseph.
• Marshal Rommel ordered Army Group C to double its infantry commitment in Moscow and aimed to capture the city within a month.
• Marshal Rommel assigned German and allied forces to attack east of Moscow and seal the city’s eastern defenses.
• Marshal Guderian and Marshal Blomberg also ordered intensified attacks, and German troops began their eastern offensive on June 19, closing the encirclement around Moscow.
• Army Group E crossed the Volga River and captured Volzhsky, cutting off the Russian troops in Yuzefgrad from river-borne support and completing their encirclement.

German forces destroyed the Russian 24th Infantry Army and Guard 1st Army Corps on Moscow’s eastern front, while their retreating remnants fled east instead of entering the city. By June 20, Moscow was completely encircled, leaving General Zhukov unable to reinforce the front as the German assault on the city intensified.

• On June 19, German forces crushed the Russian 73rd Infantry Division and encircled the 140th, 228th, and 255th Infantry Divisions as they tried to help.
• After the 73rd Division and the main forces of the three relief divisions were destroyed, Lieutenant General Rakutin ordered the surviving troops of the 24th Infantry Army to retreat eastward.
• German Army Group A attacked the Guard 1st Army Corps, and the German 1st Armored Division wiped out the Russian 18th Tank Corps.
• German and Finnish forces broke through the Guard 1st Army Corps’s defenses and annihilated most of its troops despite Lieutenant General Lelyushenko’s efforts.
• By the afternoon of June 20, German forces had encircled Moscow, while the remnants of the two Russian formations retreated to Vladimir.
• Major General Lyapin reported the defeats to General Zhukov, and Zhukov said the Germans intended to destroy Russia completely.

General Zhukov faced the German siege of Moscow as Russian forces came under threat in both Moscow and Yuzefgrad. He rejected Germany’s offer of a position in a new Russian government and resolved to fight to the death.

• General Zhukov, Lieutenant General Kruglov, and Major General Lyapin discussed Germany’s plan to destroy Russia’s main forces and the danger posed by Joseph’s flight from Moscow.
• A Communications Officer reported that the Germans had occupied Volgasky and encircled Yuzefgrad.
• General Zhukov ordered every unit to hold its positions and make the Germans pay for their attack.
• A staff officer reported that a German envoy had requested an audience, and General Zhukov agreed to meet him.
• The German envoy offered General Zhukov an important post and freedom for Moscow’s Russian troops in exchange for surrender.
• General Zhukov rejected the offer and declared that he had resolved to fight to the death in Moscow.

German forces raced toward Nizhny Novgorod to search for Joseph while Russian officials struggled to learn what had happened to him and face the approaching offensive. The chapter left the Russian leadership divided and anxious as Shaposhnikov considered what to do.

• Erich Hoepner learned that Russian forces were gathering ahead and on the flank, but ordered the German divisions to reach Nizhny Novgorod within three days and hunt for Joseph.
• Hoepner assigned two mechanized divisions to fight a Russian army group while the remaining armored and mechanized divisions continued toward Nizhny Novgorod.
• At a meeting in Nizhny Novgorod, Shaposhnikov told Andreyev and other officials that there was still no news of Joseph.
• Shaposhnikov suggested Joseph might have shut down his radios because he suspected a traitor among Russia’s senior ranks, alarming the Politburo members.
• Mikoyan and Molotov urged action against the advancing Germans, while Shaposhnikov frowned at their challenge to the absent Joseph’s authority.

Russian leaders agreed to abandon Nizhny Novgorod and retreat east as German forces advanced, while Joseph remained stranded nearby with a small group of soldiers. The chapter ended with Joseph learning the Germans were close and that Russian troops could not stop them.

• Marshal Shaposhnikov told Molotov and the Politburo that Russian forces could not defend Nizhny Novgorod against the German offensive.
• Andreyev and Zhdanov urged an immediate retreat, while Kaganovich proposed that Shaposhnikov stay behind to command the troops and receive Joseph.
• Molotov prevented a confrontation, and the leaders agreed to withdraw through Kazan and Ufa toward Chelyabinsk.
• Russian government agencies and troops began evacuating Nizhny Novgorod, and the German advance accelerated.
• Joseph and a few hundred scattered soldiers struggled toward Nizhny Novgorod as Voroshilov told him they could reach the city in two days.
• Russian scouts reported that German forces were near and that the Russian troops could not hold them back, leaving Joseph panicked and Voroshilov despairing.

Joseph and his entourage fled toward Kazan as German forces occupied Nizhny Novgorod and searched the surrounding area for him. Trapped in bushes beneath German aircraft, Joseph ordered Colonel Karlov to send soldiers west as a diversion so the rest could escape.

• Joseph learned that Russian government offices and troops had evacuated Nizhny Novgorod, then ordered his group to take back roads toward Kazan.
• The German military occupied the empty city and Lieutenant General Erich Hoepner ordered a broad search for Joseph.
• German ground forces and aircraft searched the area, forcing Joseph and his followers to hide by day and travel by night.
• Marshal Voroshilov warned that German aircraft had trapped them in the bushes, while German ground forces were closing in.
• Joseph ordered Colonel Karlov to send a unit west to draw the aircraft away, and more than a hundred Russian soldiers left the bushes.

German aircraft and mechanized infantry discovered and attacked the Russian troops hiding in the bushes, leaving Joseph and his forces surrounded. Joseph chose suicide rather than surrender, and Marshal Voroshilov and the others found him dead.

• An FW-190 pilot spotted fleeing Russian soldiers, attacked them, and reported troops hiding in the bushes.
• A German mechanized infantry company attacked the bushes, but Russian rockets destroyed an infantry fighting vehicle and forced the Germans to withdraw.
• Two more German mechanized infantry companies and eight aircraft arrived and bombarded the Russian positions, inflicting heavy losses.
• Marshal Voroshilov told Joseph that the Russians had no way to break out, and Joseph accepted that defeat was inevitable.
• Joseph admitted responsibility for the defeat, walked deeper into the bushes, and shot himself rather than be captured.
• Marshal Voroshilov and the others found Joseph dead with a pistol in his hand.

German forces defeated the Russian troops near Nizhny Novgorod, captured Marshal Voroshilov, and found that Joseph had committed suicide. Oscar and Manstein expected Russia to fall once Germany captured Moscow and Yuzefgrad and destroyed its remaining forces.

• German troops broke through the Russian defenses, and Voroshilov ordered the surviving soldiers to surrender.
• Voroshilov surrendered to a German captain, who learned that Joseph had killed himself.
• Erich Hoepner ordered Joseph's body sent to Berlin and reported the news to German command.
• Manstein told Oscar that Voroshilov had been captured and Joseph was dead.
• Oscar and Manstein predicted that Germany would soon defeat Russia and then focus on the United States and the Island Nation.
• Germany announced Joseph's suicide to its people and notified Russia.

After Joseph’s death shattered Russian morale, German commanders urged Oscar and German Emperor Qin Tian to seek the surrender of the troops defending Moscow and Yuzefgrad. Qin Tian approved sending envoys, leaving Germany poised to take the cities if Russia’s forces laid down their arms.

• News of Joseph’s death brought celebration in Germany but fear and despair among Russia’s allies and people.
• Russian officials considered peace talks, while troops defending Moscow and Yuzefgrad lost the will to fight without Joseph’s orders.
• German Army Group Commanders asked the Supreme Command to send envoys to persuade the Russian forces to surrender.
• Oscar approved the proposal, and German Emperor Qin Tian authorized envoys to urge the troops in Moscow and Yuzefgrad to lay down their weapons.

With Yuzefgrad surrounded and Russian troops demoralized by Joseph’s death, General Popov met secretly with a German envoy to discuss surrender. Convinced by Germany’s guarantees, Popov surrendered the Yuzefgrad Front Army, leaving the city’s Russian forces to submit to German control.

• German forces intensified their assault on Yuzefgrad, cutting off supplies and steadily capturing Russian positions.
• General Popov, Lieutenant General Klementyev, and Major General Gusev discussed their worsening situation as Russian troops lost the will to resist.
• Gusev told Popov that a German envoy had arrived, and Popov agreed to meet him.
• The German envoy offered safe treatment for surrendered troops, freedom for prisoners after the war, and a place for Russian generals in a future government.
• After hearing that Emperor Qin Tian supported the guarantees, Popov surrendered the Yuzefgrad Front Army to Germany.

After the Yuzefgrad Front surrendered, German forces pressed General Zhukov to surrender Moscow as Russian morale collapsed. Convinced Russia had no hope and further resistance would only cause pointless deaths, Zhukov made his decision to stop holding out.

• General Popov surrendered the Russian forces at Yuzefgrad to Marshal Brauchitsch, and the German troops celebrated their victory.
• Marshal Guderian sent another envoy to ask General Zhukov to surrender Moscow.
• Major General Lyapin warned Zhukov that Russian units were already surrendering and Moscow could fall within a week.
• Lieutenant General Kruglov and Lyapin told Zhukov that Russia had no hope and further resistance would cause meaningless casualties.
• Zhukov considered the collapse of Russian morale and decided that continuing to defend Moscow had no purpose.