"Moscow will be defended to the last!" – Joseph Stalin

Code named Operation Typhoon by the Germans, the Battle of Moscow started on 2nd October 1941 and continued until January 1942. The capture of Russia's capital was seen as essential to the overall success of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's planned invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II; its eventual failure marked Hitler's first defeat and represented a major setback in his pursuit of world domination.

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 In the above photograph Moscow women and elderly men are seen digging out a huge tank trap in a bid to prevent German Panzers advancing on the city. Traps such as this, ditches, trenches and barricades were all constructed in a perimeter around the city, by Russian citizens, transforming the capital into a fortress.

To find out more about the battle, why not pick up a copy of Robert Forczyk's comprehensive analysis of the conflict, Moscow 1941: Hitler's First Defeat?

The original image can be found here.