Nazi Germany at the start of World War II had one of the most advanced and sophisticated air forces in the world. Great Britain and Germany immediately began to exchange bomber raids. The air battle for Britain began, during which, among other things, the city of London was seriously damaged. After the start of World War II, the Luftwaffe began to bomb Soviet cities as well. Why didn't the Germans manage to bomb Moscow?
The bombing of cities caused severe economic and moral damage: civilians were killed, infrastructure was destroyed, and industrial enterprises were destroyed. Since September 1940, German planes have repeatedly attacked the British Isles, dropping hundreds and thousands of bombs on the cities. In 1941, the Luftwaffe was tasked with bombing Soviet cities, including the capital of the Soviet country, Moscow.
In July 1941 General Field Marshal Kesselring appealed to bomber pilots. In his speech, the commander said that after London, Moscow would become easy prey, since the Russians (in the days of the Soviet Union, people from The West, for the most part, called the entire Soviet population Russian, without dividing it into nationalities) there is not enough air defense defense. Kesselring ended his speech with the wish “have a nice walk».
Needless to say, Field Marshal Kesselring was seriously mistaken. It is possible that the speech was purely propaganda purposes. On the other hand, the Nazis seriously underestimated the Soviet Union on a number of issues. For example, for the Wehrmacht, the prevalence of self-loading rifles in the Red Army as early as 1941 was a real shock. The invaders were also surprised by the T-34 tank, the fact of the creation of which German intelligence literally missed in the 1930s. It is impossible not to recall that the Nazis seriously underestimated the moral character of the Soviet population, which was by no means happy with the invaders and the "liberation" from the Bolshevik oppression.
When it came to the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet Union approached air defense with all possible thoroughness. Although the bombing had been going on since the summer of 1941. During the period July 1941-January 1942, the Nazis sent 7,146 bombers to the country of the Soviets. Of these, only 229 aircraft were able to reach the target. Between 2,000 and 3,000 civilians died during the bombing in the capital of the Soviet Union. For comparison, during the bombing of London, 40,000 civilians were killed.
It was not possible to bomb Moscow with a developed air defense system. The capital was covered by 600 fighters, 1,560 anti-aircraft guns. For defense against low-flying aircraft, AAA quad machine guns were used. The night sky was illuminated by 1300 spotlights. Thousands of fake targets were installed in Moscow, and the most recognizable objects of the city were masked. In particular, the towers and walls of the Kremlin were disguised to look like ordinary houses. Similar measures were applied to the Moscow factories. 9 fake airfields were immediately deployed near the city. Following the example of London, balloons were also used. In addition to the military, the city militia was constantly on duty in the city. Citizens were watching the sky from the roofs of houses. They were on duty around the clock with binoculars.
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All this made it possible to achieve significant success in controlling the sky, while one of the most difficult battles of the Second World War for our compatriots was unfolding on earth. The battle for Moscow will last from September 30, 1941 to April 20, 1942. 1,029,234 Red Army soldiers will pay with their lives to prevent the Nazis from realizing the encirclement and starvation plan in the Soviet capital.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why in the tracks of T-34 tanks there are no usual driving sprocket wheels.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/060921/60423/
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