A massive Soviet counteroffensive on December 5, 1941, powered by fresh reserves rushed in from Siberia and the Far East
By early December the German advance had already **stalled** — supply lines were broken and units were worn down, with only a fraction of their vehicles still running. Then General **Zhukov** unleashed a counterattack with fresh divisions freed up from the east, throwing the exhausted Germans back from the capital. The brutal winter made things far worse for unprepared German troops, but it was the Soviet reserves and German overreach — not the cold alone — that turned the tide.
