TelinFyodor

   Not long ago, I wrote a post about remaining fortifications of the Moscow defense zone, where mentioned the catastrophic 1941 defeat of the Red army near the town of Vyazma. It pushed me to visit this town last weekend, because one of my great-grandfathers perished there during that war. His remains, buried in one of mass graves were not found until the 1980s.  He was one of many thousands of men who met a similar fate during that terrible time. The portrait with a carved wooden frame is the only one thing that remains of him.    Vyazma is situated in Smolensk oblast, 230 kilometers from Moscow, and connected by the train line to Belorusky. The train ride to Vyazma take about two hours. The Vyazma train station is quite large, and the most interesting thing is the many old Soviet locomotives with red stars on them.   A steam locomotive behind the typical post-war station building. For me, day trips like this, where I travel light without a ca...

In this post I want to tell of some remnants from the World War II that lie on the territory of modern Moscow. Not many of them remain, and only a small number of people know about them.   In October 1941, the forces of the German army group "Center" managed to break through the defense of Soviet troops and surrounded four Soviet armies near the town of Vyazma in the Smolensk region. More than 380,000 people were killed or wounded, and more than 600,000 people were captured. Total irretrievable losses amounted to more than one million people. The road to Moscow was open for the Germans to advance. The Soviet command took emergency measures to strengthen the Mozhaisk line of defense and restore the disturbed front, throwing, against the German tank divisions, poorly armed militias, and cadets from military schools. At the same time, the Moscow Defense Zone was created in the capital. It was an operative compound of troops and fortifications created for the defense of both t...