There was only one point in the Second World War when Nazi Germany had a chance of winning. That point was October 1941, when most of the Red Army's forces before Moscow had been smashed or encircled, and no reserves were available to defend the capital. All that stood in Hitler's way were a handful of Soviet rifle divisions, tank brigades and hastily assembled militia.

According to German accounts, their spearheads were stopped by the mud, but a close examination of German records shows this was not so. Instead it is clear that it was the resistance of the Red Army and bad, arrogant planning that halted the Wehrmacht. This is the dramatic story that Jack Radey and Charles Sharp tell in this compelling study of a previously unknown part of the Battle of Moscow. Using archival records from both sides, they reveal how the Soviets inflicted a stunning defeat on a German plan to encircle six Soviet armies the middle of October 1941.

Jack Radey has researched deeply into the history of the Second World War in general and has made a particular study of the conflict on the Eastern Front. He has written many games, articles and film scripts on subjects as wide ranging as the Korsun Pocket, Borodino '41, American Civil War battlefields, D-Day, Iwo Jima, and Barbarossa.

Charles Sharp has a long-standing interest in military history. He spent twenty years in the US Army from the Vietnam War. He served in the army through the end of the Cold War and the first Iraq War, retiring in 1992. Since then he has written fifteen books on the Soviet and German armies in the Second World War, published in the Soviet Order of Battle series, and lectured on military history.

在第二次世界大战中，只有一个点，纳粹德国有机会获胜。这一点是1941年10月，当时红军在莫斯科之前的大部分部队已经被击溃或被包围，没有后备军可以用来保卫首都。挡在希特勒面前的只是少数几个苏联步枪师、坦克旅和匆忙集结的民兵。

根据德国人的说法，他们的矛头被泥土挡住了，但对德国记录的仔细检查表明，情况并非如此。相反，很明显，是红军的抵抗和糟糕的、傲慢的计划阻止了国防军的行动。这就是杰克-拉迪和查尔斯-夏普在这本引人注目的研究报告中讲述的关于莫斯科战役中一个以前不为人知的部分的戏剧性故事。他们利用双方的档案记录，揭示了苏联人是如何在1941年10月中旬对德军包围六支苏联军队的计划造成惊人的失败的。

杰克-拉迪对第二次世界大战的历史进行了深入研究，并对东线的冲突进行了特别研究。他撰写了许多游戏、文章和电影剧本，主题广泛，包括科森口袋、博罗迪诺41年、美国内战战场、D日、硫磺岛和巴巴罗萨。

查尔斯-夏普对军事历史有着长期的兴趣。从越南战争开始，他在美国陆军中度过了20年。他在军队中一直服役到冷战结束和第一次伊拉克战争，于1992年退役。从那时起，他写了15本关于第二次世界大战中苏军和德军的书，出版了《苏联战役秩序》系列，并进行了军事历史讲座。