113 - Martial Law in Moscow, but is the Cavalry coming? - WW2 - October 24, 1941

by Panzer
Phone call: you’re gonna attack who?
And who?
And who?
Wait-ALL of those places?
You don’t think anyone will try to stop you?
Yeah, but they’re neutral... but... but...
October 24th, 1941
They kill one of yours; you kill one of theirs.
But if that doesn’t make them stop what do you do?
They kill one; you kill 50?
100?
How many will it take to stop the resistance?
I’m Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week saw panic in Moscow as the Germans approached ever closer, even though rain,
mud, and snow had begun to hobble all movement.
Still, the Wehrmacht closed two giant pockets, taking hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops
prisoner.
I also spent a few minutes talking about the recent political situation in Japan, which
has resulted in Fumimaro Konoye resigning as Prime Minister.
He is replaced on the 18th by Hideki Tojo, who is very much a war hawk.
In fact, Japan is on a course for soon making war in the South Pacific to secure much needed
resources.
The only navy with really the power to prevent this is the neutral American one.
On the 22nd are air defense exercises in Tokyo and a first practice blackout.
Also, a Japanese recon plane flies from Indochina to the Malayan Peninsula- the pilot advises
that the airfields at Khota Baru and Alor Star should be prime objectives for any invasion
there.
On the 18th, the Soviet spy Rickard Sorge and many members of his spy ring are arrested
in Tokyo.
It is he who warned Josef Stalin about the German invasion of the Soviet Union…
…which is still in full gear this week.
I went into a bit of detail about the closing of the Vyazema pocket last week, but didn’t
say so much about the Bryansk pocket, which was also being closed with hundreds of thousands
of Soviets about to become POWs.
The northernmost part was closed as last week ended, and this week on the 18th AG Center
Commander Fedor von Bock declares the southern part closed.
What was left of the Bryansk Front has delayed Heinz Guderian by two weeks now, though, allowing
the Red Army to build and man new defenses, and they’ve also inflicted 4,000 casualties
on Guderian’s forces this month, bringing his total to 45,643 for the campaign, which