Operation Typhoon was the German military campaign to capture Moscow during World War II, launched in early October 1941 as part of their broader invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). The offensive aimed to deliver a decisive blow by taking the Soviet capital before winter set in.

German forces, under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, advanced with two large army groups and made initial gains, encircling and destroying significant Soviet forces. However, stiff Soviet resistance, logistical challenges, and worsening weather slowed the German advance. Muddy conditions in October, followed by the onset of harsh winter, further hampered their progress.

By December 1941, Soviet reinforcements, including Siberian troops acclimatized to winter warfare, launched a counteroffensive under General Georgy Zhukov. The Red Army pushed the Germans back from the outskirts of Moscow, marking the first major defeat of the German Wehrmacht in the war. Operation Typhoon demonstrated the limits of Germany’s Blitzkrieg strategy against a determined and well-resourced opponent.