[dfwgator]

I would have tried to take Moscow, because of the impact it may have had on Stalin’s leadership. I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that Stalin may very well have been deposed had Moscow fell. And perhaps his replacement, realizing he needed all Russians to fight would have dropped Bolshevism.

[Billthedrill]

Right, and Moscow was also a rail center, not on the scale of Paris but with the same effect of hindering troop movement from front to front if it were in German hands. And they nearly managed it.

Fact is, everyone with a hint of strategic acumen knew it was a nation of 70 million versus a nation of 170 million, the latter having unreachable industrial resources and the advantage of interior lines, a middleweight versus a heavyweight. The former had better win fast, and he didn't.