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[[File:women digging anti tank ditches moscow.jpg|thumbnail|350px|Russian women digging anti-tank ditches around Moscow, 1941.]]

At the end of September, German armor was deployed back to the Center Group and the advance on Moscow was renewed. The delay in attacking the city afforded Russian General Zhukov ample time to dispatch his reserve troops. By the end of November, the Russian soldiers under Zhukov’s command were successful in out-flanking German Army Group Center. Seeing that he was trapped and aware that the German soldiers were grossly ill-equipped to survive a Russian winter, von Bock requested permission from Hitler to retreat. His request was denied by the infuriated Hitler, who forbade retreat by any of his troops. Due to yet another tactical mistake made by the Führer, the Eastern Front was in a stalemate by March 1942.<ref>Lyons, 112-13.</ref>

Hitler’s command of this attempted Blitzkrieg was an utter failure. By early spring 1942, his armies were fighting in Russia, Africa, and Italy, in addition to occupying France. Further, Germany was in a precarious geographic position from the outset of the war. This, combined with Hitler’s ineptitude as a military commander, were the primary reasons Germany was defeated in the Second World War.