"On the night of October 14-15, the situation on the western front deteriorated," a Red Army document states. "The German-Fascist forces pitted large forces of tanks and mobile infantry against our forces and penetrated our defenses in one sector." Two entire Soviet armies, with more than 650,000 soldiers, were neutralized in the first two weeks of October. Stalin ordered government offices and some enterprises in the capital to evacuate, although he remained there to command the defense. German patrols came so close to the Soviet capital that they could see its water tower 15 miles away. This marked the SovietsΓÇÖ lowest point in the military campaign.
