The Germans were already at the gates of the Soviet capital. The Soviet Union reached its lowest point in the war, its institutions of state about to fall to the German army. Georgi Zhukov, Red Army chief of staff, was summoned to orchestrate the cityΓÇÖs defense. He built the defense line and waited for his colleague, "General Winter." The German generals pleaded with Hitler to establish a defense line for the winter, but he refused, insisting they continue to attack. The counteroffensive began on December 6 under Zukhov. Three new, specially prepared Soviet armies consisting of 1 million combat soldiers, attacked the German forces. The onslaught caught the German forcesΓÇöexhausted, dug into heavy snow, freezing in the cold, and too widely dispersedΓÇöby surprise. The German defense disintegrated, thousands of German soldiers were taken prisoner, and Soviet newspapers ran photographs of them covered with womenΓÇÖs undergarments and furs against the bitter cold. ZukhovΓÇÖs counterattack spared Moscow from the threat of German occupation and handed the Wehrmacht its first defeat.
