43rd Army

Golubev's 43rd Army defended the Maloyaroslavets sector on the Warsaw highway, absorbing the October blows of the German 4th Army after the Mozhaisk line was pierced. It held its ground through November on the Nara river, then attacked in December, retaking Maloyaroslavets and driving west toward Medyn and Yukhnov. In the January offensive it pressed on toward Vyazma from the southeast, keeping up the pressure that pinned German reserves all winter. It liberated Maloyaroslavets on 2 January 1942 after house-to-house fighting in minus 35 degree cold, then pushed through Medyn toward Yukhnov, widening the breach that threatened to unhinge the entire German 4th Army; its January advance of over 100 kilometres was among the deepest Soviet penetrations of the winter. Golubev held command into 1944, a rare longevity among Soviet army commanders of 1941, most of whom were sacked within months. The tracks recorded here are schematic headquarters-area positions, not surveyed front lines.