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Head of the NKVD Lavrentiy Beria was ordered to oversee the mining and destruction of factories, warehouses, institutions and critical infrastructure including the Moscow Metro which would be impossible to evacuate to the new capital in time.
The mining of elements of critical infrastructure in the capital sent a clear message to the anxious residents of Moscow: the Soviet leadership was preparing to abandon the capital and leave millions to the Nazis' mercy.
Panic in MoscowThe rumors about the evacuation of the capital spread fast, despite the resolution's secrecy. When the Metro failed to open for the first time in its history on the morning of October 16, 1941, as it was being prepared for total demolition, it spurred circulating rumors that the capital of the USSR might eventually fall into the hands of the Nazis. Soon enough, panic unfolded.
Many people abandoned their duties and property and rushed to railway stations hoping to leave the city before the enemy troops came. City-wide chaos ensued.
A witness of the events, Leo Larsky later described one episode of the hasty evacuation (link in Russian): "At three o'clock there was a traffic jam on the bridge. Instead of pushing the stuck trucks off the bridge and eliminating the traffic jam, everyone rushed to grab seats in them. Those who were sitting in the trucks desperately hit the attackers over their heads with their suitcases. The attackers climbed on top of each other, broke into the trucks and threw out the defenders like sacks of potatoes. But, as soon as the invaders sat down, as soon as the cars tried to move, the next wave rushed at them."
Fear and panic ensued in the capital. Many workers showed up at their workplaces hoping for wage payments, but found that the management had left earlier. Angry and abandoned, some residents resorted to violence and looting.
"There are fights in the lines, old women are being strangled, young people are looting and policemen hang around on the sidewalks for two or four hours and smoke: '[We have ] no instructions,'" wrote Soviet journalist Nikolay Verzhbitsky about the panic in Moscow on that day.
It took radical measures to bring Moscow back to normal. On October 19, 1941 after three days of chaos and panic in the capital Stalin issued a decree that introduced the state of siege in Moscow that prohibited movement of cars and people without special permits at nighttime and gave the police permission to shoot "provocateurs" at sight.
Stalin's personal decision to stay in besieged Moscow may also have contributed to calming the residents, as many took it as a sign that the Red Army would defend the city at all cost.
Thanks to the efforts of the Red Army, and those residents of the city who did not leave or resort to violence and panic, the Nazis failed to capture Moscow or destroy the Soviet armed forces up to the winter of 1941. Eventually, Nazi Germany faced a prospect of a protracted war with the USSR.
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