SoW: Battle for Moscow and other Igromir news

[Igo kyu]

Originally Posted by Freycinet

And one of the most important of the war! Would there have been any other battles on the Eastern front if Moscow had fallen? Probably not. The Soviet regime would probably have fallen. not certainly, but probably. So, the Battle of Moscow was more important than Stalingrad, Kursk, Leningrad, etc.

We will fight them on the beaches... We will never surrender.

Capture Moscow: Russia collapses? Hitler wished it, German Generals wished it, for real? I don't think so. According to the Wikipedia page linked above Stalin moved the communist party out of Moscow:

On 13 October, Stalin ordered the evacuation of the Communist Party, the General Staff and various civil government offices from Moscow to Kuibyshev (now Samara), leaving only a limited number of officials behind. The evacuation caused panic among Moscovites. From 16 October to 17 October, much of the civilian population tried to flee, mobbing the available trains and jamming the roads from the city. Despite all this, Stalin publicly remained in the Soviet capital, somewhat calming the fear and pandemonium.

So, they might have got Stalin himself, if they were very quick, but they'd have missed the mass of the party. I don't think the USSR would have collapsed.