This led to much confusion with divisions being constantly shuffled around the front line. Hitler ordered the central advance to halt and become infantry based, sending their tanks North to assist in taking Leningrad. Leningrad became under direct artillery fire from 1 September, which lasted until January 1944. After the besieging of Leningrad, Hitler ordered the central infantry to continue their push for Moscow with the addition of the 2nd Panzer army. This, their final advance for the campaigning season, was codenamed Operation Typhoon. Although victory seemed so close the strain on men and vehicles was beginning to tell. Supplies were scarce with the rail system under constant attack from retreating Russians. Hitler soon found it would be too hard to launch a tank attack from the central forces and redeployed them to the North and South, taking the pressure off Stalin once again.
At this time disaster struck for the German. Just like Napoleon in 1812, Hitler's troops were confronted with the coldest winter in Russia for 50 years. The weather slowed the German advance to no more than a mile a day - no faster than Napoleon's foot troops. .
.
The siege of Moscow was meant to be Hitler's last victorious win in Russia. But like the other sieges, it lasted too long and was poorly prepared. Hitler, in trying to make it the short swift war he had dreamed of, out ran his supply roots. This meant his tanks had only a limited amount of fuel to advance and fight with. However it was not only fuel, which was in demand, there was no ammo, medical supplies, food or warm cloths to go around. And with the record winter that year, his men froze. The siege dragged on for 7 months, draining away at both sides, and for the Germans it felt, as there was an endless amount of Soviet troops flowing in. The Germans had no choice but to retreat.
Leningrad, one of the Germans main objectives came under siege in early September 1941.
