e men during the summer. Consistent fighting and the tremendous distances covered had placed a great strain on the attacking strength of the German forces. Poor weather and breakdowns in mobile units led to numerous delays. An example of this is that after the battle for Kiev, Panzer Group 2 had only 30% of it's tanks remaining, altough Panzer Group 3 and Group 4 were slightly better off. Supply lines were becoming longer and longer, and the capacity of merchanized transport had greatly declined. The railways were still operating, but they could not carry enough equipment to keep the fronts supplied. By the middle of October German troops were in excellent position surrounding Moscow. The problem of supplies still remained. German forces depended on a narrow, long and extremely vulnerable supply lines. The railway lines were operating but they were very inefficient. All of these factors along with one more major event led to the end of any ligitament German offensive in World War II. This major event was winter. As one German general put it, "The icy cold, the lack of shelter, the shortage of clothing, the heavy losses of men and equipment, the wretched state of our fuel supplied, all this makes the duties of a commander a misery and the longer it goes on the more I am crushed by the responsibility which I have to bear." Hitler admitted this when he canceled his attack on Moscow. "The severe winter weather which has come surprisingly early on the east and the consequent difficulties in bringing up supplies, compel us to abandon immediately all major offensive operations and go over to the defensive." At this point Hitler moved 70% of his tanks and assault guns to the Russian front leaving Southern Europe vulnerable. In the Spring on 1943 American and...
