[MRM]

I go to sleep and you complain because I haven't responded? I am honored that Tabs has deigned to call me out. Here are the answers:

1) Stalin was able to save Moscow by denuding the Japanese front of troops and moving them by rail to the German front in one of the great logistical achievements of history. He was able to take this step because he had intelligence inside the Japanese HQ that confirmed the Japanese were not going to attack the Russians (yes, Sorge). This, combined with the early and hard winter gave Stalin what he needed to turn the tide.

2) That was a good one and kind of ironic. Heydrich organized four large SS Einsatz groups (creatively named groups A,B,C, and D) to operate inside captured Soviet territory. They had orders to kill all enemies of the state, specifically including the political commisars the communists who were supposed to be directing the Red Army, and who were responsible for screwing everything up. Freed from political control the Soviet armies performed better.

2A) Yes, Joe is correct, I wasn't sure which one you were looking for specifically.