What was the name of the German offensive operation in October 1941 to take Moscow before winter?

The story behind the answer

Operation Typhoon was the German Army Group Centre’s October 1941 push to seize Moscow before winter. It followed Operation Barbarossa (the overall invasion launched in June 1941); Case Blue was the 1942 offensive toward the Caucasus and Stalingrad, and Operation Sunflower involved Axis moves in North Africa.

Typhoon began with large encirclements at Vyazma and Bryansk but soon stalled as Soviet resistance stiffened, supply lines overstretched, autumn mud (rasputitsa) immobilized vehicles, and then winter hit. In December, a Soviet counteroffensive drove the exhausted Germans back from Moscow—the Wehrmacht’s first major strategic defeat of the war. Memory tip: a “Typhoon” was meant to blow into Moscow quickly, but it was stopped by an even fiercer Russian winter storm.