The Battle of Moscow includes two periods: defensive - from September 30 to December 4, 1941, and offensive, which consists of 2 stages: the counteroffensive - from December 5, 1941 to January 7, 1942, and the general offensive of the Soviet troops - from January 8 to April 20, 1942.

The Moscow battle, which included a complex complex of battles and operations of various nature, unfolded on the territory of the central section of the Soviet-German front, the borders of which in the north ran along the Volga River, from Kalyazin to Rzhev, in the west - along the rockad railway line Rzhev - Vyazma - Bryansk (to Dyatkovo), in the south - along the conventional line Ryazhsk - Gorbachevo - Dyatkovo.

On both sides, more than 2 million people took part in it simultaneously, about 2,500 tanks, 1,800 aircraft, over 25,000 guns and mortars. The Battle of Moscow consisted of two periods - defensive and offensive.

According to the concept of Operation Typhoon, the city of Moscow should be surrounded. Against Soviet troops as part of the Western Front (Colonel General I.S.Konev, from October 10 - Army General G.K. Zhukov), the Reserve Front (S.M.Budyonny), Bryansk Front (Colonel General A.I. Eremenko, from October - Major General G.F. Zakharov), operating in the Moscow direction, the German command concentrated more than a million army of the "Center" group (Field Marshal T. von Bock).

In two-month defensive battles, Soviet troops managed to bleed the enemy. Particularly heavy battles were fought in the Volokolamsk and Mozhaisk sectors, which were the shortest routes to Moscow. By early December, German troops were stopped at the line south of the Volga reservoir, Dmitrov, Yakhroma, Krasnaya Polyana (27 km from Moscow), east of Istra, west of Kubinka, Naro-Fominsk, west of Serpukhov, east of Aleksin, Tula.

On December 5-6, the troops of the Red Army launched a counterattack on the advanced groupings of the German fascist troops north and south of the capital. The offensive by the troops of the Kalinin Front (I.S.Konev), the Western Front, and the Bryansk Front developed over a 1,000-kilometer strip, from Kalinin to Yelets. Soviet troops attacked an enemy equal in number. In the first three days, they advanced 30-40 km. The enemy stood firm, but the lack of preparedness to conduct military operations in winter conditions, the lack of reserves affected. A. Hitler, having signed a directive on the transition to the defense on the Soviet-German front in December, blamed the failures on the military command and, having removed some of the top army generals from their posts, assumed the supreme command. But this did not lead to significant changes. On January 7-10, 1942, a general offensive was launched along the entire central sector of the Soviet-German front.

In commemoration of the victory of Soviet troops near Moscow, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by a decree of 05/01/1944, established the medal "For the Defense of Moscow".

Ignatiy Mikhailovich Zhiltsov, born in 1918, took part in the battle for Moscow. Before the war he lived in the village of Lekrysovo and was drafted by the Laryak RVC. He served as a squad commander in the 84th Infantry Division, commanded by Colonel Pyotr Fomenko. On January 7, 1942, Soviet troops launched the Demyansk offensive operation, as a result of which five infantry divisions and the SS "Dead Head" division of the 2nd Army Corps of the 16th Army were surrounded, in total about 100,000 people. The German command was not going to abandon the "encirclement". Several fresh divisions were transferred from the West, including the 329th Infantry, 5th Jaeger and 8th Jaeger Divisions. As a result, on the basis of these three divisions, a special corps battle group was created under the command of General Walter Seydlitz-Kurzbach, which was additionally reinforced with units of the 122nd Infantry Division and the 18th Motorized Division and the tanks of the 203rd Panzer Regiment.

It was the strike of the "Seydlitz" combat group that was repelled by the soldiers of the 84th rifle division from the 11th army of General Vasily Morozov, in which the Ugra resident Ignatiy Zhiltsov performed the feat. The battles were difficult, both sides suffered heavy losses. On April 2, 1942, Ignatiy Zhiltsov moved with his comrades to the direction of the main attack of the Germans in order to attack and cut the important Borisovo-Sychevo highway. However, the enemy had the initiative and threw tanks at our soldiers. Zhiltsov took the anti-tank rifle of the deceased comrade and set one tank on fire with a well-aimed shot. Then he tried to destroy the German crew that jumped out of the burning car. At this time, the second tank found the position of the brave fighter and opened intense fire on it. Ignatius Zhiltsov was seriously wounded (lost a leg and part of an arm) and was evacuated from the battlefield.

The resistance shown by our fighters played a significant role - in 4 weeks of fighting the Seydlitz battle group suffered losses in the amount of 12,273 people. (of which 3054 killed and 9219 wounded) and if she had enough strength to break through to the "encirclement", then she could not radically change the situation in view of the huge losses.

After the hospital, Ignatiy Zhiltsov was discharged and returned home. And for this battle he was awarded the Order of Glory, III degree.