Tail-End Charlie OKW waited It was not until the cold of mid-November froze mud roads and permitted resumption of wheeled movement that Bock was ordered to continue the advance to Moscow That was the second major error made by Hitler and his generals: the Wehrmacht resumed offensive operations into the teeth of a building Russian winter, rather than going into winter quarters to husband strength for a spring offensive Most importantly, the long delay permitted the Stavka to find still more troops to hurl into the battle: five fresh divisions from Siberia and others pulled from the Volga Line, about which Hitler, OKW, and the Abwehr had not the slightest inkling The final German surge was made starting on November 15, but Army Group Center did not have the logistical legs to carry it the last few dozen miles to Moscow Weapons and equipment wore down, men were exhausted, and bitter cold made every step an ordeal By December forward movement by the Germans ceased The next day, the Red Army struck back with a wholly unexpected and massive counteroffensive led by the fresh Siberians It stunned the Wehrmacht Within three days even Hitler understood that TAIFUN had failed and ordered all German forces in the east to “transition to the defensive.” Instead of taking Moscow, Army Group Center thereafter found itself reeling away from the capital, defending against a ferocious Moscow offensive operation that lasted into January 1942 The Wehrmacht would never be so close to Moscow again See also hokushin TAIL-END CHARLIE Common slang among Western Allied air crew for the highly exposed last plane in a formation Luftwaffe pilots called that most undesirable position “Holzauge,” or “wooden eye.” TAIL GUNNER The gunner located in the tail bubble of a bomber He was highly exposed to enemy fighters attacking from the rear In certain Western Allied bombers the position was especially dangerous if the tail gunner needed to bail out once the plane was hit TAITARI Japanese suicide squads comprised of fighter pilots who tried to ram their aircraft into American B-29 bombers, mainly because they were wholly overmatched in arms, armament, and performance by late-war enemy fighters Luftwaffe pilots also rammed bombers over Germany in 1945, but at least they used tactics that left a theoretical possibility of survival TAIWAN This large Chinese island was occupied by the Japanese Army in 1895 It was used as an air base for Japanese bombing of China during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) It was posited by Imperial General Headquarters as a site of bitter final resistance to invasion, but that never materialized See also Chinese Civil War (1927–1949); Guomindang; Okinawa; Sho-Go TAKORADI AIR ROUTE A Western Allied supply route that ran from Florida to Brazil, thence to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, then on to Takoradi in 1064