The Defeat of German Troops near Moscow

On March 4, 1943, the Soviet documentary “The Defeat of German Troops near Moscow“ won the American Oscar. In November 1941, Stalin decided to start making a documentary about the battles near Moscow. Two directors were identified: Leonid Varlamov and Ilya Kopalin. Fifteen front-line operators took part in the filming. The picture is based on documentary footage of Moscow and the Moscow region during the construction of barrier structures, the work of defensive factories, military operations, the liberation of cities and villages near Moscow. The picture captured the heroism of people in the defense of Moscow, the scale of destruction and losses. The work of Soviet documentary filmmakers received well-deserved recognition. The film was awarded the Stalin Prize I degree. In the US, “Rout“ was re-edited, re-sounded, shortened by 10 minutes and released under the name “Moscow Strikes Back“, which we usually do not quite accurately translate as “Moscow Strikes Back“. In this form, American film academics watched it, and the Soviet film for the first time won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary (1943). Filming of the documentary “The Defeat of the Nazi Troops near Moscow“ in 1942 (directed by Leonid Varlamov and Ilya Kopalin) began at the front at the direction of Stalin back in December 1941, at the very beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow. 15 front-line cameramen took part in the filming of the picture. In February 1942, the picture was mounted and released on the screens of the Soviet Union on February 23, the day of the Red Army. In the United States, the tape was released in a 10-minute shortened version called “Moscow Strikes Back“ (“Moscow strikes back“). In the USA and Great Britain in 1942-1943. it was watched by about 16 million people. By the way, it was the very first Oscar for Soviet cinema. In the American adaptation, the tape looks slightly different than in the original version.