At dawn on 10 July 1941, massed tanks and motorised infantry of German Army Group Center's Second and Third Panzer Groups crossed the Dnepr and Western Dvina Rivers, beginning what Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany's Third Reich, and most German officers and soldiers believed would be a triumphal march on Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. However, once across the rivers, the Wehrmacht encountered five fresh Soviet armies. Despite destroying two of these armies and severely damaging two, quick victory eluded them. The Soviet force that remained stubbornly refused to surrender, and while they fought on into September, seven newly-mobilised Soviet armies struck back viciously at the Germans, climaxing in two major counteroffensives that sapped German strength and will. Despite huge losses, these desperate Soviet actions derailed Operation Barbarossa. Hitler was forced to postpone his march on Moscow and turn his forces to engage