Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Luftwaffe Gedenkplatte (commemorative plate), made for the 1941-1942 winter campaign "Operation Typhoon", an effort to quickly win the eastern front of WWII by capturing the Soviet capital of Moscow. This was not successful, and by January 1942, the offensive had stalled, and would be forced back by the Soviet spring offensive.

The plate is made from fine white porcelain, measuring 6 13/16" across, and shows the Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swas, over an outline of three “onion domes” with the dates 1941 and 1942 on opposite sides. These most likely symbolize either St. Basil’s Cathedral or the Kremlin, which both have these type of towers. Around this are some laurel leaf sprigs, and the text WINTERFELDZUG (Winter Campaign) is at the top, while LUFTGAU-MOSKAU (Air District Moscow) is at the bottom. There is also a blue ring around the border of the plate.

The designs are all executed in the iconic "Meissen Blue" underglaze, and the rear of the plate shows the "crossed sword" logo of the Meissen porcelain manufactory. There is also W162 and 56 stamped directly into the plate under the glaze, and there is a steel hanger attached to the two holes in the back of the plate. 

Overall condition is very good, and this would make a great addition to any German WWII Porcelain Collection. Ready to display! 

The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a 600 km (370 mi) sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort thwarted Germany's attack on Moscow, the capital and largest city of the Soviet Union. Moscow was one of the primary military and political objectives for Axis forces in their invasion of the Soviet Union.

The German strategic offensive, named Operation Typhoon, called for two pincer offensives, one to the north of Moscow against the Kalinin Front by the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies, simultaneously severing the Moscow–Leningrad railway, and another to the south of Moscow Oblast against the Western Front south of Tula, by the 2nd Panzer Army, while the 4th Army advanced directly towards Moscow from the west.

Initially, the Soviet forces conducted a strategic defense of Moscow Oblast by constructing three defensive belts, deploying newly raised reserve armies, and bringing troops from the Siberian and Far Eastern Military Districts. As the German offensives were halted, a Soviet strategic counter-offensive and smaller-scale offensive operations forced the German armies back to the positions around the cities of Oryol, Vyazma and Vitebsk, and nearly surrounded three German armies. It was a major setback for the Germans, and the end of their belief in a swift German victory over the USSR. As a result of the failed offensive, Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch was dismissed as supreme commander of the German Army on 19 December, with Adolf H replacing him in the position.