The book describes one of the most terrible tragedies of the last war and the events preceding it. For the first time, in such detail, at a fairly high professional level, with the involvement of unknown and little-known documents from both warring parties, a fairly complete picture of the military operations at the first stage of the Moscow defensive operation is drawn. In Soviet times, gross miscalculations made by the Headquarters and the front command, which had a detrimental effect on the course and outcome of defensive battles in the most important Western strategic direction, were presented in simplified form in official works, and the scale of the disaster at Vyazma was simply hushed up. The book examines in detail the decisions that ultimately led to the capture and death of hundreds of thousands of Soviet people. The author introduces documents into scientific circulation, including German ones, which will undoubtedly be of interest not only to the general public, but also to researchers. The epilogue briefly describes his work to establish the circumstances of the death of soldiers still listed as missing in action, in order to perpetuate their memory. The book is intended for everyone who is interested in the military history of the Fatherland.