Tula, Russia in the context of "Tula Arms Plant"

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.

Tula Oblast (Russian: Ту́льская о́бласть, romanized: Tulʹskaya oblastʹ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in European Russia and is administratively part of the Central Federal District, covering an area of 25,700 square kilometers (9,900 sq mi). It has a population of 1,553,925 (2010 census). Tula is the largest city and the administrative center of the oblast.

Tula Oblast borders Moscow Oblast in the north, Ryazan in the east, Lipetsk in the southeast, Oryol in the southwest, and Kaluga in the west. Tula Oblast is one of the most developed and urbanized territories in Russia, and the majority of the territory forms the Tula-Novomoskovsk Agglomeration, an urban area with a population of over 1 million.

Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Russian: Василий Иванович Чуйков, Russian: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj t͡ɕʉjkof] ; 12 February [O.S. 31 January] 1900 – 18 March 1982) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is best known for commanding the 62nd Army which saw heavy combat during the Battle of Stalingrad in the Second World War and for being the commanding general to receive the surrender of the German troops defending Berlin.

Born to a peasant family near Tula, Chuikov earned his living as a factory worker from the age of 12. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he joined the Red Army and distinguished himself during the Russian Civil War. After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, Chuikov worked as a military attaché and intelligence officer in China and the Russian Far East. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Chuikov commanded the 4th Army during the Soviet invasion of Poland, and the 9th Army during the Winter War against Finland. In December 1940, he was again appointed military attaché to China in support of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists in the war against Japan.

Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov (Russian: Васи́лий Алексе́евич Дегтярёв; 2 January 1880, Tula – 16 January 1949, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian engineer who specialized in weapons design. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour in 1940.