Finally, what do you base your notion that the Germans could not have (in September, say) swept around and cut off Moscow, given that even with the reinforcements Stalin diverted south to Kursk, the Soviets would have been seriously outnumbered and outgunned.
Assume that those reinforcements have indeed been integrated into the defense of Moscow (and potentially any other units that can be scrapped into the barrel). If (and when) STAVKA realizes that the push from AGC is definitely headed for the capital in the early Fall, what options/forces do they have to work with at that point? Can they manage any real changes or are they simply limited to working with basically OTL units still? Getting off into tangents ... what I'm meaning to ask is what kind of late 1941 timeline do you see developing here? When do you have the Germans running into Moscow defenses, taking the city, and your opinions on the direct aftermath and the butterflies for 1942 only? We are in agreement that the loss of the Moscow rail hubs would be disastrous for major Soviet counter attacks in the future. And we won't even get into the impact and ramifications of losing the seat of the government, industrial and human resources lost, morale and prestige factors ect ect. Just curious how you see thing developing. (The Germans would opt for cutting off the city rather than a direct assault at this point in the war/theatre IMHO.)