Meanwhile, the Russian winter had come. Hitler had been confident of completing the necessary lightning war against Russia in one summer campaign. He had reckoned on capturing Leningrad and Moscow and occupying the whole Caucasian area. On 29th September he was still so confident that he issued an Order on the future of Leningrad. He had decided to have Leningrad wiped from the face of the Earth. The German Navy had asked that the shipyards and harbour installations might be preserved for its own use, but Hitler was adamant: his intention was to close in on the city and blast it to the ground by artillery fire and air bombardment. The population would disappear with it: in this war for existence we have no interest in keeping even part of this great city's population. He intended the same fate for Moscow. But in fact Leningrad was not captured. November found Hitler still at loggerheads with his Generals, he insisting that Moscow must now be taken before the end of the year, they demanding that their Armies be allowed to dig in for the winter. Hitler's will prevailed and, in spite of the intense cold, Army Group Centre attacked on 4th December. The attack failed, and two days later Hitler yielded partly to persuasion and partly to objective facts. The Lightning war had failed: the war in the east, as in the west, was to be a long war.