while the 2nd Panzer Army would turn northwest and attack Moscow from the south. Guderian's forces tried to encircle the 50th Army, which was successfully defending Tula. After unsuccessful attempts to capture Tula, the high command ordered Gudarian to bypass Tula on November 18 and head towards the vital town of Kashira. The furthest attack was stopped near Kashira by the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, 173rd Rifle Division, and other units that withstood the central attack of the Guderian army. The Group's divisions had suffered heavy attrition since the beginning of the invasion and experienced shortages in fuel and ammunition due to the breakdown in logistics. By November, the situation of Guderian's Panzer Group was dire. Nonetheless, Guderian expected the Red Army's resistance to collapse and, driven by National Socialist military thinking, including the idea that the "will" was key to success, continued to direct his forces to attack. By early December, the final advance on Moscow failed in the face of stiffening Soviet resistance and due to shortages in men and equipment. Until the Soviet counter-offensive, the Germans enjoyed complete domination of the skies and numerical advantage in material and men power during the Battle of Moscow. The massive and unexpected counter-attacks of 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, 50th Army, 10th Army, and parts of 49th Army drove the Germans the furthest from the capital, thus resulting in Hitler's dismissal of Heinz Guderian. After the battle he would never again reach the height and the popularity with Hitler or command any significant part of the German forces. In August 1943, the 2nd Panzer Army was transferred to occupied Yugoslavia, where it was incorporated into Army Group F and engaged in anti-partisan operations against the Chetniks under Draža Mihailović and the communist Yugoslav Partisans under Josip Broz Tito. Despite engaging in several operations aimed to crush the partisan movement, particularly the communists, no clear victory was gained. Indeed, the partisan movement grew in size and equipment, particularly after the fall of Italian Fascism in the 1943 coup of 25 Luglio led to the mass defection and surrender of Italian units stationed in occupied Bosnia and Montenegro. Throughout 1943-44, the 2nd Panzer Army was progressively stripped of its heavy armor destined for the war on the Eastern Front, and became a primarily motorized infantry force. It did gain specialized Alpine support from units like the Brandenburgers and 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division