Once the Vyazma pocket was eliminated, other units were able to advance on 14 October. Heavy rains and onset of the "rasputitsa" (roadlessness) caused frequent damage to tracked vehicles and motor transport further hampering the advance. By early November, Hoepner's forces were depleted from earlier fighting and the weather but he, along with other panzer group commanders and Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center, was impatient to resume the offensive. In a letter home, Hoepner stated that just two weeks of the frozen ground would allow his troops to surround Moscow, not taking into account the stiffening Soviet resistance and the condition of his units. David Stahel wrote that Hoepner displayed "steadfast determination, and often excessive confidence" during that period.