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The battle of Kursk, which had been launched by the Germans on the 5th July, continued. The Wehrmacht and SS troops were making much less progress than anticipated. They found themselves confronting successive lines of well prepared Soviet defences, manned by determined troops who were prepared to fight to the death in defence of the motherland.
Within the wide ranging continuous battle one engagement stood out. On the 12th July one of the largest single tank engagements of the war broke out south of the city of Prokhorovka, when the Germans made a sustained attempt to smash through the Russian lines with a concentration of armour. Estimates vary about the numbers involved but it generally thought that a combined total of over a thousand tanks clashed that day.
In amongst the flying steel was Mansur Abdulin, a veteran of Stalingrad. The Soviet infantry had adopted desperate tactics to be able to take on the largest of the German panzers, the Tiger:
[W]e marched straight into action at daybreak on 12 July 1943.
Neither before nor since had I seen so much artillery. The commanders of artillery units, with their guns of different calibre, had a hard time finding positions from which they could fire without disturbing their neighbours. There was not enough space for the gunners on the battlefield!
The roar of guns continued all day without pause. We infantrymen — surrounded by thick black smoke and covered in soot — looked like stokers, endlessly throwing coal into a furnace. Only the whites of our eyes and teeth were shining. We moved at a furious pace, among burning tanks, exploding shells, and fire from every conceivable sort of weapon.
Every soldier, covered in sweat, was systematically doing his job, as if toiling in a giant workshop; forgetting about his fear and pinning his hopes on chance: ‘Will I be killed or not?’ There’s nothing one can do to save oneself in this carnage, and the hands did what was necessary automatically.
Having been thrown back, the Germans began another onslaught, again without success. How many times a day did both sides crash against one another? Who would win? It was a case of might versus might, power versus power.
The heat of the fighting can be illustrated by the fact that along the battlefront clouds formed from which rain fell. These leaden clouds marked the curved outline of the front, while in our rear (and that of the Germans) the sky was absolutely clear. I have never again seen anything like it! It was a blazing hell and the hot air rose upwards night and day.
All day long planes fired at each other in the sky. There was a hail of splinters and bullets. That was familiar enough: but watch out, you might get killed by falling aircraft! Pilots parachuted here and there. One had to be careful not to confuse our men with the Germans. We could often see how the parachuting pilots continued their fight by firing pistols at each other. We wanted to help them, but how? If only our parachutes had had stars on them or the fabric was of a specific colour.
…
In order to be more efficient against enemy tanks, our soldiers made special bundles consisting of two grenades and a Molotov cocktail (what our men called ‘a bottle of Champagne for a hangover!’). These bundles had to be thrown from a distance of no less than 50m [over 54 yards – see comments], because the blast was so powerful that it could injure you!
Not many men in our company were strong enough to do it: Sergei Lapunov, Vasili Shamrai, Matvei Yershov, Aleksei Yanson and a couple more. Skinny soldiers, like Kostia Martynov or Piotr Shkolnikov, had to be content with making the bundles, using strips of strong captured telephone wire.
But our comrade Kostia desperately wanted to destroy a Tiger with his own hands. Several times he dug a reserve trench some 30m or 40m away in No Man’s Land, from which he planned to throw his heavy bundle under the caterpillar track of a German tank. One day he got his chance . . .
The Germans have decided to try and dislodge us from a so-called ‘domineering height’ (though it doesn’t look that important to us). They launch a tank attack supported by 100 infantrymen with sub- machine guns.
One of the tanks is rapidly rolling in the direction of Kostia’s reserve trench, so he grabs his bundle of grenades, and keeping as low as possible, makes a dash for his dugout. Vasili Shamrai separates the enemy infantrymen from their tanks by firing several long bursts from his machine-gun, which makes them jump for cover.
Meanwhile, Kostia’s Tiger comes up close and stops, preparing to destroy our position with its gun. Seeing this, Shamrai dives deep into his hiding place. Simultaneously, we see Kostia jump out of his trench and throw the bundle of explosives underneath the caterpillar of the tank. It seems to us that Kostia has plenty of time to take cover before the blast.
Then comes the powerful, deafening explosion. The Tiger loses its track and twitches, trying to resume its forward movement. But having only one caterpillar, it turns and collapses on its side. Our boys bring up some fresh ‘Champagne’ bottles and soon the Tiger is in flames.
We finally repelled the German counter-attack. The Nazis lost two of their Tigers and some fifty soldiers. We had ten men killed, including Kostia and twelve wounded. We found him with blood flowing from his ears and his eyes almost falling out of their sockets. Kostia was born in 1925, in the Miasski District of the Cheliabinsk Region. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star.
http://ww2today.com/12th-july-1943-kursk-massive-tank-battle-at-prokhorovka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prokhorovka
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj ivan LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt larry SSgt (Join to see) @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey Alan K. Cynthia Croft
Within the wide ranging continuous battle one engagement stood out. On the 12th July one of the largest single tank engagements of the war broke out south of the city of Prokhorovka, when the Germans made a sustained attempt to smash through the Russian lines with a concentration of armour. Estimates vary about the numbers involved but it generally thought that a combined total of over a thousand tanks clashed that day.
In amongst the flying steel was Mansur Abdulin, a veteran of Stalingrad. The Soviet infantry had adopted desperate tactics to be able to take on the largest of the German panzers, the Tiger:
[W]e marched straight into action at daybreak on 12 July 1943.
Neither before nor since had I seen so much artillery. The commanders of artillery units, with their guns of different calibre, had a hard time finding positions from which they could fire without disturbing their neighbours. There was not enough space for the gunners on the battlefield!
The roar of guns continued all day without pause. We infantrymen — surrounded by thick black smoke and covered in soot — looked like stokers, endlessly throwing coal into a furnace. Only the whites of our eyes and teeth were shining. We moved at a furious pace, among burning tanks, exploding shells, and fire from every conceivable sort of weapon.
Every soldier, covered in sweat, was systematically doing his job, as if toiling in a giant workshop; forgetting about his fear and pinning his hopes on chance: ‘Will I be killed or not?’ There’s nothing one can do to save oneself in this carnage, and the hands did what was necessary automatically.
Having been thrown back, the Germans began another onslaught, again without success. How many times a day did both sides crash against one another? Who would win? It was a case of might versus might, power versus power.
The heat of the fighting can be illustrated by the fact that along the battlefront clouds formed from which rain fell. These leaden clouds marked the curved outline of the front, while in our rear (and that of the Germans) the sky was absolutely clear. I have never again seen anything like it! It was a blazing hell and the hot air rose upwards night and day.
All day long planes fired at each other in the sky. There was a hail of splinters and bullets. That was familiar enough: but watch out, you might get killed by falling aircraft! Pilots parachuted here and there. One had to be careful not to confuse our men with the Germans. We could often see how the parachuting pilots continued their fight by firing pistols at each other. We wanted to help them, but how? If only our parachutes had had stars on them or the fabric was of a specific colour.
…
In order to be more efficient against enemy tanks, our soldiers made special bundles consisting of two grenades and a Molotov cocktail (what our men called ‘a bottle of Champagne for a hangover!’). These bundles had to be thrown from a distance of no less than 50m [over 54 yards – see comments], because the blast was so powerful that it could injure you!
Not many men in our company were strong enough to do it: Sergei Lapunov, Vasili Shamrai, Matvei Yershov, Aleksei Yanson and a couple more. Skinny soldiers, like Kostia Martynov or Piotr Shkolnikov, had to be content with making the bundles, using strips of strong captured telephone wire.
But our comrade Kostia desperately wanted to destroy a Tiger with his own hands. Several times he dug a reserve trench some 30m or 40m away in No Man’s Land, from which he planned to throw his heavy bundle under the caterpillar track of a German tank. One day he got his chance . . .
The Germans have decided to try and dislodge us from a so-called ‘domineering height’ (though it doesn’t look that important to us). They launch a tank attack supported by 100 infantrymen with sub- machine guns.
One of the tanks is rapidly rolling in the direction of Kostia’s reserve trench, so he grabs his bundle of grenades, and keeping as low as possible, makes a dash for his dugout. Vasili Shamrai separates the enemy infantrymen from their tanks by firing several long bursts from his machine-gun, which makes them jump for cover.
Meanwhile, Kostia’s Tiger comes up close and stops, preparing to destroy our position with its gun. Seeing this, Shamrai dives deep into his hiding place. Simultaneously, we see Kostia jump out of his trench and throw the bundle of explosives underneath the caterpillar of the tank. It seems to us that Kostia has plenty of time to take cover before the blast.
Then comes the powerful, deafening explosion. The Tiger loses its track and twitches, trying to resume its forward movement. But having only one caterpillar, it turns and collapses on its side. Our boys bring up some fresh ‘Champagne’ bottles and soon the Tiger is in flames.
We finally repelled the German counter-attack. The Nazis lost two of their Tigers and some fifty soldiers. We had ten men killed, including Kostia and twelve wounded. We found him with blood flowing from his ears and his eyes almost falling out of their sockets. Kostia was born in 1925, in the Miasski District of the Cheliabinsk Region. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star.
http://ww2today.com/12th-july-1943-kursk-massive-tank-battle-at-prokhorovka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prokhorovka
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj ivan LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt larry SSgt (Join to see) @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey Alan K. Cynthia Croft
WWII World War Two
Military History
Tanks
Infantry
Russia
Posted >1 y ago
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Thanks for mentioning the battle of Kursk SGT John " Mac " McConnell which was the most decisive battle in WWII as the German panzer armies juggernaut was decimated as they attempted to break through the extensive defensive networks that the Soviets built up in preparation for springing the strategic trap.
The German side named the battle as "Operation Citadel", while the Soviet side, had two names for it: "Operation Kutuzov" for the defensive and "Operation Polkovodets Rumjantsev" for the offensive.
Initial German success as an armored fist of Tigers, Panthers, and Elephants, escorted by AT Junkers, breached all three defense lines of the Voronezh Front commanded by Gen. Vatutin in less that one week despite apparently fierce resistance by Soviet forces. They were actually being lured into a strategic trap which turned the Germans from being capable of operations offensive to operation defense for the rest of the war in the eastern front.
Lend-lease by the USA helped the USSR build up its equipment and weapons. Most of the German Army was focused on the eastern front. That alone enabled the other allies including the USA and UK to assault Italy in 1943 and then France in 1944.
Images: 1943-07 W-Kursk-Map-4 Map; 1943-07 Kursk panzer grenadiers with PZ Ppfw VI Tiger tanks; 1943-07 Soviet Union_map_kursk; 1943-07-12 Massed German Panzers including captured T-34s attack at Kursk
"The Battle of (July 4 - July 20, 1943) was a decisive battle on the Eastern Front during World War II.
The battle was an attempt by the German side to get on the offensive after defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Soviet counterpart, however, had good intelligence about the German preparations. , the Red Army established deep defensive positions and gathered large forces in reserve.
The Battle of Kursk was one of the greatest armored battles and probably the air battle in history that led to the largest loss in a single day.
The site of the Battle of Prokhorovka.
The famous tank crew at Prokhorovka was part of the Battle of Kursk. The German forces were unable to break through the Soviet lines, and eventually brought the Soviet forces counterattacked.
The German side named the battle as "Operation Citadel", while the Soviet side, had two names for it: "Operation Kutuzov" for the defensive and "Operation Polkovodets Rumjantsev" for the offensive.
The Battle of Kursk was the last major German offensive on the Eastern Front, after Kursk the initiative shifted to the Red Army.
The Soviet battle plan and its execution was exemplary and is still a subject of study in war schools.
For 60 years now domestic historiography has been repeating these data about the crucial battle at Prokhorovka, on the Kursk Bulge: 800 Soviet tanks vs. 700 Nazi tanks; Soviet losses - 300 vehicles; Nazi losses - 400. A decisive victory was won. Document analysis, however, reveals a somewhat different picture
The Battle of Kursk, which took place 60 years ago, was a direct continuation of the Battle of Stalingrad.
After the Paulus army was successfully encircled, the Soviet command made a serious mistake and failed to surround and eliminate the entire Nazi force on the Don and in the North Caucasus.
Field Marshal Manstein, who had been allowed to get away from the Caucasus, in February-March 1943 inflicted a crushing defeat on Soviet forces, retaking Kharkov and Belgorod.
The Nazis did not have enough firepower for Kursk, hence the Kursk Bulge, a projection going deep into the Nazi front. Within that bulge a powerful Soviet force was concentrated, and the Nazis were out to get the Soviets in revenge for Stalingrad by encircling and routing them.
After June 1941, the Nazis did not prepare any other offensive operation as thoroughly as they did Operation Citadel.
Preparations continued for almost four months; the troops received a substantial amount of modern hardware and equipment, including Tiger and Panther tanks, Elephant (Ferdinand in Soviet terminology) self-propelled guns, Fw-190 fighters, the AT modification of the Ju-87 bomber, and so forth.
Preparations were made amid the utmost secrecy, but that secret was known to everyone. The axis of the upcoming Nazi strike was far too obvious.
Soviet intelligence services merely confirmed the Nazi plans.
So Soviet troops prepared the counteroffensive operation just as thoroughly. Never in the entire Great Patriotic War had our army built such strong, deeply layered defensive installations.
And, whereas virtually all Nazi attacks in the 1941-1942 period came as a surprise to us, this one was awaited impatiently (if this term is at all applicable to a relentless battle).
Furthermore, it is a military-science axiom that an attacking force should have at least a four-fold superiority over a defending force.
Battle of Kursk German troops
At Kursk, in the summer of 1943, the Nazis did not have any superiority at all. The Soviet Central and Voronezh Fronts had a 20 percent to 50 percent superiority over the opposing Center and South Groups while there was also a whole reserve front - the Steppe Front, making Soviet superiority over the Nazis more than twofold. To cap it all, we knew exactly when the Nazi offensive was to begin.
In such conditions, Operation Citadel was a suicide mission for the Nazis, pure and simple. It is noteworthy that Hitler was well aware of that, but the Nazi generals were resolved to take their revenge for the Stalingrad humiliation.
The offensive began on July 5. Strange as that may be, the strike by the group under Manstein's command, in the south, proved successful.
In less than a week, an armored fist of Tigers, Panthers, and Elephants, escorted by AT Junkers, despite fierce resistance by Soviet forces, breached all three defense lines of the Voronezh Front commanded by Gen. Vatutin.
Battle of Kursk
By July 12, the Nazis gained operational depth, and so to rectify the situation, which was getting catastrophic, the Soviet command mounted a counterstroke with the assets and forces of the Fifth Guards Tank Army under Gen. Rotmistrov. That was the historic battle of Prokhorovka.
It consisted of a number of separate combat episodes, the total number of Soviet tanks reaching 660 with the Nazis having not more than 420. So Prokhorovka cannot be regarded as the largest tank battle in war history: Even in the course of the Battle of Kursk there were more wide-ranging engagements, while in late June 1941 over 1,500 tanks on both sides had been involved in a battle in Western Ukraine.
As for the losses, the fact is that the Soviet side lost approximately 500 vehicles while the Nazis, about 200. Therefore it is difficult to talk about victory here although that was very well understood at the time.
Battle of Kursk Monument in Prokhorovka
As Rotmistrov himself recalled later, "when he learned about our losses, Stalin flew into a rage: After all, according to the Supreme High Command plans, the tank army was designed to take part in a counteroffensive, near Kharkov, but now it had to be reconstituted and reinforced.
The Supreme commander decided to dismiss me from command and all but have me court-martialed." To analyze thebattle of Prokhorovka, Stalin gave orders to set up a State Defense Committee commission, which judged the operation a classic failure.
Manstein's victory, however, proved hollow. First, Nazi losses were enormous even though smaller than Soviet losses.
There were no assets left to exploit the success. Second, Gen. Model, who attacked the Kursk Bulge from the north, moving toward Manstein, got hopelessly stuck in the defense lines of the Central Front commanded by Gen. Rokossovsky.
Marshal Zhukov Depicted on Kursk Memorial
Furthermore, on July 12, he was attacked from the rear, when Soviet Western Front troops began an advance on Orel.
Finally, British-U.S. troops landed on Sicily, and Hitler panicked. The subsequent course of the war showed that the allies did not have a chance on the Italian Front, but in July 1943, Hitler ordered troops to be redeployed from the Eastern Front to Italy. By July 17, Manstein began to retreat. The Nazis "achieved a defeat," showing that they were still superior fighters while the Soviets "suffered a victory" since the battle had from the start been hopeless for the Nazis.
Everything could have been different at Kursk had the Nazis attacked not at the base of the bulge, where Soviet forces were expecting them, but head-on, where there were virtually no defensive lines. In that case they would have reached the rear service positions of both the Central and the Voronezh Front on the second day of the operation.
Battle of Kursk Monument Zhukov-Kutuzov-Donskoy
That was what Manstein wanted to do, and Marshal Zhukov recognized the danger after the war. Hitler was also inclined to support that plan.
But being products of the classical Prussian military school, Wehrmacht generals refused to break canons. They did everything "properly." And lost.
After that, the Nazis, having lost their elite units, were unable to attack successfully until the end of the war while the Soviets took another step to victory, once again paying an exorbitant price for that.
http://www.battleofkursk.org/
The German side named the battle as "Operation Citadel", while the Soviet side, had two names for it: "Operation Kutuzov" for the defensive and "Operation Polkovodets Rumjantsev" for the offensive.
Initial German success as an armored fist of Tigers, Panthers, and Elephants, escorted by AT Junkers, breached all three defense lines of the Voronezh Front commanded by Gen. Vatutin in less that one week despite apparently fierce resistance by Soviet forces. They were actually being lured into a strategic trap which turned the Germans from being capable of operations offensive to operation defense for the rest of the war in the eastern front.
Lend-lease by the USA helped the USSR build up its equipment and weapons. Most of the German Army was focused on the eastern front. That alone enabled the other allies including the USA and UK to assault Italy in 1943 and then France in 1944.
Images: 1943-07 W-Kursk-Map-4 Map; 1943-07 Kursk panzer grenadiers with PZ Ppfw VI Tiger tanks; 1943-07 Soviet Union_map_kursk; 1943-07-12 Massed German Panzers including captured T-34s attack at Kursk
"The Battle of (July 4 - July 20, 1943) was a decisive battle on the Eastern Front during World War II.
The battle was an attempt by the German side to get on the offensive after defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Soviet counterpart, however, had good intelligence about the German preparations. , the Red Army established deep defensive positions and gathered large forces in reserve.
The Battle of Kursk was one of the greatest armored battles and probably the air battle in history that led to the largest loss in a single day.
The site of the Battle of Prokhorovka.
The famous tank crew at Prokhorovka was part of the Battle of Kursk. The German forces were unable to break through the Soviet lines, and eventually brought the Soviet forces counterattacked.
The German side named the battle as "Operation Citadel", while the Soviet side, had two names for it: "Operation Kutuzov" for the defensive and "Operation Polkovodets Rumjantsev" for the offensive.
The Battle of Kursk was the last major German offensive on the Eastern Front, after Kursk the initiative shifted to the Red Army.
The Soviet battle plan and its execution was exemplary and is still a subject of study in war schools.
For 60 years now domestic historiography has been repeating these data about the crucial battle at Prokhorovka, on the Kursk Bulge: 800 Soviet tanks vs. 700 Nazi tanks; Soviet losses - 300 vehicles; Nazi losses - 400. A decisive victory was won. Document analysis, however, reveals a somewhat different picture
The Battle of Kursk, which took place 60 years ago, was a direct continuation of the Battle of Stalingrad.
After the Paulus army was successfully encircled, the Soviet command made a serious mistake and failed to surround and eliminate the entire Nazi force on the Don and in the North Caucasus.
Field Marshal Manstein, who had been allowed to get away from the Caucasus, in February-March 1943 inflicted a crushing defeat on Soviet forces, retaking Kharkov and Belgorod.
The Nazis did not have enough firepower for Kursk, hence the Kursk Bulge, a projection going deep into the Nazi front. Within that bulge a powerful Soviet force was concentrated, and the Nazis were out to get the Soviets in revenge for Stalingrad by encircling and routing them.
After June 1941, the Nazis did not prepare any other offensive operation as thoroughly as they did Operation Citadel.
Preparations continued for almost four months; the troops received a substantial amount of modern hardware and equipment, including Tiger and Panther tanks, Elephant (Ferdinand in Soviet terminology) self-propelled guns, Fw-190 fighters, the AT modification of the Ju-87 bomber, and so forth.
Preparations were made amid the utmost secrecy, but that secret was known to everyone. The axis of the upcoming Nazi strike was far too obvious.
Soviet intelligence services merely confirmed the Nazi plans.
So Soviet troops prepared the counteroffensive operation just as thoroughly. Never in the entire Great Patriotic War had our army built such strong, deeply layered defensive installations.
And, whereas virtually all Nazi attacks in the 1941-1942 period came as a surprise to us, this one was awaited impatiently (if this term is at all applicable to a relentless battle).
Furthermore, it is a military-science axiom that an attacking force should have at least a four-fold superiority over a defending force.
Battle of Kursk German troops
At Kursk, in the summer of 1943, the Nazis did not have any superiority at all. The Soviet Central and Voronezh Fronts had a 20 percent to 50 percent superiority over the opposing Center and South Groups while there was also a whole reserve front - the Steppe Front, making Soviet superiority over the Nazis more than twofold. To cap it all, we knew exactly when the Nazi offensive was to begin.
In such conditions, Operation Citadel was a suicide mission for the Nazis, pure and simple. It is noteworthy that Hitler was well aware of that, but the Nazi generals were resolved to take their revenge for the Stalingrad humiliation.
The offensive began on July 5. Strange as that may be, the strike by the group under Manstein's command, in the south, proved successful.
In less than a week, an armored fist of Tigers, Panthers, and Elephants, escorted by AT Junkers, despite fierce resistance by Soviet forces, breached all three defense lines of the Voronezh Front commanded by Gen. Vatutin.
Battle of Kursk
By July 12, the Nazis gained operational depth, and so to rectify the situation, which was getting catastrophic, the Soviet command mounted a counterstroke with the assets and forces of the Fifth Guards Tank Army under Gen. Rotmistrov. That was the historic battle of Prokhorovka.
It consisted of a number of separate combat episodes, the total number of Soviet tanks reaching 660 with the Nazis having not more than 420. So Prokhorovka cannot be regarded as the largest tank battle in war history: Even in the course of the Battle of Kursk there were more wide-ranging engagements, while in late June 1941 over 1,500 tanks on both sides had been involved in a battle in Western Ukraine.
As for the losses, the fact is that the Soviet side lost approximately 500 vehicles while the Nazis, about 200. Therefore it is difficult to talk about victory here although that was very well understood at the time.
Battle of Kursk Monument in Prokhorovka
As Rotmistrov himself recalled later, "when he learned about our losses, Stalin flew into a rage: After all, according to the Supreme High Command plans, the tank army was designed to take part in a counteroffensive, near Kharkov, but now it had to be reconstituted and reinforced.
The Supreme commander decided to dismiss me from command and all but have me court-martialed." To analyze thebattle of Prokhorovka, Stalin gave orders to set up a State Defense Committee commission, which judged the operation a classic failure.
Manstein's victory, however, proved hollow. First, Nazi losses were enormous even though smaller than Soviet losses.
There were no assets left to exploit the success. Second, Gen. Model, who attacked the Kursk Bulge from the north, moving toward Manstein, got hopelessly stuck in the defense lines of the Central Front commanded by Gen. Rokossovsky.
Marshal Zhukov Depicted on Kursk Memorial
Furthermore, on July 12, he was attacked from the rear, when Soviet Western Front troops began an advance on Orel.
Finally, British-U.S. troops landed on Sicily, and Hitler panicked. The subsequent course of the war showed that the allies did not have a chance on the Italian Front, but in July 1943, Hitler ordered troops to be redeployed from the Eastern Front to Italy. By July 17, Manstein began to retreat. The Nazis "achieved a defeat," showing that they were still superior fighters while the Soviets "suffered a victory" since the battle had from the start been hopeless for the Nazis.
Everything could have been different at Kursk had the Nazis attacked not at the base of the bulge, where Soviet forces were expecting them, but head-on, where there were virtually no defensive lines. In that case they would have reached the rear service positions of both the Central and the Voronezh Front on the second day of the operation.
Battle of Kursk Monument Zhukov-Kutuzov-Donskoy
That was what Manstein wanted to do, and Marshal Zhukov recognized the danger after the war. Hitler was also inclined to support that plan.
But being products of the classical Prussian military school, Wehrmacht generals refused to break canons. They did everything "properly." And lost.
After that, the Nazis, having lost their elite units, were unable to attack successfully until the end of the war while the Soviets took another step to victory, once again paying an exorbitant price for that.
http://www.battleofkursk.org/
The Battle of Kursk - Battle of Kursk: Eastern Front 1943
The Battle of Kursk (July 4 - July 20, 1943) was a decisive battle on the Eastern Front during World War II.The battle was an attempt by the German side to get on the offensive after defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad.
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