It was also an important air battle, in which the balance now shifted in the favor of the Soviets. The Soviet plan was to soak up the German assault in a colossal web of defensive positions, and only then launch their armoured counter-attack. Īlthough often thought of as a tank battle, Kursk as a whole arguably demonstrated the triumph of artillery, infantry and engineers over armour. This and repeated German delays to wait for new weapons, including the Panther tank, gave the Red Army time to construct elaborate, layered defenses and position large reserve forces for a strategic counterattack. However, the Soviets had good intelligence of Hitler's intentions. The Germans hoped to shorten their lines by eliminating the salient, with pincers breaking through its northern and southern flanks to achieve yet another great encirclement of Red Army forces. The Kursk salient (also known as the Kursk bulge) was created in the aftermath of the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht hoped to regain the initiative on the Eastern Front. Hitler, now desperate to end the war in the east before Allied military power could threaten German–occupied Europe from the west and south, planned to eliminate the large salient formed around Kursk and destroy the large Soviet forces deployed to defend it. In the middle lay a large 200km (120mi) wide and 150km (90mi) deep Soviet-held salient (bulge) in the lines between German forward positions near Orel in the north, and Von Manstein's recently captured Kharkov in the south. In February and March 1943, German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein had completed an offensive during the Third Battle of Kharkov, leaving the front line running roughly from Leningrad in the north to Rostov in the south. They intended to retreat to the line late in 1943 and bleed the Soviets against it while their own forces recuperated.
#Tank battles kursk series
They planned on repeating this strategy in the USSR and started construction of a massive series of defensive works known as the Panther-Wotan line.
In 1917, the Germans had built the famous Hindenburg Line on the Western Front, shortening their lines and thereby increasing their defensive strength. One complete German army had been destroyed, along with about 800,000 German and Axis troops, seriously depleting Axis strength in the east. In the winter of 1942–1943 the Red Army conclusively won the Battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet victory represented an important step in the defeat of Nazism in World War II. The model strategic operation earned a deserved place in war college curricula. Though the Red Army had had success in winter, this was the first successful strategic Soviet summer offensive of the war. Once the German forces had exhausted themselves against the in-depth defenses, the Soviets responded with their own counteroffensives, which allowed the Red Army to retake Orel and Belgorod on August 5, and Kharkov on August 23 and to push back the Germans across a broad front. The resulting decisive Soviet victory gave the Red Army the strategic initiative, which it would not relinquish for the remainder of the war. It was the last strategic blitzkrieg offensive the Germans were able to execute in the east. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka, and the most costly single day of aerial warfare to date. The Battle of Kursk ( Russian: Курская битва) refers to German and Soviet operations on the Eastern Front of World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk in July and August 1943. Green areas show German advances on Kursk. Orange areas show the destruction of an earlier Soviet breakthrough that ended with the Kharkov offensive operation. The eastern front at the time of Operation Citadel. Kursk – Kutuzov – Prokhorovka – Polkovodets Rumyantsev – Belgorod – 4th Kharkov Part of the Eastern Front of World War IIĭisabled Soviet T-34 being towed by a turretless armored recovery tank, under enemy fire.ĥ1☃0′4″N 36☃′5″E / 51.50111, 36.05139 Coordinates: 51☃0′4″N 36☃′5″E / 51.50111, 36.05139ġ,300,000 infantry and supporting troops ġ,100-1,200 aircraft damaged or destroyed (Soviet records incomplete) īarbarossa – Baltic Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Blue – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Baltic – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Lublin-Brest – Balkans (Iassy-Kishinev) – Balkans (Budapest) – Vistula-Oder – East Prussia – East Pomerania – Silesia – Berlin – Prague – Vienna Battle of Kursk or the Kursk Bulge (see article)
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