Kursk - An overall summary

The Battle of Kursk - Operation 'Zitadelle' to the Germans - was fought in July 1943, following the turning point of the War earlier in the year, at Stalingrad. If the latter battle marked the end of the high tide for the Axis, then Kursk marked the ebbing of the tide - that would not stop until Germany itself lay in ruins.

To both sides, the salient around Kursk - 200 Km wide and 150 deep - was the single most obvious target for the Germans to attack in their, by 1943, traditional Summer offensive in the East. To the Germans it provided the perfect target to repeat the successes of 1941 and 1942, encircling vast Soviet armies and destroying them in the process. For Hitler, it was once again the thought that the Soviets could not possibly suffer another catastroph on that scale. But, for the Soviets, it was the chance to prove that Staligrad was no fluke, and not just down to Stalin's will - but was attribitable to the growing Soviet skill.

Indeed, Stalin had already tacitly relinquished control over the Red Army to Marshal Georgi Zhukov - which control Hitler was never willing to give up over the German Army.

The Soviets considered the situation, weighed up the probable German attack routes - and prepared accordingly. Even if the "Lucy" spy ring helped out with information - it was hardly needed. They had time: after the spring "rasputitsa" [thaw - whole place turned to mud] had brought a halt to the fighting, they had until July to build the defences - and to re-build their forces. Hitler's insistence on waiting for his "super-weapons" kept delaying the assault - from the planned date in May, until 5th July.

This time it was for the long-awaited answer to the T-34 - the PanzerKapmfWagen V - the "Panther" - and the latest creation from his favourite designer - Dr Ferdinand Porsche. The Panther was destined to be a great tank, but in July 1943 it was still suffering teething troubles, the entire stock having been issued once and recalled for rebuilding, and now re-issued to Panther Abteilung 51 and 52, totalling 200 Panthers attached to the Wehrmacht's elite "GroßDeutschland" Panzer Grenadier Division. Dr Porsche's offering was the "Elefant" - a beast of a tank destroyer, porting an 88mm gun in a fixed mounting.

In all this time, the Soviets had dug in - deeply on both shoulders of the salient. The immediate battle area contained up to 7 defensive lines, with dug-in anti-tank strongpoints, anti-tank ditches and millions of mines. The Soviets were also prepared in real depth for the first time: a new Front was set up - Steppe Front - based 100 Km back, including the full weight of Pavel Rotmistrov's 5 Guards Tank Army. All the units were brought back up to full - even above full - strength. The main problem this created was the numbers of new, relatively inexperienced troops in the line.

When the storm finally broke on 5th July, the Soviets were waiting.

The German assault started, as always, in the small hours, with assault groups moving up on the Soviet outpost lines in the North and South in the moonless night, paving the way for the main assault. The Soviets had warning of even the exact hour of the attack from a German deserter - and unleashed a massive bombardment on all the German assembly areas they could find. The attack faltered for a moment, but the main assault went in around 07:00 local time. The Luftwaffe tried once more to catch the Soviet Air Force on the ground and to annihilate them - but failed.

In the North, the German 9th Army stormed into the prepared Soviet positions. 5th July dawned with ferocious combat - tank-to-tank, gun-to-gun and most of all - hand-to-hand. The following days would dawn no differently. 9th Army slammed headlong into the Soviet positions for days, throwing more men and machines into the battle each day, until they exhausted themselves against the Soviet defences. The Soviets had prepared well - and not only did they hold the lines, but went over to the offensive themselves on the 12th, throwing the Germans back in disarray.

In the South, the Soviets faced the remaining cream of the German military machine - 48 Panzer Corps and 2 SS Panzer Corps. The latter contained the first three SS Panzer Grenadier Divisions - LiebStandarte Adolf Hitler, Totenkopf and Das Reich. The SS formed the spearhead in the South - and managed to grind forward day-by-day, while 48 Panzer Corps tried to keep pace on their left and 3 Panzer Corps was held up on their right. The much-vaunted Panthers, attached to GroßDeutschland in 48 Panzer Corps were breaking down, catching fire, bogging in marshes - and succumbing to minefields.

By the 12th, the SS felt they could finally break through, turning north-east to punch through the Soviet lines at Prokhorovka - a small land-bridge between the Psel and the Don, leading to open country beyond. But, it seems, they had not reckoned with 5 Guards Tank Army, which had moved up during the 10th - and met the SS head-on. This day has gone down in history as the "largest tank battle ever fought". In reality, LiebStandarte Adolf Hitler met 18 and 29 Tank Corps (of 5 Guards Tank Army) head on outside Prokhorovka - possibly 150 SS tanks (including a handful of Tigers and about 15 captured T-34s) running into 400+ Soviet tanks - many of which were light tanks. The Soviet losses for the day are - even in these days of "Perestroika" - still unclear - but must be in excess of 200 tanks. The German losses were light. But - the key point - the SS were stopped by the sheer force of the blow. They were exhausted and could not get the offensive moving again in the following days.

In fact, it didn't matter - with the Soviets succesfully moving to the offensive in the North, and the invasion of Sicily a couple of days later - the German offensive was finished. The Soviets took heavy losses - but the German offensive had been stopped dead in its' tracks. This would be the last time they even tried on this scale in the East. For the Germans, the only hope after this was to try and stem the "Red Tide" - for the Soviets, it was their time to start to wreak their revenge on the invaders.